Anthony Ainley

Anthony Ainley
Ainley at a convention in Baltimore, Maryland, in March 1987
Born	(1932-08-20)20 August 1932 Stanmore, Middlesex, England
Died	3 May 2004(2004-05-03) (aged 71) Harrow, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1942–1989, 1997
Known for	The Master in Doctor Who (1981–1989)
Parent	Henry Ainley (father)
Relatives	Richard Ainley (half-brother)

Anthony Ainley (20 August 1932 – 3 May 2004) was a British actor. He was the fourth actor to portray the Master in Doctor Who.

Early life

Ainley was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, the son of the actor Henry Ainley, on 20 August 1932, although his birth was not registered until January 1938 at around the time that he was admitted to the actors' orphanage. The birth certificates of Anthony and his brother Timothy identify their mother as Clarice Holmes and it is under this surname that they are recorded in the Official Register. Although no father is named on the birth certificates, Timothy's marriage certificate identifies Henry Ainley as his father.

Under the name of Anthony Holmes, Ainley attended Cranleigh School from 1947 to 1950. His first job was as an insurance clerk, which was followed by a period at RADA. He won the Fabia Drake Prize for Comedy whilst at RADA. His half-brother, Richard Ainley, was also an actor.

Career

Ainley's swarthy appearance tended to get him parts as villains, though an early regular role on British television was as Det. Sgt Hunter, sidekick to William Mervyn's Chief Inspector Rose in the second series of It's Dark Outside in 1966. Other notable roles include a subaltern in the 1969 film version of Oh! What a Lovely War, Dietz in the 1974 film version of The Land That Time Forgot, Reverend Fallowfield in the Tigon film The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), Henry Sidney in Elizabeth R (1971), Clive Hawksworth in Spyder's Web (1972), Rev. Emilius in the BBC's adaptation of The Pallisers (1974), Johnson in the first episode of the BBC programme Secret Army (1977), and Sunley in The Avengers episode "Noon Doomsday" (1968). He was also one of the Hong Kong policemen who discover James Bond's supposed corpse in the opening sequence of You Only Live Twice (1967). Ainley played the role of the wealthy young peer Lord Charles Gilmour in the LWT series Upstairs, Downstairs (1973).

Doctor Who

Ainley as the Master in the Doctor Who serial Logopolis (1981)

Reportedly, it was his performance as Rev. Emilius (in The Pallisers) that led to him being offered the role of the Master by John Nathan-Turner, who had worked on The Pallisers seven years before becoming producer of Doctor Who. Ainley first portrayed Nyssa's father Tremas in the 1981 serial The Keeper of Traken, which led to him becoming a new embodiment of The Master. From then on, he appeared in most seasons up until the cancellation of the original series in 1989, including its final serial, Survival.

Ainley's incarnation of The Master spanned four different incarnations of the Doctor. His appearances included the following serials: The Keeper of Traken (1981), Logopolis (1981), Castrovalva (1982), Time Flight (1982), The King's Demons (1983), "The Five Doctors" (1983), Planet of Fire (1984), The Mark of the Rani (1985), The Ultimate Foe (1986) and Survival (1989).

He later reprised the role for the 1997 BBC computer game Destiny of the Doctors.

Ainley's great love of the role is often cited in documentaries and DVD commentaries. Script editor Eric Saward claimed that he introduced himself over the phone by saying "This is the Master" and then would laugh. In the commentary and documentary for The Mark of the Rani, both Colin Baker and Kate O'Mara say that "He only ever wanted to play the Master." Baker remarked that he could afford this luxury because he had built up a private income by the mid-1980s and had inherited a considerable sum of money from his father. In "Cat Flap: Making of Survival", Sylvester McCoy confirms that all he ever wanted to be is the Master, and he kept his role active, even when not on set. "He was as scary off camera as he was on it."

Personal life

Ainley remained unmarried throughout his life. He joked on the DVD commentary for The Keeper of Traken (which was recorded shortly before his death) that he did not like the three rings of marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring and the bickering.

