Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was a British actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming best known as the first actor to play the Master in '' Doctor Who'' (1971–73).

Early life

Delgado was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a c ...

, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have un ...

; he often remarked to '' Doctor Who'' co-star and close friend

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

that this made him a true

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

, as he was born within the sound of Bow bells, even though his mother was Belgian and his father was Spanish. He did not live in the East End, but was brought up in Bedford Park in west London. He attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a Roman Catholic secondary school in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to ...

, and the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

for a brief period but did not complete his degree. He served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

with both the Leicestershire Regiment and the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield commun ...

, attaining the rank of major.

Career

Delgado worked extensively on the British stage, and on television, film and radio. His theatre debut was in 1939 and his first television appearance was 1948. He appeared in the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced t ...

serial '' Quatermass II'' (1955), the Powell and Pressburger wartime drama ''

Battle of the River Plate The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, command ...

'' (1956), and came to wide popular attention in Britain when he played the duplicitous Spanish envoy Mendoza in the

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

series, ''

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...

,'' from 1961 to 1962, after which he was in much demand. An in-joke in the 1971 ''Doctor Who'' story '' Colony in Space'' refers to that role, when the Brigadier tells the Doctor not to worry as the suspected sighting of the Master "was only the Spanish Ambassador". Delgado was frequently cast as a villain, appearing in many British action-adventure TV series by ITC, including ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'' (1961), '' The Saint'' (1962 and 1966), '' The Champions'' (1969), and '' Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' (1969). Delgado made a total of 16 guest appearances in ITC shows, the most of any actor, with his last completed role being ITC's '' The Zoo Gang'' (1974). He also appeared in ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

'' (1961 and 1969), '' The Power Game'' (1966), and an ''

ITV Play of the Week ''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes a ...

'' (''The Crossfire'', 1967). His films included '' The Terror of the Tongs'', '' The Road to Hong Kong'', '' The Mummy's Shroud'' and ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' ( First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in arou ...

''. He began work as The Master on '' Doctor Who'' in late 1970, his first broadcast appearance being in the January 1971 adventure '' Terror of the Autons''. He subsequently reprised the role of the Master in the

Third Doctor The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lor ...

serials '' The Mind of Evil'', '' The Claws of Axos'', '' Colony in Space'', ''

The Dæmons ''The Dæmons'' is the fifth and final serial of the eighth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in five weekly parts on BBC1 from 22 May to 19 June 1971. In the serial, the alien ...

'', '' The Sea Devils'', '' The Time Monster'' and '' Frontier in Space''. The Master's story arc was to have ended in ''The Final Game'', which was planned as the final story to feature Pertwee's Third Doctor, but the story was scrapped following Delgado's sudden death and replaced with '' Planet of the Spiders''.

Personal life

His first marriage was to Olga Anthonisz. The marriage ended in divorce. Delgado married Kismet Shahani in 1957 and they were together until his death in 1973. Shahani died in 2017.

Death

Delgado died on location in

Nevşehir Nevşehir (from the Persian compound ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city"), formerly Neapolis (Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις) and Muşkara, is a largely modern city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of T ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, whilst shooting ''La Cloche tibétaine'' (Tibetan Bell), a Franco/German television mini-series about the

Yellow Expedition The Yellow Expedition (french: Croisière Jaune) was a French trans-Asian expedition in 1931/1932. It was organized by Citroën in order to promote their P17 Kégresse track vehicles. The expedition started in Beirut and, the capital of French ...

. During this expedition,

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

motor cars traversed Asia in 1931–32 from

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

and

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Delgado appeared in one episode of this production. He was killed, along with two Turkish film technicians, when the car in which he was travelling went off the road into a ravine. He was 55 years old. Until 2017, there was mystery surrounding the fate of Delgado's remains. It appears that his ashes were scattered on 27 June 1973, in area RB3 (Plot 43) of the Garden of Remembrance at

Mortlake Cemetery Mortlake Cemetery is a cemetery in Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (historically in North Sheen, Surrey). It is also known as Hammersmith New Cemetery as it provided burials for the then Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith when ...

in Southwest London. He was cremated at Mortlake. The serial he was filming in Turkey continued production and was completed after his death. The series was broadcast on French and German television in 1974–1975; Delgado can be seen in episode 4 as the minor character Paco.

often remarked that Delgado's death was one of the reasons he decided to leave ''Doctor Who'' the following year.Archived a
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Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, Roger 1918 births 1973 deaths 20th-century British male actors Alumni of the London School of Economics British Army personnel of World War II British male film actors British male television actors British people of Belgian descent British people of Spanish descent People from Whitechapel Road incident deaths in Turkey Royal Corps of Signals officers Royal Leicestershire Regiment officers