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->''When I look back on my career, I think I might have done more classical work, but I jolly well don't mind. A friend who's done a lot of that said, [[MoneyDearBoy "Yes, but look, you're rich."]] Which is kind of true.''

William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an English actor widely known for his appearances in ''Series/DoctorWho'' as the recurring character of Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

The son of a British diplomat, and educated in several places in Europe and Africa, he in fact performed national service in the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships British Army]] for 18 months before leaving to pursue a career in acting. Despite having guest appearances in well known shows and [[CultClassic cult classics]] like ''Series/{{All Creatures Great And Small|1978}}'', ''Series/{{The Avengers|1960s}}'', ''Series/TheBill'', ''Series/{{Casualty}}'', ''Series/{{Doctors}}'', ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', ''Series/TheSaint'', ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' and ''Series/YesPrimeMinister'', he became well known for his aforementioned recurring role in ''Series/DoctorWho'', where he made his debut as the Brigadier in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]". Despite this, he first appeared on the show alongside Creator/WilliamHartnell in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]" as a different character. He had been considered for the role of UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart in the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E6TheCrusade The Crusade]]" but impressed the director so much that he was kept in mind for future casting opportunities, leading to his casting as the Brigadier (then Colonel) soon after.

The majority of his appearances came alongside Creator/JonPertwee, during the Doctor's exile to Earth and subsequent working alongside UNIT between Seasons 7-11. It was here the catchphrase "FiveRoundsRapid" was first heard. (Amusingly enough, he would later use that for the title of his autobiography.) Even if his status as a companion is debated, his significance as a character is never in question. Despite limited appearances after those seasons he reprised the role in several audio plays, and would ultimately gain the distinction of being the only actor to work with every Doctor up to Creator/PaulMcGann. When the series was relaunched he sadly never made an appearance alongside UNIT, although he was referenced via his tendency to get [[PutOnABus stuck in Peru]]. However he finally returned to the Whoniverse via ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' in a reunion with Sarah Jane herself. An appearance in the episode ''The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith'', which would have seen him meet the [[Creator/DavidTennant Tenth Doctor]], [[WhatCouldHaveBeen had to be withdrawn]] due to him suffering a stroke.

It was a tragic day for the series and fans when it was announced [[TearJerker he had passed away following a long battle with cancer]] on the 22nd of February, 2011. (As if that wasn't enough, his friend and co-star [[Creator/ElisabethSladen Elisabeth "Lis" Sladen]] would be claimed by the same disease barely two months later. ''Series/DoctorWho'' lost two of its most beloved icons in a matter of weeks.) He is survived by his wife and two children. Most of the tributes [[ManlyTears remarked]] how he was an OfficerAndAGentleman, with close friend Creator/TomBaker saying, "We shall miss him terribly." Truer words were rarely spoken.

!! Works with pages on TV Tropes that he appeared in:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: TV ]]

* ''Series/TheSaint'', episodes:
** "The Contract" (1965) -- Policeman
** "The Abductors" (1965) -- Alain
* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', episodes:
** "Propellant 23" (1962) -- Captain Legros
** " Mission... Highly Improbable" (1967) -- Gifford
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]" (1965) -- Bret Vyon
** 102 episodes / 23 stories[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion The Invasion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E2DoctorWhoAndTheSilurians Doctor Who and the Silurians]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E3TheAmbassadorsOfDeath The Ambassadors of Death]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno Inferno]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E1TerrorOfTheAutons Terror of the Autons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil The Mind of Evil]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos The Claws of Axos]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E4ColonyInSpace Colony in Space]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Dæmons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Day of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster The Time Monster]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors The Three Doctors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath The Green Death]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior The Time Warrior]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E3MawdrynUndead Mawdryn Undead]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWho20thASTheFiveDoctors The Five Doctors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E1Battlefield Battlefield]]"[[/labelnote]] (1968-89) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
* ''Series/TheChampions'': "The Experiment" (1968) -- Doctor Farley
* ''Series/{{Callan}}'': "The Running Dog" (1969) -- David Forbes
* ''Series/RandallAndHopkirkDeceased'': "The Ghost Who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo" (1969) -- Max
* ''Series/JasonKing'': "Wanna Buy a Television Series?" (1971) -- Dr. Staymam
* ''Series/{{Doomwatch}}'': "Cause of Death" (1972) -- Phillip
* ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'', 1 episode (1973) -- Dickie Chapman
* ''Series/TheRivalsOfSherlockHolmes'': "Cell 13" (1973) -- Hutchinson Hatch
* ''Series/{{Whodunnit|UK}}'', 2 episodes (1977) -- Peter Hampshire
* ''Series/{{All Creatures Great And Small|1978}}'': "Matters of Life and Death" (1980) -- Paul Cotterell
* ''Series/{{Minder}}'': "The Balance of Power" (1984) -- Raymond Wilkins
* ''Series/YesPrimeMinister'': "A Diplomatic Incident" (1987) -- Police Commissioner
* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': "Dates" (1988) -- Charles
* ''Series/TheBill'', episodes:
** "Crown v Cooper" (1991) -- Judge
** "Good Cop, Bad Cop" (2007) -- Dr. Nigel Botterill
* ''Series/ScreenOne'': "Born Kicking" (1992) -- Tim Ayling
* ''Series/ChildrenInNeed'': "[[Recap/DoctorWho30thASDimensionsInTime Dimensions in Time]]" (1993) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
* ''Series/{{Doctors}}'': "Heart on His Sleeve" (2005) -- Edmund Black
* ''Series/{{Casualty}}'': "The Fires Within" (2007) -- Claude Devigny
* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'': "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E11E12EnemyOfTheBane Enemy of the Bane]]" (2008) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Audio Play ]]

* Radio/ThirdDoctorRadioDramas: 2 radio serials[[labelnote:show list]]"Radio/TheParadiseOfDeath", "The Ghosts Of N-Space"[[/labelnote]] (1993-96) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
* AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho:
** ''Main Range'': 3 releases[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho009TheSpectreOfLanyonMoor The Spectre of Lanyon Moor]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho019MinuetInHell Minuet In Hell]]"[[/labelnote]] (2000-01) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
** ''Main Range'': "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho050Zagreus Zagreus]]" (2003) -- The TARDIS/Brigadier image
** ''Doctor Who Unbound'' -- 2 releases [[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnboundE2SympathyForTheDevil Sympathy for the Devil]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnboundE8MastersOfWar Masters of War]]"[[/labelnote]] (2003-08) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
** ''Companion Chronicles'': 2 releases[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoCCS2E3OldSoldiers Old Soldiers]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoCCSSpecialsTheThreeCompanions The Three Companions]]"[[/labelnote]] (2007-11) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
** ''UNIT'': 3 releases[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnitTheCoup The Coup]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnitTimeHeals Time Heals]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnitTheWasting The Wasting]]"[[/labelnote]] (2004-05) -- Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
** ''Bernice Summerfield'': "[[Recap/BigFinishBSS1E1OhNoItIsnt Oh No It Isn't!]]" (1998) -- Wolsey the Cat

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