Tom Pheby pays tribute to the man who originally portrayed Davros, the creator of the Daleks, Michael Wisher.
It's not widely known
outside of the kingdom of 'Whodum' that Michael Wisher had been
involved in Doctor Who for many years before he ever portrayed the
monstrous Davros in 'Genesis of the Daleks'. He was an actor that was
hardly ever out of work because of his ability and versatility, and
he quickly managed to establish himself on the small screen inclassic
Sixties shows such as Z Cars and Dixon of Dock Green, and later in
shows such as Colditz, Moonbase 3 and Blakes 7. He also continued to
cram in theatre performances as often as his busy schedule would
allow, whether it was in recognised professional productions or
smaller amateur ventures that caught his interest.
His association with
Doctor Who stretches back to 1968 where he provided a voice on "The
Seeds of Death", over the years he would continue to provide
voices for other stories in the series adding to his increasing
reputation as an actor. He was later asked if he could provide the
voice of a Dalek by a producer and said "I'll do anything for
£25." He pointed out that they only had three tones , High,
Medium and Low and performed all three to make his point.
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| Michael Wisher as John Wakefield in 'The Ambassadors Of Death' (1970) |
In 1973 He made his
Dalek debut in 'The Frontier In Space', but he was no stranger to
appearing in front of Camera either, turning up as a reporter in "The
Ambassadors of Death" (70) as Rex Farrell in 'Terror of the
Autons'' (71) and Commissioner Kalik in "Carnival of Monster"
(73). Although Wisher was serious about his craft, he came across as
witty, warm and totally unpretentious, and when he wasn't acting he
loved to talk about his work.
It's reasonable to
describe him as a "method actor" because of the
extraordinary lengths he went to at rehearsals after winning the role
of Davros. He sat in a wheelchair, with one arm unused during script
run throughs and even resorted to wearing a paper bag so that he
could get used to the restrictions of the latex mask when it arrived.
Tom Baker revealed that Wisher enjoyed many cigarettes during
rehearsals and would smoke with the bag still on. The exhaled smoke
would then exit out of the top from a small vent that Wisher himself
had made. This may be true or just another of Tom's entertaining
yarns but its an amusing thought, especially if Wisher insisted on
remaining in character. Lord knows how he would manage this today
with Health and Safety restrictions, you can't so much as fart in a
spacesuit without being warned about inhaling toxins and having a
large luminous yellow sticker attached to your forehead!
Insiders also revealed
the quirky Wisher was dressed in a kilt from the waist down and wore
wads of padding on his legs. (McDavros of The Dalek clan!) this was
said to be more comfortable when he was trying to navigate around the
sets in his Dalek style chair. More examples of Michael's wit was
when he was asked 'What is the first impression you give?' he said:
'Negative.' When asked what he liked to do with his time, he replied
: 'Waste it.' He also said his greatest ambition in life was 'to be
retired'.
In a way Wisher,
seemingly by choice, made himself virtually anonymous by being
disinterested in the trappings of stardom , He seemed to favour the
quality of the work he undertook, although he liked the financial
rewards.(£25 in 1973 is worth £250 today). He had the ability to
support the main actors without overshadowing them, provide
interesting voices and still managed to perform from behind a mass of
latex rubber. One suspects he liked the anonymity of make up, that it
allowed him greater freedom as an actor, this is something Doctor Who
provided him with time and time again.
His chilling portrayal
of Davros made sure he would be a firm favourite with the fans. It
wasn't just a triumph of the writer and make up artist, although they certainly did play their part, it was Wisher's dramatic delivery
and timing - a perfect performance, even if he did do it in a Kilt!
It's a pity that other commitments prevented him from resuming the
role in 'Destiny of The Daleks', although this may have been a
fortunate escape because the script was a glorious muddle. Douglas
Adams (usually a safe pair of hands) couldn't seem to make his mind
up about what sort of episode it was and so it ended up being neither
comedy nor drama, and as a result it failed to reach the heights of
other episodes. It was David Gooderson
(1979) that portrayed the Doctor's nemesis that time around, followed by Terry Malloy (1984-1988) and most recently, Julien Bleach (2008).
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| Michael Wisher during make-up for Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans (1994) |
Michael Wisher did
return to the world of Doctor Who, he reprised his most famous role in the stage production 'The Trial Of Davros' (93), and contributed to some of the BBV productions, including The Airzone Solution (93) and Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans (94). His final appearance was in the documentary 'Dalekmania' (95) which was recorded just
before his untimely death from a sudden heart attack.
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