Copyright The New York Times
Nabil Shaban, a British actor and playwright born without the use of his legs, who used his disability to heighten his performances across a wide range of roles, from Hamlet to an alien industrialist on the long-running science fiction series “Doctor Who,” died on Oct. 24 in Edinburgh. He was 72. His brother, Ahmed, said he died in a hospital from a brain hemorrhage. Mr. Shaban was born in Jordan with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease. His legs and torso were undersized. Doctors told his mother he would not survive past early childhood. He not only survived; he managed to build both a career as a renowned stage actor as well as a cult following for his work on “Doctor Who.” As Sil, a reptilian business tycoon with a memorably sinister laugh, he appeared in six episodes in 1985 and 1986. He reprised the role in two “Doctor Who” audio dramas, “Mission to Magnus” (2009) and “Antidote to Oblivion” (2014), and a TV movie, “Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor” (2019).
