Talk:Tom Baker
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 | Tom Baker is currently a Media and drama good article nominee. Nominated by SkywalkerEccleston (talk) at 23:04, 17 November 2025 (UTC) Any editor who has not nominated or contributed significantly to this article may review it according to the good article criteria to decide whether or not to list it as a good article. To start the review process, click start review and then save the page. See the good article instructions. Short description: English actor (born 1934) |
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date of death
the article has a deceased date listed but he is still alive and the date is in 2026 at that? 2600:8803:10A:B00:C9C3:DCFE:553:5853 (talk) 13:26, 7 May 2025 (UTC)
Max Bear
An editor has requested a citation for Baker's participation in the Max Bear series for Channel 4. I have found the following:
Not sure about the first one but the second is the BBC. Do they still count as reliable? Mondo Beer (talk) 11:15, 24 October 2025 (UTC)
Jewish
Is Baker really Jewish? Some sources say he is and some say he isn't. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 05:52, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- This is an interesting one. The best source I have found is a 1971 interview by Henry Ehrlich for Look. Ehrlich wrote: "Tom was brought up by his mother as a Catholic zealout, though his father was Jewish ("A contradiction in sperms," he says)."
- So far I've been unable to find any other source where he discusses his father being Jewish, but I would be interested in hearing Baker discusses his Jewish heritage. Baker has a reputation for telling tall tales but I don't see a reason why he would lie about this. It's worth noting that "Baker" is not really a Jewish surname.
- Baker has often discussed his devoutly Catholic upbringing and subsequent loss of faith in interviews and so it is pretty clear he identifies more as an ex-Christian than as a Jew. Also under traditional law he would not be considered Jewish. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:28, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- Adding to this, it is pretty clear from interviews that Baker is an atheist. I have added the relevant citations in the Personal Life section. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:30, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- Well, if he actually said it himself in a magazine interview than I think we can keep it in the article. For some reason I thought it might have been something a random Wikipedia user made up as a joke because of the fact that he kind of looks Jewish. Glad there’s a source for it. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 15:20, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- And as to Baker not being a Jewish surname, well, it's worth noting that plenty of Jewish people from the United Kingdom, the US, and other English-speaking countries have English surnames because their ancestors anglicized them. So it's reasonable to assume that Baker's paternal ancestors originally had a German, Yiddish, or otherwise Jewish surname which they changed to "Baker" when they arrived in England. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 18:09, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- I see that someone has edited the article to clarify that Baker doesn't have Jewish ancestry, and that he supposedly used the Liverpudlian phrase "Jewish" as slang to mean his father travelled alot. In the absence of evidence, I have removed references to his father being Jewish, but have added a note about that 1971 interview - which again, is the only time Baker has mentioned his father being Jewish (afaik) SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:14, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
- If that's the case, I'll go ahead and remove him from the Jew categories then. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 15:36, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
- I see that someone has edited the article to clarify that Baker doesn't have Jewish ancestry, and that he supposedly used the Liverpudlian phrase "Jewish" as slang to mean his father travelled alot. In the absence of evidence, I have removed references to his father being Jewish, but have added a note about that 1971 interview - which again, is the only time Baker has mentioned his father being Jewish (afaik) SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:14, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, I expected the same thing SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 01:31, 10 November 2025 (UTC)
- And as to Baker not being a Jewish surname, well, it's worth noting that plenty of Jewish people from the United Kingdom, the US, and other English-speaking countries have English surnames because their ancestors anglicized them. So it's reasonable to assume that Baker's paternal ancestors originally had a German, Yiddish, or otherwise Jewish surname which they changed to "Baker" when they arrived in England. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 18:09, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- Well, if he actually said it himself in a magazine interview than I think we can keep it in the article. For some reason I thought it might have been something a random Wikipedia user made up as a joke because of the fact that he kind of looks Jewish. Glad there’s a source for it. IAmTheMuppetMan (talk) 15:20, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
- Adding to this, it is pretty clear from interviews that Baker is an atheist. I have added the relevant citations in the Personal Life section. SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 09:30, 9 November 2025 (UTC)
" he supposedly used the Liverpudlian phrase "Jewish" as slang to mean his father travelled alot. " - is there a source for this? It makes sense but it would be helpful if we could put it in the article (it's been removed) with a source. (Incidentally, I have known "Baker" as a Jewish name - not exclusively, obviously, but it is an anglicized name that is not uncommon in the Anglo-Jewish community, much like Lewis - but given that there is no known Jewish ancestor for Jonathan Baker listed on genealogical websites - his ancestry appears exclusively Irish/Scottish, and merchant mariner was not a common occupation for Jews - I am skeptical about the Jewish ancestry claim though it is not impossible that one of Baker's ancestors married a Jewish woman). Wellington Bay (talk) 16:48, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
- I removed the note about it being slang because it was unsourced. Hopefully there is a clip or article out there where Baker explains this. Anyway, most websites discussing Baker's heritage seem to only show him having British and Irish heritage: https://web.archive.org/web/20110717120347/http://thomas-stewart-baker.com/familyhistory.html https://ethnicelebs.com/tom-baker However I don't think that these sites are reliable enough to be cited at the moment SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 21:35, 16 November 2025 (UTC)
Separate filmography page
Considering the length and breadth of Baker's roles (and the effort of finding sources for all of them), I suggest creating a separate page titled something like "List of Tom Baker performances and credits". Is anyone opposed to this?
SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 12:38, 12 November 2025 (UTC)
- I am creating the page anyway SkywalkerEccleston (talk) 23:48, 12 November 2025 (UTC)