Elisabeth Sladen, who first played journalist and “Doctor Who” companion Sarah Jane Smith when she was 25 and recurred in the role on and off until last year (as the star of “Who” spin-off “The Sarah Jane Adventures”), was claimed by cancer Tuesday at age 63.
Over the years she appeared with at least four incarnations of the Doctor, the ones played by Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, David Tennant and Matt Smith.
“R,” a reader who alerted us to the actress’ passing, writes:
She was by far the best companion in the entire 48 years that Doctor Who has been around, debuting in 1973 with the third Doctor and staying on through the early years of the fourth. She then reappeared on the new Doctor Who series with the tenth Doctor, David Tennant.She was the companion when I first discovered Doctor Who, on a fuzzy black and white TV watching Canadian television from my home in Detroit.
Find the BBC’s obituary here.
