Sylvester McCoy

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Sylvester McCoy
McCoy at the 2018 MCM London Comic Con
Born	Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (1943-08-20) 20 August 1943 (age 81) Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Other names	Sylvester McCoy Sylveste McCoy Kent Smith
Education	Blairs College
Occupation(s)	Actor, physical comedian
Years active	1964–present
Known for	Seventh incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who
Spouse	Agnes Verkaik
Children	2
Website	sylvestermccoy.tv

Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian,^[1][2] he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to 1989—the final Doctor of the original run—and briefly returning in a television film in 1996. He is also known for his work as Radagast in The Hobbit film series (2012–2014).

McCoy was born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith^[3] in Dunoon, on the Cowal peninsula, to an Irish Catholic mother and an English father who had been killed in action in World War II a couple of months before McCoy was born;^[4] he met his father's family at the age of 17.^[3] His mother suffered a mental breakdown when McCoy was eight years old, and was institutionalised thereafter.^[5] Prior to adopting his stage name, McCoy was known as Kent Smith; he was unaware of his given names until he was eleven.^[5]

McCoy was raised primarily in Dunoon,^[3] where he attended Saint Mun's School; he then studied for the priesthood at Blairs College, a seminary in Aberdeen between the ages of 12 and 16,^[3] but gave this up and continued his education at Dunoon Grammar School.^[4] After school he moved to London where he worked in the insurance industry for five years.^[6] He worked in the box office of The Roundhouse for a time, where he was discovered by Ken Campbell.^[7]

McCoy came to prominence as a member of the experimental theatre troupe "The Ken Campbell Roadshow". His best known act was as a stuntman character called "Sylveste McCoy" in a play entitled An Evening with Sylveste McCoy (the name was coined by actor Brian Murphy, who worked beside Kent-Smith at the Roundhouse Theatre and originated in the Wolfe Tones version of "Big Strong Man"^[8]), where his stunts included putting a fork and nails up his nose and stuffing ferrets down his trousers, and setting his head on fire. As a joke, the programme notes listed Sylveste McCoy as played by "Sylveste McCoy" and, conscious that he may have needed to distinguish himself from the American actor Kent Smith as his career progressed, Kent-Smith maintained the stage name. Canadian critic Milton Shulman believed McCoy's name and fictionalised biography were genuine in his review of the Roadshow.^[5]

Notable television appearances before he gained the role of the Doctor included roles in Vision On (where he played Pepe/Epep, a character who lived in the mirror), an O-Man in Jigsaw and Tiswas. Every episode of the innovative ATV schools maths programme Leapfrog featured McCoy as "Bert" in wordless sequences filmed out of doors, as he attempted to form regular geometric patterns from different numbers of logs or carpet squares. He also appeared in Eureka, often suffering from the effects of inventions of Wilf Lunn, and as Wart, assistant to StarStrider in the Children's ITV series of the same name. McCoy also portrayed, in one-man shows on the stage, two famous movie comedians: Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton. While playing Laurel, who had adopted his stage name due to the perceived bad luck of his real name containing thirteen letters, McCoy realised his stage name also had thirteen letters and added an "r" to the end of "Sylveste".^[5] He also appeared as Henry "Birdie" Bowers in the 1985 television serial about Scott's last Antarctic expedition, The Last Place on Earth.

McCoy also had a small role in the 1979 film Dracula opposite Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence, and has sung with the Welsh National Opera.

McCoy became the Seventh Doctor after taking over the lead role in Doctor Who in 1987 from Colin Baker. He remained on the series until it ended in 1989, ending with Survival (his twelfth and final serial as the Doctor). As Baker declined the invitation to film the regeneration scene, McCoy briefly wore a wig and appeared, face-down until the last moment before the regeneration commenced as the Sixth Doctor, with his face concealed by regeneration special effects. He played the Doctor in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, and again in 1996, appearing in the beginning of the Doctor Who television movie starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.

