Back in high school, we had a rare field trip out of the school and got to see 'Nicholas & Alexandra' at the Fine Arts theater in downtown Portland ME. I was totally bowled over with the sets and costumes but the makeup was extraordinary. You see I had already read alot about the Czar and his family - the resemblances were uncanny.
So when Rasputin came on scene...I was extremely pleased with the actor's appearance. And then he spoke....
I made sure I noted who that was who did Rasputin but afterwards for a few years...forgot the name but not the voice. Then one night at a drive-in (for those youngers here..a large acreage with a huge movie screen and many rows with speakers on posts to be hung inside on the car windows) we were watching a Sinbad movie. That voice..kept nagging at me all night and I knew I had seen the face before but where? Again..who is that?? Tom Baker....Baker Baker Baker...I know it but can't put my finger on it. Again another year or two and slips the mind.
Then got married and fishing around on UHF as nothing was on the Big Three. Tuned in a snowy WGBH in Boston but it cleared up enough to see a man with a hat and scarf in some rocks, cut aways back to a leather clad Mr Potato-head??? Ok..looked odd enough to sit and look at it for a few minutes. Then it ended with a cliffhanger. I managed to find it in the TV Guide to see what it was and came back the next evening. There's that voice..those eyes again...that face!! Sure enough Tom Baker again in the Sontaran Experiment.
Ok ...third time's the charm! So after a while WGBH gave way to New Hampshire Public and then finally WCBB in Maine picked it up so was able to dispense with the snow and wavy signals --we got an antennae and a rotor eventually. My husband I think indulged me a bit as we sat there each night at 7 pm but we had fun as I watched Tom's Doctor.
Now I've had the chance to put Tom's face to St. Matthew in a stained glass window I built two years ago for a church -- as Prince Koura..complete with turban and fancy robes.
If my boss ever found out
Anyway, I found Dr. Who and was instantly hooked. I would use my allowed TV time to watch the Dr. in the afternoons and a few decades later I still enjoy watching not only the new series but all the recordings of Tom playing the Dr. It was a wonderful influence on a young imagination and it still influences items in my life like my music (when I have time away from work). Come to think of it, I'll have to head home and throw on an episode this evening...Just watched Sun Makers last week.