John Scott Martin, RIP

[CalliArcale]

<p>John Scott Martin has passed away at the age of 82.&nbsp; He is best known to Whovians as the lead Dalek operator for nearly the entire run of the original series.&nbsp; (His first Dalek role was in "The Chase", but he had previously served on the show as a Zarbi operator in the 1965 serial "The Web Planet".)&nbsp; He may in fact be the longest serving Dr Who actor, having had frequent appearances from 1965 right up through 1988. </p><p>In addition to his Dalek and Zarbi work, he also operated a Mechanoid, a robot ("Colony in Space"), a Mutt, a Gell Guard, a Kriz, and The Nucleus of the Swarm.&nbsp; His actual face made several appearances as well, as he filled assorted extra roles through the years. </p><p>He may also have appeared as one of the Daleks in "Curse of Fatal Death", but I was unable to find a cast listing for the Dalek operators, and no Dalek operators are credited in the new series.&nbsp; (This might mean that modern Daleks are radio operated, but I don't know.&nbsp; It is not as common to credit non-speaking performers nowdays.)</p><p>Pink Floyd fans may know him as the dancing instructor in the film version of "The Wall". </p><p>Martin passed away at his home.&nbsp; He had developed Parkinson's Disease in his latter years, but had nevertheless expressed a desire to play a Dalek on the new series, but I don't believe he had the opportunity.</p><p>A fun quote from him:</p><p><font size="2">"I always thought playing a Dalek was as interesting as playing a cow in a pantomime - there was potential to put some personality into it.&nbsp; We had to believe that the Dalek was not a human being, yet it was still a being. That's not to say it wasn't really nasty." </font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>