Tom Baker, one of Britain's most recognizable and larger-than-life character actors, is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who, a British sci-fi television program that first aired in 1963. Born in 1934 in Liverpool, England, Baker was the son of Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker, a sailor who was rarely at home.
Growing up in a poor Catholic community, Baker was raised by his mother, a devout Catholic who worked as a house-cleaner and barmaid, and his father, who was away at sea for most of the time. Baker was the eldest of three children, including a younger sister, Lulu, and a younger brother, John.
At the age of 15, Baker left school to become a monk with the Brothers of Ploermel on the island of Jersey. However, six years later, he abandoned the monastic life and performed his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. During his time in the army, Baker became interested in acting.
After his National Service, Baker served on the Queen Mary for seven months as a sailor in the Merchant Navy before attending the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on scholarship. Baker then acted in repertory theaters around Britain until the late 1960s, when he joined the National Theatre, where he performed alongside respected actors such as Maggie Smith, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Olivier.
Baker's breakthrough role came when he played Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (1971),for which he received two Golden Globe Award nominations. He then appeared in a number of films, including The Canterbury Tales (1972),The Vault of Horror (1973),The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973),and The Mutations (1974).
However, despite his early success, Baker found himself in a career lull and was working as a laborer at a building site. It was then that the BBC's Head of Serials, William Slater, recommended him to producer Barry Letts, who was looking for a replacement for Jon Pertwee as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who. Baker's performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) convinced Letts that he was the right man for the job, and he went on to play the role for seven years, longer than any actor before or since.
After leaving Doctor Who in 1981, Baker returned to theatre and made occasional television and film appearances. He has since played a number of iconic roles, including Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982),Puddleglum in The Chronicles of Narnia story The Silver Chair (1990),and Hallvarth, Clan Leader of the Hunter Elves, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000).