In his first season, McCoy used his background in physical comedy to portray the character with a degree of clown-like humour, but script editor Andrew Cartmel soon changed that when fans argued that the character (and plots) were becoming increasingly lightweight. The Seventh Doctor developed into a much darker figure than any of his earlier incarnations, manipulating people like chess pieces and always seeming to be playing a deeper game. A distinguishing feature of McCoy's performances was his manner of speech. He used his natural Scottish accent and rolled his rs. At the start of his tenure he used proverbs and sayings adapted to his own ends (e.g. "There's many a slap twixt cup and lap" – Delta and the Bannermen), although this characteristic was phased out during the later, darker series of his tenure. In 1990, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted McCoy's Doctor "Best Doctor", over perennial favourite Tom Baker.^[9] Since 1999 he has continued acting in the role of the Seventh Doctor in a series of audio plays for Big Finish Productions.

In November 2013 McCoy co-starred in the one-off 50th anniversary comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.^[10]

In January 2021, McCoy returned to the role of the Doctor alongside Bonnie Langford as Mel Bush, in "A Business Proposal for Mel!" This short, acted as an announcement trailer for 'The Collection: Season 24' Blu-Ray set, which was released later that year.^[11]

McCoy reprised the role of the Doctor in the 2022 special "The Power of the Doctor", and again in the series Tales of the TARDIS.^[12]

McCoy's television roles since Doctor Who have included Michael Sams in the 1997 drama Beyond Fear, shown on the first night of broadcast of Channel 5. In 1988, while still appearing in Doctor Who, McCoy presented a BBC children's programme called What's Your Story?, in which viewers were invited to phone in suggestions for the continuation of an ongoing drama.

He has also acted extensively in theatre in productions as diverse as pantomime and Molière. He played Grandpa Jock in John McGrath's A Satire of the Four Estaites (1996) at the Edinburgh Festival. He played the role of Snuff in the macabre BBC Radio 4 comedy series The Cabaret of Dr Caligari.

McCoy missed out on a role in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl^[13] and was the second choice to play the role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.^[7] In 1991, he presented the Doctor Who video documentary release The Hartnell Years showcasing selected episodes of missing stories from the First Doctor's era.

McCoy appeared as the lawyer Dowling in a BBC Production of Henry Fielding's novel, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling. In 2001 he appeared in Paul Sellar's asylum comedy "The Dead Move Fast" at the Gilded Balloon as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, playing the role of Doctor Mallinson. In 2012 he played the part of the suicidal Mr. Peters in JC Marshall's play, Plume, at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.^[14]

McCoy has appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and in King Lear in 2007, playing the Fool to Ian McKellen's Lear,^[15] a performance which made use of McCoy's ability to play the spoons. The RSC production with McKellen and McCoy was staged in Melbourne, during late July/early August 2007 and Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, during mid to late August 2007. It came into residence at the New London Theatre in late 2007, ending its run in January 2008. He reprised the role for the 2008 television movie of the production.^[16]

In May 2008 he performed with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, playing the title role. He only performed with the company briefly, for the week of the show's run performing at the Sheffield Lyceum. Despite being set in Japan, he was able to demonstrate his ability to play the spoons by using his fan. In 2009 McCoy played the character of Mr. Mushnik in the Chocolate Factory's production of Little Shop of Horrors.^[17]

He has also made guest appearances in the television series The Bill, the Rab C. Nesbitt episode "Father" as Rab's mentally ill brother Gash Sr.^[18] and the Still Game episode "Oot" (AKA "Out"), where he played a hermit-type character adjusting to life in modern Glasgow, having remained in his house for over 30 years. In October 2008, he had a minor guest role as an injured ventriloquist on Casualty. In the same month McCoy guest starred in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors, playing an actor who once played the time-travelling hero of a children's television series called "The Amazing Lollipop Man". The role was written as a tribute to McCoy.^[19][20]

In January and February 2016, McCoy appeared in the three-part BBC series The Real Marigold Hotel, which followed a group of celebrity senior citizens including Miriam Margolyes and Wayne Sleep on a journey to India.^[21]

In 2017 he returned to the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the production A Joke alongside Star Trek: Voyager actor Robert Picardo.^[22]

McCoy began filming for The Hobbit, a three-part adaptation of the book, in 2011. He portrays the wizard Radagast,^[23] alongside fellow King Lear actor Ian McKellen who reprises his role as Gandalf.

Although the character of Radagast is only alluded to in The Hobbit, and only a minor character in The Lord of the Rings, the part was expanded for the films.

