Beloved Gay British Actor Simon Fisher-Becker, Known for His Role in ‘Doctor Who,’ Dead at 63

Beloved gay, British stage actor and eerily recognizable character actor Simon Fisher-Becker passed away yesterday at the age of only 63. The actor’s cause of death is not known at this time. The announcement came from the actor’s husband, Tony, who posted the news on Simon’s Facebook account. “I have some very sad news,” Tony wrote. “At 2:50 this afternoon Simon passed away.”

Simon Fisher-Becker had a number of well-known roles, but perhaps his most memorable was that of Dorium Maldovar, a blue-skinned, black-market racketeer in BBC’s legendary sci-fi fantasy series Doctor Who. Fisher-Becker first appeared in Doctor Who Season 5 episode “The Pandorica Opens” when he procured a time-travel device for the Doctor’s wife, River Song. He later returned in “A Good Man Goes to War” and “The Wedding of River Song” in the following season, where he became an integral part of the story arc of the Doctor and River’s marriage as well as the deadly religious cult known as The Silence.

Despite only appearing in three episodes of the official Doctor Who series, Fisher-Becker reprised his role for the spin-off audio dramas and was very active at Doctor Who fan conventions. Even his three humorous memoirs were Doctor Who-themed, with the three books titled My Dalek Has A Puncture, My Dalek Has Another Puncture, and Let Zygons Be Zygons.

Some of Fisher-Becker’s other well-known roles included the role of Tony Fazackerley on BBC limited comedy series Puppy Love, as well as the role of the Fat Friar in that first wizard movie based on the book by Joanne the Bigot. Oh yeah, it was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone. But that was before we knew that Joanne was a bigot, so we can hardly fault him for that. Fisher-Becker also ran his own vlog channel on YouTube and was co-host of The No-Name Trivia Show.

It’s always sad to lose a beloved actor from our own LGBTQ+ community. Character actors are the heart of so many great movies and television programs, and they hardly ever get the credit they deserve. As a member of the Doctor Who fan community, I’d like to extend my deepest condolences to Fisher-Becker’s family, friends, and fans at this difficult time.

Photo courtesy of Facebook