Jack Watling

Jack Stanley Watling (13 January 1923 – 22 May 2001) was an English actor born in Chingford, Essex, the son of a travelling scrap metal dealer. He received his theatrical training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child and made his stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire in 1936.

Watling's professional stage career advanced steadily through the early 1940s. His West End debut came in 1941, when he played Bill Hopkins in Once a Crook. The following year he appeared in the original 1942 production of Terence Rattigan's Flare Path, taking the role of Flight Lieutenant Teddy Graham. In 1950, he brought his stage work to New York, appearing on Broadway in the play After Tomorrow.

His film career began with uncredited appearances in Sixty Glorious Years and Housemaster, both in 1938, followed by Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939. His early credited film roles included Cottage to Let (1941), We Dive at Dawn (1943), and The Demi-Paradise (1943), in which he appeared opposite Laurence Olivier. He subsequently appeared in The Way Ahead (1944) alongside David Niven, The Winslow Boy (1948), Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953), and Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin (1955). In A Night to Remember (1958), the account of the sinking of the Titanic, Watling portrayed Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, and in Sink the Bismarck! (1960) he played the Signals officer who delivers the line reporting the destruction of HMS Hood.

From the early 1960s onward, Watling established himself as a dependable television actor. He appeared in the 1960 Danger Man episode "The Traitor" as Rollo Waters, and between 1964 and 1969 he played Don Henderson in both The Plane Makers and its sequel The Power Game, serving as the troubled conscience to Patrick Wymark's character John Wilder. He portrayed Doc Saxon in the 1970s series Pathfinders and took over the role of Arthur Bourne in the final series of The Cedar Tree in 1979. Among his most recognized television work was his portrayal of Professor Edward Travers in the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, appearing in The Abominable Snowmen (1967) and The Web of Fear (1968), both serials also featuring his daughter Deborah Watling as the Second Doctor's companion Victoria Waterfield. He reprised the role of Travers in the independent Doctor Who spin-off video Downtime in 1995. His final television appearances included four episodes of Bergerac between 1989 and 1991 as Frank Blakemore, and a 1994 episode of Heartbeat in which he played a character known as The Colonel.

Watling was married to former actress Patricia Hicks. He was the father of actress Deborah Watling, actor and politician Giles Watling, sculptor Nicky Matthews, and a fourth child, Adam, who died in infancy. He was also the stepfather of actress Dilys Watling, Hicks's daughter from a previous relationship. The family were long-term residents at Alderton Hall in Loughton.