TALL, dark-haired and with steely grey eyes, the actor Anthony Ainley was a charismatic figure both on and off the screen. Best known to millions of television viewers for his satanically accomplished performance as the Master in Doctor Who, he became a household name and a cult figure during the 1980s.
One of the most popular of all villains in the series, the Master was the Doctor’s most redoubtable adversary — evil on the grand scale. The part had originally been played by Roger Delgado from 1971 until his untimely death in a car crash in 1973. Ainley gave a new face to the role in 1981 and quickly became the man that viewers loved to hate. Generations of children hid behind the settee at his appearance. It was a gloriously theatrical performance that won wide praise and comparisons with actors such as Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price.
Ainley himself came from a distinguished theatre background. His father was the great Shakespearan actor Henry Ainley (1897-1945), famed for his beautiful speaking voice, good looks and charm. His brother Richard had enjoyed a successful career acting on stage in Britain and in Hollywood films.
Although Ainley had a keen interest in showbusiness, his first job was as an insurance clerk. Later, however, he decided to follow his family into the theatre. He studied at RADA, where he won the Fabia Drake prize for comedy. After graduating he worked in repertory at the Liverpool Playhouse and made his television debut as a police sergeant in the series It’s Dark Outside (1964).
On the West End stage he appeared in The Right Honourable Gentleman and Justice, as well as several fringe productions, including taking the title role in Macbeth.
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With his villainous saturnine looks he quickly became something of a fixture in horror films and thrillers, such as Naked Evil (1966), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970) and Satan’s Plaything (1971), but he was equally at home playing officials and military types. On television he starred in series such as Elizabeth R (1971), opposite Glenda Jackson, and Clouds of Witness (1971). But it was his appearance as the Rev Emilius in Anthony Trollope’s The Pallisers (1974) which eventually led to Doctor Who.
“The Rev Emilius was a rather smarmy and devious character,” Ainley recalled. “The producer John Nathan- Turner was working on it and remembered me when he took over Doctor Who. Later he asked me to play the Master. There was a similarity between the two characters. Both wore a superficial air of charm and dignity which concealed a wicked and sly nature underneath.”
Ainley wore little make-up for the part, which he made completely his own. He appeared as the Master for nine years opposite a succession of Doctors, but enjoyed a particularly good rapport with the actor Tom Baker.
After leaving the series he continued to appear on television and also spent much of his time attending Doctor Who conventions around the world where, much to his amusement and enjoyment, he was frequently mobbed by fans. Though polite and courteous, he had a cutting wit.
His first love was probably not acting but cricket. He was a stylish player and for more 40 years a popular member of the London Theatre’s cricket club, regularly topping the batting averages with more than 1,000 runs a season.
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He was noted for arriving at games fully dressed in flannels and sporting a cap which he never removed. Club members, however, gleefully recall the day when he was in the middle of a run and a gust of wind blew his cap off, swiftly followed by a somewhat ill-fitting toupee.
He is survived by his brother Tim.
Anthony Ainley, actor and cricketer, was born on August 20, 1937. He died of cancer on May 3, 2004, aged 66.