RIP His Brigness

[royalmarriage]

Just woke up to the sad news that Nicholas Courtney has died.

For those who don't know, he played the Brigadier in Doctor Who. But he was so much more than just an actor playing a part. For one thing, thanks to having appeared alongside all bar one of the Doctors in the original series, Mr. Courtney had an iconic status; a status compounded by appearances in Big Finish audios alongside Colin Baker and Paul McGann (playing their respective Doctors) and David Tennant (playing Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood), and then capped off by appearing in The Sarah Jane Adventures.

For another, as Toby Hadoke pointed out in "Running With Corridors", he's played a host of other roles on stage and screen in his career as an actor.

Thirdly, he was quite simply an all-round nice chap. I don't think anyone who met him ever had a bad word to say about him. I certainly don't. He was a lovely, charming man, with a mischievous sparkle in his eye, a wicked sense of humour, and a great champion of us fans.

On a personal note, Sarah and I first met at a signing Nicholas was doing at the now defunct Tenth Planet shop in Barking. We gave serious thought to inviting him to our wedding. In the event we didn't, as he was appearing at a convention that weekend. No doubt if he *had* decided our wedding was the better gig, he'd have been the life and soul of the party.

The world, and Doctor Who fandom, is a poorer place this morning with the loss of such a lovely man. Goodbye, Mr Courtney. You'll be greatly missed.

"Chap with the wings there? Five rounds rapid."

Comments

[rach74.livejournal.com]

Oh I will miss him! A true gent.