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Patrick Troughton's Death UL - Making Sweet Sci-Fi Love

MrRING

MrRING

Android Futureman
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Being a Doctor Who fan, I've been aware of a local urban legend about the actor behind the Second Doctor's demise, which occurred in my home state of Georgia.

This is how the current Wikipedia entry on Troughton's life reports the events of the time:
On 27 March 1987, two days after his 67th birthday, Troughton was a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention in Columbus, Georgia, United States.[38] Although he had been warned by his doctors before leaving the United Kingdom not to exert himself because of his heart condition, he appeared to be in good spirits and participated vigorously in the day's panels,[39] and was looking forward to a belated birthday celebration which was planned for that evening, as well as screenings of all of his surviving complete Doctor Who stories, including The Dominators, which he was particularly eager to see again. Troughton suffered a third and final heart attack at 7:25 am on 28 March, just after ordering breakfast from the hotel. According to the paramedics who attended the scene, he died instantly.[40][41]

Troughton was certified dead at the Medical Center (now Piedmont Columbus Regional) in Columbus, Georgia. After a local cremation, his ashes were flown back to England. During the passage to England, the ashes were mislaid temporarily. This delayed his funeral by a few weeks. His widow, Shelagh, later scattered them beneath a newly planted tree in Bushy Park, a favourite place of Troughton's near to his family home in Teddington.[42]
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I wasn't at the convention, but there persists to this day a rumor (aka an urban legend) amongst Georgia fandom that circumstances were different. Supposedly, an overly amorous fan wanted to get some sack time with the Doctor in costume and had arranged just such a rendezvous. The story goes that the Doctor was actually "on the job" when the fatal heart attack happened, which left the fan deeply shaken as her hero died on top of her. The rumor goes on to say that he was taken off in the ambulance in his Doctor Who costume.

I truly doubt it happened that way, and the likely scenario is the reported timeline of events. I suspect that the long history of hook-ups at sci-fi and comic conventions gave rise to this UL, but I didn't see it referenced anywhere else on the board and thought it could use an airing. However, in researching this post I did notice this bit at the current Wikipedia entry as well, which if it was known in fan circles may have given a touch of verisimilitude to the UL, and is indeed a fortean touch to a long life:
Troughton married his first wife, Margaret Dunlop, at the Union Church at Mill Hill on 3 September 1943.

Troughton started living a double life when, just after the birth of his third child in 1955, he chose to leave Dunlop and their three children (then aged eight, five, and a few months) to live with girlfriend Ethel Margaret "Bunny" Nuens, with whom he also went on to have three children.[31] Troughton maintained the deception of having stayed with his original family that was so successful that his own mother died unaware of the separation in 1979, 24 years after Troughton had left Dunlop. Due to the disastrous drama Troughton caused during his divorce from Dunlop, his first daughter, Joanna, vowed never to speak to her father again. Their differences remained unresolved at the time of his death in 1987.[32] While Troughton never married Nuens, in 1976 he did marry Shelagh Holdup and acquired two stepchildren.[33]
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A poster on this very board told me about the rumour around Troughton's death, to much hilarity. :chuckle:

While I can't say the truth or otherwise of it bothers me, it's a variation of a story one hears a lot about different men. Not all are celebrities.
 
I am a huge Doctor Who fan - I mean massive - and some 15 odd years ago I worked in an office with a young-ish girl (early-ish 20s, I think) who I was told was related in some way to Patrick Troughton. Troughton has always been one of my favourite Doctors. He was in the role when I was around the right age to watch it from behind the sofa (not that I ever did that).

I remember being told that her step-brother (or half-brother?) was the actor Harry Melling, who at that time was known as Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin in the "Harry Potter" movies. Harry Melling is the grandson of Patrick Troughton.

My colleague was quite a quiet person and I didn't want to hassle her. Being such a huge fan of the show I was bursting to ask her about Troughton, but didn't want to be intrusive. Eventually I did ask her about her connection to Troughton. She seemed to be a bit embarrassed and I got the impression she wanted to play it down, so I let it go. I can't remember much about what she said, but I think I was none the wiser having asked her. I certainly didn't find out any details about Troughton's death.

I still don't know exactly how she was related, but I suspect she might not have been a blood relative. Whether she had two hearts or the ability to regenerate I cannot say.
 
Patrick Troughton was 'my' doctor.

Whether the rumour about his demise is true or not, you'd have to admire any bloke of 67 who could inspire fans sexual devotion to any degree.
 
catseye said:
...you'd have to admire any bloke of 67 who could inspire fans sexual devotion to any degree.
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Thanks. I moisturise.

maximus otter
 
catseye said:
Patrick Troughton was 'my' doctor.

Whether the rumour about his demise is true or not, you'd have to admire any bloke of 67 who could inspire fans sexual devotion to any degree.
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Without wishing to indulge in inappropriate black humour, imagine how thrilled the ... err... fan would have been if Patrick had suddenly been encased in an orangey blur .... then she had found herself in bed with Jon Pertwee.

I'm not one of those fans who can list all the Doctors in order of preference - I might have done once, but there have been too many now! - but I would have to say 'my' Doctors are threefold - Patrick, Tom and David.
 
