Harry Towb was a character actor of Irish and Russian-Jewish descent. He grew up in Belfast, making his stage debut at the Guildhall Theatre in Derry in 1946. He began acting in England from the 1950s. Over the years he was affiliated with the National Theatre, the Abbey and Gate Theatres in Dublin, and with the Royal Shakespeare Company.He was also a prolific performer on British television in a wide variety of roles. He is fondly remembered for appearing twice in Doctor Who (1963) and his second appearance, in Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons: Episode Two (1971), features one of the cult series' most scary and frequently repeated scenes, when he is suffocated by a plastic chair. In films, he often appeared as priests or officers.