Tom Baker portrayed the troubled Time Lord for seven consecutive years, and remains the longest-lived incarnation in the show's on-screen history.
He is generally regarded as the most recognisable of the Doctors and, until Tennant, was the most popular. In Doctor Who Magazine, Baker was often voted as the Best Doctor, except for in 1990, when Sylvester McCoy took the title and since 2006, when David Tennant's turn as the Tenth Doctor overtook him.
Fun fact: Tom appeared in cartoon form in long-running animation 'The Simpsons'.