Fluttermoth said:
He wasn't my Doctor (that would be Jon Pertwee), but he is my favourite Doctor. He definitely had something!
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I always remember my dad once trying to identify one of the Doctors by saying to me "you know which one I mean. He was the really ugly one."

It transpired he was talking about Troughton, though it was a bit like someone trying to identify their favourite Simpsons character as "the really yellow one".
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Without wishing to indulge in inappropriate black humour, imagine how thrilled the ... err... fan would have been if Patrick had suddenly been encased in an orangey blur .... then she had found herself in bed with Jon Pertwee.

I'm not one of those fans who can list all the Doctors in order of preference - I might have done once, but there have been too many now! - but I would have to say 'my' Doctors are threefold - Patrick, Tom and David.
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I know what you mean! I class Jon Pertwee as 'my' Doctor, because I have distinct memories of loving Pertwee's riding boots, and being scared of Tom Baker at first, with his mad hair and eyes, although I sometimes doubt myself, as I was only three (three!) at the time, but I loved Tom later, and there have been a LOT of good Doctors.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
I always remember my dad once trying to identify one of the Doctors by saying to me "you know which one I mean. He was the really ugly one."

It transpired he was talking about Troughton, though it was a bit like someone trying to identify their favourite Simpsons character as "the really yellow one".
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:chuckle:
Yes, they've not been the most conventionally handsome lot of actors, with the exception of Peter Davison; even Tennant to be honest, I remember people being not very complimentary about his looks in the beginning.

Not that I'm complaining, I don't think the Doctor should be boringly handsome, we have plenty of heroes like that already! I like a quirky, characterful actor for the Doctor :)
 
Hook-up at an SF convention? Back then?
Hard to believe. When I used to go to SF conventions back in the 80s, there were hardly any women. It was predominantly nerdy blokes with poor social skills.
 
The rumour goes on to tell that the fan ran out of the room screaming "Oh my god I've just killed Dr Who".

My experience of conventions is that yes UK ones are mostly male but US ones have a much larger percentage of female attendees for some reason.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Without wishing to indulge in inappropriate black humour, imagine how thrilled the ... err... fan would have been if Patrick had suddenly been encased in an orangey blur .... then she had found herself in bed with Jon Pertwee.
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:rollingw:
 
CharmerKamelion said:
Eventually I did ask her about her connection to Troughton. She seemed to be a bit embarrassed and I got the impression she wanted to play it down, so I let it go. I can't remember much about what she said, but I think I was none the wiser having asked her. I certainly didn't find out any details about Troughton's death.
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Well SHE was no sport then. :chuckle:

If you met her after he died, and his demise had indeed been interesting, and the family knew this, perhaps that's why she was coy.

Speculation piled upon speculation here. In a worthy cause. :cool:
 
escargot said:
Well SHE was no sport then. :chuckle:

If you met her after he died, and his demise had indeed been interesting, and the family knew this, perhaps that's why she was coy.

Speculation piled upon speculation here. In a worthy cause. :cool:
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Although, to be fair, I couldn't tell you how any of my grandparents actually died. I know they definitely did, and I've seen death certificates, but what they were doing when they went, I wouldn't know.
 
catseye said:
Although, to be fair, I couldn't tell you how any of my grandparents actually died. I know they definitely did, and I've seen death certificates, but what they were doing when they went, I wouldn't know.
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If they'd been famous like Troughton you might. :wink2:
 
Just ended up on here trying to find how Patrick Troughton died from the other thread today.
Also found this youtube footage of him at the convention the day before he died, apparently...
 
escargot said:
Well SHE was no sport then. :chuckle:

If you met her after he died, and his demise had indeed been interesting, and the family knew this, perhaps that's why she was coy.

Speculation piled upon speculation here. In a worthy cause. :cool:
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It might have been that she was descended from a member of his first family, so there may have been family tensions that meant she didn't really know much about her grandfather at all.

And I definitely wouldn't call Ncuti Gatwa ugly...;)
 
I heard that story too, @gordonrutter . Troughton had had "liaisons" with a fan described as "a Rustie Lee look-alike." When word reached the attendees later that day that he had died, said woman cried out "Oh my God, I killed Dr Who!"

It was widely reported at the time that he was found dead lying on his bed wearing his Dr Who costume.

I did actually meet someone who was at the convention. It must have been 1987, so only a few months after he died. The lady worked at a Florida bookshop and I was buying lots of Star Trek books. She was at the till and said was into SF too (though her main interest was Sherlock Holmes). She said she'd been at the con when Troughton died. I don't remember her saying anything else other than everyone was understandably upset.

Troughton is one of my favourite doctors; for one thing his performance ensured an audience when the show could have been cancelled after the gambit over Hartnell's replacement. My opinion has taken a bit of a dent finding out that he was a bit of a womaniser. He's been described as a trigamist and I think his son's biography reveals a bit more.
 
JamesWhitehead said:
Right then, Doctor, let's see if it's bigger inside than out! :)
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And of course, to quote Jackie Tyler's memorable line from "The Christmas Invasion" when Rose tells her the Doctor has two hearts : "Anything else he's got two of?"

Not exactly the most subtle line in Who history!
 
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