McCoy and his wife, Agnes Verkaik,^[24] have two sons. They were filmed for the Doctor Who serial The Curse of Fenric playing Haemovores, but their scenes were deleted from the finished release.^[25] According to McCoy, his sons live in Holland and Thailand.^[26]

He was brought up a Catholic by his maternal grandmother and aunts^[4] but is now an atheist.^[27]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, McCoy spent some of lockdown living in France.^[26]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Dracula	Walter	As Sylveste McCoy
	All the Fun of the Fair	Scotch Jack
	The Secret Policeman's Ball	Sylvester McCoy
1987	Three Kinds of Heat	Harry Pimm
1995	Leapin' Leprechauns!	Flynn
1996	Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns	Flynn
1997	Beyond Fear	Michael Sams
2000	The Mumbo Jumbo	Mr. Tallman
2004	Griffin	Grim
2006	The Battersea Ripper	Duncan
2008	King Lear	The Fool
2009	The Academy	Felix
	The Academy Part 2: First Impressions	Felix
2010	Punk Strut: The Movie	DJ
2012	Eldorado	General Zwick
	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Radagast
2013	The Christmas Candle	Edward Haddington
	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	Radagast
	Quest: A Tall Tale	Ardan	Voice
2014	The Seventeenth Kind	Rusty
	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Radagast
2017	Slumber	Amado
2020	You	Vasilij Grossman
	The Owners	Dr. Richard Huggins
	Lost at Christmas	Ernie
2022	The Munsters	Igor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1964–1976	Vision On	Various
1973	Roberts Robots	Robot Entertainer	Episode: "Dial C for Chaos"
1975	Lucky Feller	Sylveste	Pilot episode
1977	For the Love of Albert	Cast Member	Unknown episodes
1978	Leapfrog	Bert	All 28 episodes
1979	Jigsaw	O-Man
	Turning Year Tales	Turps	Episode: "Big Jim and the Figaro Club"
	Jackanory	Reader	Episode: "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
	The Secret Policeman's Ball	Himself
1980	BBC2 Playhouse	Kerwin	Episode: "Electric in the City"
1981	Big Jim and the Figaro Club	Turps	5 episodes
	Tiny Revolutions	Cabaret comedian	TV movie
	Tiswas	Various
1982–1986	Eureka	Various	All 32 episodes
1984	Starstrider	Wart
1985	The Last Place on Earth	Lt. 'Birdie' Bowers	6 episodes
	No 73	Moving man	Episode: "Moving Space"
	Dramarama	Donald	Episode: "Frog"
1987–1989, 2022	Doctor Who	Seventh Doctor	44 episodes
1988	What's Your Story?	Narrator / Presenter
1988	Tomorrow’s World	Himself	Christmas special
1989	The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow	Seventh Doctor
1990	Search Out Science		Episode "Search Out Space"
1991	Thrill Kill Video Club	Spoons	Video
1993	Jackanory	Storyteller	2 episodes
1994	Frank Stubbs	Angus	Episode: "Mr. Chairman"
1996	Rab C. Nesbitt	Gash Senior	Episode: "Father"
	Doctor Who	Seventh Doctor	TV movie[28]
1997	The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling	Mr. Dowling	4 episodes
1999, 2001	See It Saw It	Jester	1 episode
		The Lord High Chamberlain / Aunt Grizelda	Episode: "Courage and Adventure"
2001	Casualty	Kev the Rev	Episode: "Life and Soul"
2002	Hollyoaks	Leonard Cave	1 episode
	The Bill	Ian Drew	Episode: "010"
2004	Still Game	Archie	Episode: "Oot"
2006	The Bill	Morris Shaw	Episode: "457"
	Mayo	Reverend Beaver	Episode: "Late of This Parish"
2008	Great Performances	The Fool	Episode: "King Lear"
	Casualty	Ashley Millington	Episode: "The Evil That Men Do"
	Doctors	Graham Capelli	Episode: "The Lollipop Man"
2009	Al Murray's Multiple Personality Disorder	Nazi Doctor	1 episode
2013	The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot	Himself	TV film
2015	Crims	Mr. Dunlop	Episode: "Day Thirty-Six"
2017–2018	Sense8	The Old Man of Hoy	4 episodes
	Zapped	Lord Protector	3 episodes
2017	Sarah & Duck	Comet	Episode: "Comet's Coming"
2018	Holby City	Clive Brooker	Episode: "All Lies Lead to the Truth"
2019	Thunderbirds Are Go	Aezethril the Wizard	Episode: "Endgame"
2023	Tales of the TARDIS	Seventh Doctor	Episode: "The Curse of Fenric"
2024	Father Brown	Dr. Angus McClurgy	Episode: "The Hermit of Hazelnut Cottage"

