John Levene

John Levene (born John Anthony Woods; 24 December 1941) is an English actor, producer, entertainer and singer. Although he has appeared in a large number of films and television series, Levene's best-known role is that of Sergeant Benton, of UNIT in the science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', a role he played from 1968 to 1975.

Early life

Levene was born as John Anthony Woods in Salisbury, Wiltshire on Christmas Eve 1941, the eldest child of Austin and Vera Woods (née Blake); he has a younger brother called Michael. Levene was born breeched, jaundiced and was dead for the first couple of minutes of his life after he suffocated from a piece of afterbirth being stuck in his airways and his heart stopped beating for two minutes until the doctor removed the blockage. Levene's father was a sergeant in the army and was on board the SS Empire Baffin; upon his return he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal by King George VI. Shortly after being temporarily blinded in one eye from falling onto a pen knife, Levene was left bed-ridden for two years after contracting a severe blood infection; he had to have a blood transfusion although the blood he was given was contaminated which made his condition worse giving him severe hallucinations. Levene attended St. Thomas's school in Salisbury although missing two years of school due to his illness, being dyslexic and being bullied resulted in him failing his eleven-plus exams.

After leaving school, Levene's first job was being a car mechanic at a garage during the day and then being a nurse at the local hospital in the evenings. Other jobs that Levene had later on included being a tallyman, a window cleaner and a cement mixer at a building site at Boscombe Down. Wanting to leave Wiltshire due to having no work prospects and a bad relationship with his father, Levene moved to Jersey and became a menswear salesman in the biggest shop on the island, Noel and Porter. Levene got his girlfriend pregnant with a daughter, Samantha, so they married and relocated to London where they had a son, Jason. The family lived next door to Anthony Hopkins before he became famous. Levene would often help the actor learn his lines.

Levene began working in Hope Brothers, a men's clothing store on Regent Street in London when Telly Savalas came to the store and encouraged him to sign up as an actor for ''The Dirty Dozen'' (1967). Although he failed to secure a part in the film, since he was not a union member, he became interested in acting. Upon joining Equity, he adopted the professional name John Levene to avoid confusion with another John Woods who was already registered with the union.

Career

Levene's first acting role was in the television series ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' in 1967 and shortly after secured a regular role as the desk sergeant in ''Z Cars''. Levene formed a good working relationship with the director Douglas Camfield who made roles for Levene in his other television series. Other TV roles included episodes of '' The Newcomers'' (1966), ''UFO'' (1970), ''Callan'' (1972), '' The Adventurer'' (1972) and ''Carry On Laughing'' (1975). Levene also featured in the opening titles of the television series ''Paul Temple'' as the man running down the corridor; there is a moment when the man turns around that he can be easily identified as Levene.

Levene's first film part was due to be in ''The Man Who Haunted Himself'' (1970) with Roger Moore, a film about two versions appearing of the same man, played by Moore. Levene was to play the double when Moore's character is in shot with Levene's back to the camera. After winning the part and getting on well with Moore, the producers told Levene shortly after that he would no longer star in the film as Moore was concerned that Levene was smarter than he was. Despite this, Levene went on to appear in the films ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (1970), ''Zeppelin'' (1971), ''Go for a Take'' (1972), ''Psychomania'' (1973), ''The Blockhouse'' (1973), '' Dark Places'' (1974) and ''Permission to Kill'' (1975).

''Doctor Who''

Levene made his first appearances in ''Doctor Who'' as an uncredited Cyberman due to his tall stature in the 1967 serial ''The Moonbase'' and as a Yeti in ''The Web of Fear'', before appearing in '' The Invasion'' (1968), again as a Cyberman, in the iconic scene where the Cybermen march down the steps in front of St. Paul's Cathedral. Levene also made his first appearance as then-Corporal Benton of UNIT in the same episode after the original actor was sacked for being late; Levene was hired instead at the insistence of Douglas Camfield. UNIT were featured heavily in early-1970s ''Doctor Who,'' and the promoted Sergeant Benton also became a regular, appearing in a total of 67 episodes. Levene struck up a rapport with his co-stars Jon Pertwee ( The Doctor), Nicholas Courtney ( The Brigadier), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Richard Franklin ( Captain Mike Yates) and Roger Delgado ( the Master). Fans of ''Doctor Who'' often refer to these characters as the UNIT family, and as this era as a 'golden age' of the show. Levene's last regular appearance was in the Fourth Doctor serial ''The Android Invasion'' in 1975.

After ''Doctor Who''

In 1977, following his final appearance on ''Doctor Who'', Levene gave up acting as a career to set up his own audio-visual company, Genesis Communications. He has since directed more than 45 audio-visuals and live events for various clients including the Ford Motor Company, British Airways, KFC, Amway and Revlon.

In 1983 Levene turned down the opportunity to reprise the role of Benton for the 20th-anniversary ''Doctor Who'' special ''The Five Doctors''. Five years later he did return to the role for the 1988 Reeltime Pictures video production '' Wartime''.

Levene has worked as an entertainer on cruise liners and has also lived in the United States, where he returned to acting under the name John Anthony Blake. ("Blake" was the maiden name of Levene's mother, and as he informed the writers Steve Lyons and Christopher Howarth, he had had a much better relationship with her than with his father.) He has also performed voice-over work for Disney and The Queen Mary Hotel, among other companies.

Levene's most recent acting work was in an independent film titled ''Satan Hates You''. He has also appeared in an episode of ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' and industrial videos. In 2008, Levene co-starred with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred in ''Twice Upon a Timelord'', a video production in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace attend Benton's wedding.

Levene's music album ''The Ballads of Sergeant Benton'' was released in September 2012. The same year, he returned to the UK to promote himself and his album at a number of ''Doctor Who'' events. In 2015 he recorded vocals for an audio adaptation of the ''Doctor Who'' charity novel ''Time's Champion''.

In September 2017, he joined other ''Doctor Who'' stars, including showrunner Steven Moffat, in recording audio contributions for the YouTube anniversary video of mutimedia artist Stuart Humphryes.
Levene has also reprised the character of Sergeant Benton for the Big Finish ''Doctor Who'' audio series in ''Council of War'' (2013), ''UNIT: Assembled'' (2017) ''The Scream of Ghosts'' (2019) and ''Poison of the Daleks'' (2020).

In 2019, Levene published his autobiography, entitled ''Run the Shadows, Walk the Sun''. In 2021, Levene took part in a special documentary in which he and ''Doctor Who'' co-star Katy Manning revisit the village of Aldbourne where they filmed an episode of ''Doctor Who'' fifty years previously.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Levene, John
1941 births
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
British entertainment industry businesspeople
British expatriate male actors in the United States
English company founders
English male film actors
English male television actors
Living people
Male actors from Wiltshire
People from Salisbury