Roger Delgado (born Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo de Roberto on 1 March 1918, died 18 June 1973[1]) portrayed the first on-screen incarnation of the Master in Doctor Who.
Early life and career[]
He was born in Whitechapel, London; his father was Spanish and his mother French. Delgado often remarked to Jon Pertwee, a close friend, that because he had been born within the sound of Bow Bells, that this made him a true Cockney.
Delgado worked extensively on the British stage, and on TV, film and radio. He appeared as journalist Hugh Conrad in the 1955 BBC television serial Quatermass II, had a role in the Powell and Pressburger war classic Battle of the River Plate, and came to wide popular attention in Britain when he played the duplicitous Spanish envoy Mendoza in the 1961 ITV series Sir Francis Drake, after which he was much in demand. His saturnine looks meant that he was frequently cast as a villain and he appeared in many noted British action-adventure TV series of the 1960s, including The Avengers (1961, 1969), Danger Man (1961), The Saint (1962, 1966), The Power Game (1966), Man in a Suitcase (1968), Mogul (1968), The Champions (1969), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969), The Persuaders! (1972) and Jason King (1972) — as well as detective shows such as Maigret (1962-63), Detective (1964), Sergeant Cork (1964), Sherlock Holmes (1965), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971); and The Zoo Gang (1973), which would sadly be his last ever on-screen British appearance. Another notable appearance was opposite Rex Harrison in an adaptation of The Adventures of Don Quixote for BBC Play of the Month (1973).
His film roles included one of the members of the title organisation in The Assassination Bureau (1968), starring Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed; and the Mexican Consul in the 1959 sci-fi Film First Man into Space. He also appeared in several films for Hammer: as Bundar, one of the titular stranglers in The Stranglers of Bombay (1959); Tang Hao, a Tong enforcer in The Terror of the Tongs (1961); and Hasmid in The Mummy's Shroud (1967). One of his performances on radio was the lead role on The Slide, written by Victor Pemberton. This story was later used as the basis for the Doctor Who adventure Fury from the Deep, also written by Pemberton.
Personal life[]
His wife, Kismet Delgado, voiced one of the Eight Legs in Planet of the Spiders a year after his death.
The Master[]
Roger Delgado as he appeared playing the villainous Master for the first time. (TV: Terror of the Autons)
He made his first appearance in Doctor Who in the 1971 adventure Terror of the Autons. He subsequently reprised the role of the Master in many of the Third Doctor's serials. At Delgado's request — he had been having trouble finding other work as other directors thought he was working full-time as the Master — the story arc featuring the Master was to have ended in The Final Game, with the character reportedly to have been killed off. Sadly, Delgado's sudden death forced the story to be scrapped, while the role has since been played by several other actors.
Death[]
Delgado died on location in Turkey whilst shooting his first comedy role in the French mini-series La cloche tibétaine (Bell of Tibet). He was killed, along with two film technicians, when the chauffeur-driven car in which he was travelling came off the road and plunged into a ravine. As such, he has the sad distinction of being the first semi-regular Doctor Who actor to die.
Pertwee often remarked that Delgado's death at the age of fifty-five was one of the catalysts that led to his own departure from Doctor Who the following year. Despite his villainous typecasting, friends and colleagues have constantly stated over the years that in real life Delgado was a kind and gentle man.
Richard Franklin reflected the tragedy of Delgado's death could have been prevented by Delgado himself as he says that Delgado accepting a ride on a chauffeur-driven car was a break in routine for him.
In The Essential Doctor Who - The Master in 2015 Franklin says that Delgado "never trusted unit drivers. There hadn't been any particular bad driving, he just didn't trust anyone other than himself to drive a car. He was very house-proud as far as his own driving was concerned. And so he didn't want this driver to be in a hurry and have an accident."
"You see, it's sad. He was always so well prepared."
Legacy[]
The documentary Roger Delgado: The Master, released on the DVD of Frontier in Space (which proved to be his final appearance in the role), serves as a dedicated biography of his life and career, both in and outside of Doctor Who. Joining his widow Kismet in sharing their memories of Roger were friends and colleagues included Barry Letts, Katy Manning, Terrance Dicks, Frazer Hines and William Gaunt.
Delgado's likeness appeared on the covers for the novels The Dark Path and The Face of the Enemy, both of which feature his version of the Master.
An archived voice-clip from The Dæmons was used in the TV story Utopia to represent this incarnation speaking from within the mind of the War Master turned human following the opening of the Chameleon Arch biodata module.
Delgado's Master appeared on a "Wanted" poster featured in the 2020 animation of Episode 1 of the 1967 story The Faceless Ones. Another poster featured in the 2020 animation of Episode 2 of the 1968 story Fury from the Deep.
Jon Culshaw narrated the Big Finish audiobooks Terror of the Master and Master Thief, both featuring Delgado's Master. He also recreated the role for The Diary of River Song audio story Rivers of Light.
Credits[]
Television[]
Doctor Who[]
As the Master
- Terror of the Autons
- The Mind of Evil
- The Claws of Axos
- Colony in Space
- The Dæmons
- The Sea Devils
- The Time Monster
- Frontier in Space