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	An Italian Straw Hat	Fadinard	Theatre Royal, Stratford East
	Bloody Mary
1976	Bartholomew Fair	Ezechiel Edgworth / Puppet operator	Nottingham Playhouse
1977-8	White Suit Blues	Angel / Ben Rogers / Mark Twain / Pallbearer / Prisoner / Robot	The Old Vic and Nottingham Playhouse
1980	Gone With Hardy	Stan Laurel	Nottingham Playhouse
1980-1	Robin Hood	Mrs Campbell	Theatre Royal, Stratford East
1981	Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!	Sergeant/Inspector/Undetaker/Grandfather	Criterion Theatre
1982-3	The Pirates of Penzance	Samuel	Theatre Royal
1983	The Ghost Train		Lyric Theatre
	Abracadabra
1985-6	Bedtime Story		Bristol Old Vic
1986	Dracula, or Out For The Count		Lyric Theatre
	Antony and Cleopatra		Theatre Royal
	The Taming of the Shrew
	The Pied Piper	The Pied Piper	National Theatre – Olivier, National Theatre and Camera Theater Tel Aviv
1987			National Theatre – Lyttelton, National Theatre
1988	Love Songs of World War III: The Adrian Mitchell Songbook	Company	National Theatre – Cottesloe Theatre (now National Theatre – Dorfman), National Theatre
1989-90	Aladdin		Palace Theatre
1990	Temptation	Fistula	Westminster Theatre
1991	The Marriage of Figaro	Count Almaviva	Watford Palace Theatre
1992-3	Cinderella		Theatre Royal, Bath
1995	Zorro The Musical!	Bernardo	Theatre Royal
1998	Life is a Dream	Clarin	Royal Lyceum Theatre
1999			Barbican Theatre
2001-2	The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	Mr. Beaver	Sadler’s Wells Theatre
2003	Noises Off	Selsdon Mowbray	Grand Theatre & Opera House, Leeds, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and other locations
2005	Arsenic and Old Lace	Dr Einstein	Mercury Theatre and Richmond Theatre
	Aladdin	Abanazar	Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
2007-8	King Lear	Lear's Fool	Courtyard Theatre, Theatre Royal and other locations

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	The Shieling of the One Night	Fergus
2008	Pass Them On	The Administrator
2015	The Last Conjuror	Arthur Roberts
2016	Tale of a Timelord	The Doctor
2018	Beauty	Henry
2021	24 Carat	Seventh Doctor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Hartnell Years	Presenter
1993	The Airzone Solution	Anthony Stanwick
1994	The Zero Imperative	Dr. Colin Dove
1996	Bidding Adieu	Himself	Documentary
2001	Do You Have a License To Save This Planet?	'The Foot Doctor'	Short film

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1997	Destiny of the Doctors	Seventh Doctor	[29]
2015	Lego Dimensions		Archive voice
2024	Fallout: London	Mysterious Scientist 1	Guest role[30]

Year	Title	Role	Company	Director |	Notes
2014	Three Sisters	Dr. McGillivrey	Tron Theatre, Glasgow	Andy Arnold	adaptation by John Byrne
2022	Apartness	Christopher	K4K Films and Shortcut Productions

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Prince Caspian	Reepicheep	BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation
	The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
1997	The Last Battle
1998–2000	The Time Travellers	The Professor	BBV Productions
1999–2021	Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures	Seventh Doctor	93 stories
2001	Doctor Who: Death Comes To Time		5-part webcast
2007, 2012–2015	Bernice Summerfield		9 stories
2011	Doctor Who: The Lost Stories		4 stories
2011-2013	The Minister of Chance	The Witch Prime	5 stories
2012	Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles	Seventh Doctor	Story: "Project Nirvana"
2012-2016	Doctor Who: The Novel Adaptations		8 stories
2015	The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty: The Dragon And The Raven	Cedric the Shipwright
2016	The Diary of River Song	Seventh Doctor	2 stories
2018–present	The Seventh Doctor Adventures		11 stories

• Sylvester McCoy at IMDb