... (or Percy Kent–Smith, as we should probably call him in this context) was born in 1943 in Dunoon, a town on the Firth of Clyde in south–west Scotland. His father, who was English, had been killed in action a couple of months previously.
To most of us, Sylvester McCoy is best known as the seventh Doctor Who, and the last in the original run (before the 2005 revival) – a part he played from 1987 to 1989.
He acquired his stage name in the 1970s, when he was appearing with the Ken Campbell Roadshow – an experimental theatre troupe whose members also included Bob Hoskins and Brian Murphy. Indeed it was Murphy who coined the name Sylveste McCoy, which was later changed to Sylvester because of a superstition that it was unlucky for an actor to have a name consisting of thirteen letters. (That must be why I never made it on stage or screen.) On the Roadshow, McCoy would perform stunts such as putting a fork and nails up his nose, stuffing ferrets down his trousers, and setting his head on fire.
From there he moved on to children's television, including Vision On (where he played Pepe/Epep, a character who lived in the mirror) and Tiswas. He then landed the role of Doctor Who, for which he is best remembered today.
More recently he has played Radagast – a wizard with an affinity for animals, extensive knowledge of herbs, and shape–changing abilities – in Peter Jackson's Hobbit film trilogy. This character was little more than a plot device in Tolkien's version, but was expanded for the films.
© Haydn Thompson 2020