Dr. Worley is a doctor of unconventional medicine and caretaker at a mental hospital and the overarching antagonist of the 1985 Disney dark fantasy film Return to Oz.
Appearances[]
In October 1899, Worley is visited by the local farmer Em Gale and her niece Dorothy, whom Em and her husband Henry believe to be delusional due to her stories about the Wonderful Land of Oz, which she supposedly visited months ago when she was caught by a tornado, preventing her from properly sleeping. Despite Dorothy's insistence that Oz is actually real, Worley concludes that she has been hallucinating and explains her and her aunt about his electrotherapy treatment, showing them his machine and saying to Dorothy how it looks like a face. Concerned for Dorothy, Em reluctantly leaves haves her committed in Dr. Worley's charge. He then requests Nurse Wilson to take Dorothy to her room, where she is left all alone until Worley tells her to come. He then tries electroshock therapy on Dorothy, but his machine ends up causing a blackout that effects the mental institution. That night, Dorothy is rescued by a girl who leads her outside the institution, with Nurse Wilson following her and losing Dorothy in a rainstorm and takes shelter in a submerged chicken coop with her pet chicken, Billina.
In the end, Aunt Em mentions that that the storm caused the hospital to burn down, but Worley refused to leave without saving his equipment, which caused him to perish in the fire.
He is the real-world counterpart of the Nome King.
