Stephen Dartnell (1932The corresponding record at Scotland's People gives his age as 57 – 1 December 1989) was a British actor, who appeared in several television programmes. He is best known for his two 1964 appearances in the first season of Doctor Who. He portrayed Yartek, leader of the Voord, in The Keys of Marinus and John, a mineralogist who has been driven to mania, in The Sensorites. Dartnell also made appearances in the 1960 feature films Circle of Deception and Oscar Wilde. He was also a theatre director and was active with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow.
Personal life
As a gay young man during the early 1950s, Dartnell found himself the victim of homophobic abuse when a youth threw paint over him and mocked his sexuality. The youth then went home and told his father that the actor had propositioned him. The father went to the police but when the case came to court, the judge threw it out for being indefensible and the father and son were fined for wasting police time and perjury. As a result, for fear of bad publicity, Dartnell was kicked out of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (as was Harry Greene for sticking up for him) but was supported throughout this ordeal by Harry H. Corbett and Marjie Lawrence.
Filmography
Film YearTitleRoleNotes1960Oscar WildeCobbleSaturday Night and Sunday MorningClubhouse workeruncreditedCircle of DeceptionBrunneruncredited 1972 Second Best Director/Writer (short film)
Television YearTitleRoleNotes1955BBC Sunday Night TheatreMilitary recruitSeason 6, episode 44: "The Makepeace Story #3: Family Business"OthelloSailorTV movie1960ITV Television PlayhouseJack PalmerSeason 5, episode 30: "Incident"1964Doctor WhoYartek JohnSeason 1 (7 episodes)1965A Tale of Two CitiesJacques OneSeries 1 (4 episodes)1966Theatre 625BarmanSeason 3, episode 21: "A Man Like That"
References
External links
Stephen Dartnell at Theatricalia