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Carole Ann Ford

British actress

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ2364161
Source-derived summary

Carole Ann Lillian Ford (née Higgins; born 16 June 1940) is an English actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and was one of the original companions to William Hartnell.

Life and career

Ford has had a long and diverse acting career. Her theatrical work includes many comedies, dramas and musicals, including The Jungle Book, Stranger in the House, Bakerloo to Paradise, The Owl and the Pussycat, The Rumpus, Pride and Prejudice, Inadmissible Evidence, Enrico, Expresso Bongo, Sleeping Beauty, You Never Can Tell, Ned Kelly, Mother, MacBett, The Boy Friend, Have You Seen Manchester and Private Lives.

Her film appearances include The Day of the Triffids (1962) as the blind French girl Bettina, Mix Me a Person (1962), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), The Hiding Place (1975) and The Incredible Sarah (1976). In addition to Doctor Who, her television appearances include Suspense (in the episode "Man on a Bicycle"), Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (in the episode "Affairs and Relations"), Public Eye, Emergency Ward 10, Attorney General, Moonstrike, Compact, Probation Officer and Dial M for Murder (1967).

Ford appeared on Juke Box Jury and various quiz shows, and has performed many voice-overs and voice dubs.

Doctor Who

According to the documentary Doctor Who: Origins, an appearance on Z-Cars prompted Ford's screen test for the role of Susan in Doctor Who in 1963. Playing the granddaughter of the Doctor, Ford was one of the three original companions to accompany William Hartnell's incarnation of the Time Lord. The character of Susan is the Unearthly Child referred to in the show's first episode, since she, like the Doctor, was from the planet Gallifrey.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Carole Ann Ford” as british actress. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Carole, Ford and British.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1940, 1962, 1966, 1975—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1940-06-16. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Carole, Ford and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Carole Ann Ford”, the useful work is to connect “british actress” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2364161. VIAF identifies the subject as 152050703. The Library of Congress control number is no2010152471. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1962, 1966 and 1975.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Carole Ann Ford”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Carole Ann Ford primary sources, Carole Ann Ford archive and Carole research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Carole Ann Ford”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Carole Ann Ford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.