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Tom Baker

Tom Baker
The British character actor tom baker, best known as the fourth incarnation of The Doctor, was born in 1934 in Liverpool, England. Tom, along with his younger sister Lulu and younger brother John, was raised in a poor Irish Catholic community by his mother Mary Jane Fleming Baker, a house-cleaner and barmaid, who was a devout Catholic and his father John Stewart Baker, a Jewish sailor, who was rarely at home. At age 15, Baker left school to become a monk with the Brothers of Ploermel on the island of Jersey. Six years later, he abandoned the monastic life and performed his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps., where he became interested in acting. Baker then served on the Queen Mary for seven months as a sailor in the Merchant Navy before attending Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on scholarship. Baker acted in repertory theaters around Britain until the late 1960s when he joined up with the National Theatre, where he performed with such respected actors as Maggie Smith, Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Olivier, who helped him get his first prominent film role as Rasputin in Nicholas And Alexandra (1971). His performance in this film earned him two Golden Globe Award nominations, one for best actor in a supporting role and another for best new star of the year. A couple of years earlier, Baker had made his theatrical film debut in The Winter's Tale (1967). Despite appearances in a spate of films, including Pier Paolo Pasolini's I racconti di Canterbury (1972), The Mutations (1974), The Vault of Horror (1973) and The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad (1974), Baker was working as a labourer at a building site when he landed the role of the main character in the popular, long-running British television series "Doctor Who" (1963), a role that brought him international fame and popularity. After his seven-year stint as Dr. Who from 1974 to 1981, Baker returned to theatre and made occasional television and film appearances, playing 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). Throughout his career, Baker's acting style has been to portray his characters with a "larger-than-life" air.


What members say | Filmography

Tom Baker - what members say


  • Doctor Who - The Robots Of Death
  • Doctor Who - The Robots Of Death review by A customer from Wolverhampton, England
    Rated - 4 stars 6 May 2004
    ...ense situation is made even more so by the appearance of the Doctor and Leela. Tom Baker's put down of Brian Croucher's character Borg is memorably delivered! The main...  
  • Doctor Who - The Talons Of Weng Chiang
  • Rated - 4 stars Doctor Who with rice and noodles 17 November 2004
    ...ll acted, watch out for the giant rats, and that dummy. No ! not the Doctor ! Tom Baker hams it up a little towards the end, but it?s still enjoyable....  
  • Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars
  • Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars review by RSAntilles from York, UK
    Rated - 5 stars FANTASTIC 13 May 2005
    ...n to be one of my favourites incorporating Egyption myth with alien technology. Tom Baker & Elisabeth Sladen shine together, it was sad to see them part. BBC DVD keep on...  

Tom Baker - filmography


  • Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci-Fi Quiz on DVD (2006)
    Starring: Tom Baker
    Director: Max Barber
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    The hugely popular Tom Baker invites all Sci-Fi enthusiasts to embark on an intergalactic voyage destined to stretch the outer limits of their minds. The ULTIMATE SCI–FI QUIZ contains over 500 questions split across 14 categories, using video clips, music, photographs and classic Sci-Fi quotes to ..read more »
    Rate this: 3 stars out of 5 56% from 70 members
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  • Doctor Who - The Five Doctors on DVD (1983)
    Starring: Peter Davison,  Jon Pertwee,  Patrick Troughton
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    Produced to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series. The five Doctors are forced to play the deadly game of Rassilon, in the Death Zone of Gallifrey, meeting once again some of their most dangerous adversaries.
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 2,960 members
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  • Doctor Who - The Leisure Hive on DVD (1980)
    Starring: Tom Baker,  Lalla Ward,  John Leeson
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Tom Baker's Doctor and Romana set off for a delightful holiday at the Leisure Hive, a resort compound on the post-apocalyptic Argolis, planet of pleasure. Unfortunately, the Doctor soon finds himself saving the universe from a madman intent on destruction.
    Rate this: 3 stars out of 5 64% from 1,732 member
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  • Doctor Who - The Key To Time (7 discs) on DVD (1978)
    Starring: Tom Baker
    Director: George Spenton-Foster,  Norman Stewart,  Michael
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    Join the popular Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) and the beautiful Romana on a 26-episode intergalactic treasure hunt for the six segments of the all-powerful Key to Time. Includes all six stories from the popular series: The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, ..read more »
    Rate this: 4 stars out of 5 77% from 827 members
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  • Doctor Who - The Talons Of Weng Chiang (2 discs) on DVD (1977)
    Starring: Tom Baker
    Director: David Maloney
    Certificate: Certificate: PG
    This feature-length adventure, set deep in the heart of Victorian London, sees the good Doctor in deadly combat with giant creatures from the sewers, the deformed and dangerous Magnus Greel, and a bizarre Chinese illusionist....
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 72% from 2,154 members
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  • Doctor Who - Pyramids Of Mars on DVD (1975)
    Starring: Tom Baker
    Director: Paddy Russell
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    The Doctor arrives on Earth in 1911 to find an Egyptologist, Marcus Scarman, who has been possessed by the last of the Osirans, Sutekh - who is trapped inside a pyramid in Egypt by a beam from Mars. Under Sutekh's control, Scarman builds mummy robots which are, in turn, to build a missile to ..read more »
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 2,158 members
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  • Doctor Who - The Ark In Space on DVD (1974)
    Starring: Tom Baker,  Elisabeth Sladen
    Director: Rodney Bennett
    Certificate: Certificate: U
    In this feature-length space story the Doctor, Harry and Sarah arrive on an artificial satellite where the survivors of Earth lie in cryo-genic suspension, waiting for a new life. But the Doctor soon discovers there has been a sinister intrusion and some of the survivors are not now what they seem...
    Rate this: 3.5 stars out of 5 70% from 2,043 members
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  • History Of Flight on DVD
    Starring: Tom Baker
    Director: David Curnock
    Certificate: Certificate: Ex
    This is the compelling and inspiring story of aviation, from its earliest origins through to supersonic passenger flight and beyond. "The Little Book of Flight" is written by David Curnock whose fascination with all things aviation started at an early age. Fantastic photographs highlight some of ..read more »
    Rate this: 2.5 stars out of 5 50% from 5 members
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Tom Baker facts

5 most recent films

The Beeps - Here Comes The Beeps! - 1.5 stars
Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci-Fi Quiz - 3.0 stars
The Magic Roundabout - 3.0 stars
Apollo 11 - The Eagle has Landed - 2.5 stars
Little Britain - Series 1 - 3.5 stars

5 highest-rated films

Blackadder - Series 2 - 4.0 stars
Doctor Who - The Key To Time - 4.0 stars
Doctor Who - New Beginnings - 4.0 stars
Doctor Who - The Deadly Assassin - 4.0 stars
Doctor Who - The Brain Of Morbius - 4.0 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Who Is Tom Baker? - Unauthorised - 1.5 stars
The Beeps - Here Comes The Beeps! - 1.5 stars
History Of Ships - 2.0 stars
History Of Flight - 2.5 stars
Canterbury Tales, The - BLU-RAY Version - 2.5 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Elisabeth Sladen - 10 times - show films
Lalla Ward - 9 times - show films
Matthew Waterhouse - 8 times - show films
Louise Jameson - 8 times - show films
Peter Davison - 5 times - show films

Most frequent directors

George Spenton-Foster - 9 times - show films
Peter Moffatt - 8 times - show films
Michael - 8 times - show films
Norman Stewart - 8 times - show films
David Maloney - 8 times - show films