Stephen Dartnell (30 April 1931[1] – 1994[2]) was a British actor,[3] who appeared in several television programmes.

He portrayed Yartek, leader of the Voord, in The Keys of Marinus[5] and John, a mineralogist who has been driven to mania, in The Sensorites.

[6][7] Dartnell also made appearances in the 1960 feature films Circle of Deception and Oscar Wilde.

[4][9] As a gay young man during the early 1950s, Dartnell found himself the victim of homophobic abuse when a youth threw paint over him and mocked his sexuality.

As a result, for fear of bad publicity, Dartnell was kicked out of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (as was Harry Greene for sticking up for him) but was supported throughout this ordeal by Harry H. Corbett and Marjie Lawrence.