Ainley was a keen sportsman. Initially he was a rugby player, he played at fly-half for the Old Cranleighans, Richmond and Middlesex. Later he turned his attentions to cricket, citing Sophie Aldred (who played Ace) as his friend once he learned that she played the game. He appeared on many occasions for the Stage and London Theatres C.C. mainly as an opening batsman.

Death

Ainley died in Harrow, London, on 3 May 2004, at the age of 71. He was known to be reclusive, remaining out of the public eye for most of his life after Doctor Who ended in 1989.

Biography

In 2015, Fantom Publishing published the biography of Anthony Ainley - The Man Behind the Master by Karen Louise Hollis. This came out in hardback, followed by paperback and audiobook.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1942	The Foreman Went to France	Boy	Uncredited
1966	Naked Evil	Dick Alderson
1967	You Only Live Twice	Hong Kong Policeman #2	Uncredited
1968	Inspector Clouseau	Bomber LeBec
	Joanna	Bruce
1969	Oh! What a Lovely War	3rd Aide
1971	Assault	Mr. Bartell
	The Blood on Satan's Claw	Reverend Fallowfield
1974	The Land That Time Forgot	Dietz

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	It's Dark Outside	Det. Sgt. Hunter	5 Episodes
1967	The Golden Age	Uncredited	1 Episode: A Divided Country
	Champion House	Leslie Molesworth	1 Episode: The Second Freedom
1968	The Avengers	Edward Sunley	1 Episode: Noon-Doomsday
	The Champions	Landing party lookout #1	1 Episode: The Dark Island
1969	Who-Dun-It	Paul Verrier	1 Episode: The Fall of a Goddess
1970	Department S	Supervisor	1 Episode: A Ticket to Nowhere
	Biography	Trelawny	1 Episode: Byron
1971	Doomwatch	Senior House Officer	1 Episode: No Room for Error
	Play for Today	Surgeon	1 Episode: The Rainbirds
	Elizabeth R	Henry Sidney	1 Episode: The Marriage Game
	Out of the Unknown	Frank Bowers-One	1 Episode: Welcome Home
	Brett	Gerard Delamore	2 Episodes
	Hassan	Ishak	TV movie
1972	The Adventurer	Kerston	1 Episode: The Bradley Way
	The Shadow of the Tower	Sir William Courtney	1 Episode: The Man Who Never Was
	Clouds of Witness	Dennis Cathcart	1 Episode
	Spyder's Web	Clive Hawksworth	13 Episodes
	BBC Play of the Month	Ferdinand Gadd	1 Episode: Trelawny of the Wells
1973	Warship	Phillip Tashing	1 Episode: A Standing and Jumping War
	Orson Welles Great Mysteries	Lafarge	1 Episode: The Ingenious Reporter
	Upstairs, Downstairs	Lord Charles Gilmour	3 Episodes
1974	The Pallisers	Rev. Emilius	7 Episodes
1975	Anne of Avonlea	Stephen Irving	1 Episode
1976	The Flight of the Heron	Lord George Murray	1 Episode
	The Fortune Hunters	Leslie Symington	TV movie
	Within These Walls	James Buckingham	1 Episode: Visitors
1977	Nicholas Nickleby	Sir Mulberry Hawk	4 Episodes
	Secret Army	Johnson	1 Episode: Lisa – Codename Yvette
	Target	Alexander Trist	1 Episode: Carve Up
1978	The Devil's Crown	Pope Innocent III	1 Episode: Tainted King
	Lillie	Lord Carrington	2 Episodes
1980	Mackenzie	Richard Wilcox	3 Episodes
1981–1989	Doctor Who	The Master Tremas	31 Episodes 4 Episodes
1983	The Boy Who Won the Pools	Mr. Simmons	2 Episodes
1997	Destiny of the Doctors	The Master	Video game ; Final role

External links

• Anthony Ainley at IMDb
• Obituary in The Guardian
• "Obituary". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008. Retrieved 15 June 2010. in The Independent