Anneke Wills
Encyclopedia
Anneke Wills is an English
actress, best-known for her role as the Doctor Who's companion
Polly
in the long-running BBC
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
.
. Alaric Wills's gambling debts forced his wife to find work while he became a captain in the British Army
and an absent figure. Anna was occupied as a companion to a blind aristocrat, gardener, teacher - moving Anneke and her brother Robin around the country.
Wills gained her first role at the age of 11 while she was living on a houseboat in Bray
, Berkshire
. The film was called Child's Play and she gave the £9 fee to her mother. Deciding she wanted to be an actress she then studied drama at the Arts Educational School and RADA
in London
and quickly became one of the busiest actresses of her generation, early roles included an appearance as Roberta in the second TV version of The Railway Children in 1957.
At 17 she began a relationship with Anthony Newley
while working on the TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade
. During the 1960s Wills spent much of her time at the famous Troubadour Coffee Shop and The Establishment
, and was part of the so-called Chelsea Set, counting among her close friends Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore
, The Alberts
, Sammy Davis Junior, Angela Douglas
and Kenneth More
, Mary Quant
and Sarah Miles
among others.
Wills married actor Michael Gough
in 1962, but Gough's infidelity and possessive nature led to the end of their marriage and the couple divorced in 1979. In 1966 she took the role of Polly
in Doctor Who and appeared in the show into 1967 alongside William Hartnell
and then Patrick Troughton
. Other television credits include appearances in The Avengers
and as Evelyn in Strange Report
(1969–70). She left the latter series when it was planned to switch filming to Hollywood.
In 1970 Anneke gave up acting and moved to Norfolk
, throwing herself into motherhood and gardening. During this time she travelled to Vietnam
and Laos
, and spent time at Poona, India
at the ashram
of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. She, known then as Ma Prem Anita and her son Jasper (Swami Dhyan Yogi) visited the ashram many times in the 1970s and early 80s.
She has remarried twice and lived in California
and in an artist's colony on Hornby Island
in Canada
, returning to the UK in the mid-1990s. She is still involved in the worlds of Doctor Who, being a popular guest at conventions
and being employed by the BBC
and Big Finish
to record various Doctor Who related audio and DVD projects.
The first volume of her autobiography, Self Portrait, was published in 2007 by Hirst Books, and a second volume, Naked followed in 2009.
On March 17, 2011 her ex-husband Michael Gough
died after a short illness.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actress, best-known for her role as the Doctor Who's companion
Companion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
Polly
Polly (Doctor Who)
Polly is a fictional character played by Anneke Wills in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young woman from the year 1966, she was a companion of the First and Second Doctors and a regular in the programme from 1966 to 1967.-Character history:Polly first...
in the long-running BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
Biography
Wills' parents, Alaric and Anna Willys planned to buy a house in the South of France but their intentions was ended by the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Alaric Wills's gambling debts forced his wife to find work while he became a captain in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and an absent figure. Anna was occupied as a companion to a blind aristocrat, gardener, teacher - moving Anneke and her brother Robin around the country.
Wills gained her first role at the age of 11 while she was living on a houseboat in Bray
Bray, Berkshire
Bray, sometimes known as Bray on Thames, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It stands on the banks of the River Thames, just south-east of Maidenhead. It is famous as the village mentioned in the song The Vicar of Bray...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
. The film was called Child's Play and she gave the £9 fee to her mother. Deciding she wanted to be an actress she then studied drama at the Arts Educational School and RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and quickly became one of the busiest actresses of her generation, early roles included an appearance as Roberta in the second TV version of The Railway Children in 1957.
At 17 she began a relationship with Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
while working on the TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade
The Strange World of Gurney Slade
The Strange World of Gurney Slade is a British six-part television series made by ATV which was transmitted by the ITV network between 22 October and 26 November 1960. A surreal series devised by Anthony Newley, who also starred, it was written by Dick Hills and Sid Green...
. During the 1960s Wills spent much of her time at the famous Troubadour Coffee Shop and The Establishment
The Establishment
The Establishment is a term used to refer to a visible dominant group or elite that holds power or authority in a nation. The term suggests a closed social group which selects its own members...
, and was part of the so-called Chelsea Set, counting among her close friends Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
, The Alberts
The Alberts
The Alberts were a British music/comedy troupe of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s, featuring brothers Tony and Douglas Gray. They often also appeared with Bruce Lacey. They were influenced by music hall, 1920s jazz and Surrealism...
, Sammy Davis Junior, Angela Douglas
Angela Douglas
Angela Douglas , born Angela McDonagh, is an English actress.-Early life:She was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire...
and Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
, Mary Quant
Mary Quant
Mary Quant OBE FCSD is a British] fashion designer and British fashion icon, who was instrumental in the mod fashion movement. She was one of the designers who took credit for inventing the miniskirt and hot pants. Born in Blackheath, London, to Welsh parents, Quant brought fun and fantasy to...
and Sarah Miles
Sarah Miles
-Early life and career:Sarah Miles was born in the small town of Ingatestone, Essex, in South East England.She first attended Roedean but at the age of 15 she enrolled at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
among others.
Wills married actor Michael Gough
Michael Gough
Michael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
in 1962, but Gough's infidelity and possessive nature led to the end of their marriage and the couple divorced in 1979. In 1966 she took the role of Polly
Polly (Doctor Who)
Polly is a fictional character played by Anneke Wills in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A young woman from the year 1966, she was a companion of the First and Second Doctors and a regular in the programme from 1966 to 1967.-Character history:Polly first...
in Doctor Who and appeared in the show into 1967 alongside William Hartnell
William Hartnell
William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
and then Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
. Other television credits include appearances in The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
and as Evelyn in Strange Report
Strange Report
Strange Report is a British television drama starring Anthony Quayle as Adam Strange. It was produced by ITC Entertainment and first broadcast in 1969....
(1969–70). She left the latter series when it was planned to switch filming to Hollywood.
In 1970 Anneke gave up acting and moved to Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, throwing herself into motherhood and gardening. During this time she travelled to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, and spent time at Poona, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
at the ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. She, known then as Ma Prem Anita and her son Jasper (Swami Dhyan Yogi) visited the ashram many times in the 1970s and early 80s.
She has remarried twice and lived in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and in an artist's colony on Hornby Island
Hornby Island
Hornby Island of British Columbia, Canada, is a Northern Gulf Island parallel with Vancouver Island's Comox Valley.A small community of 1,074 residents is distributed across the island. The island is culturally distinctive as it was the site of a large immigration of American draft dodgers during...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, returning to the UK in the mid-1990s. She is still involved in the worlds of Doctor Who, being a popular guest at conventions
Convention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
and being employed by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and Big Finish
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
to record various Doctor Who related audio and DVD projects.
The first volume of her autobiography, Self Portrait, was published in 2007 by Hirst Books, and a second volume, Naked followed in 2009.
On March 17, 2011 her ex-husband Michael Gough
Michael Gough
Michael Gough was an English character actor who appeared in over 150 films. He is perhaps best known to international audiences for his roles in the Hammer Horror films from 1958, and for his recurring role as Alfred Pennyworth in all four movies of the Burton/Schumacher Batman franchise,...
died after a short illness.
External links
- Official website
- Interview in the Daily MailDaily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
(2006-07-25)