Ed Bishop
George Victor Bishop (11 June 1932 – 8 June 2005), known professionally as Ed Bishop or sometimes Edward Bishop, was an American actor. He was known for playing Commander Ed Straker in UFO, Captain Blue in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and for voicing Philip Marlowe in a series of BBC Radio adaptations of the Marlowe novels by Raymond Chandler. Bishop made his film acting debut as an ambulance driver in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 movie Lolita. He played an American astronaut going to the Moon in the film The Mouse on the Moon (1963) and also appeared in The Bedford Incident (1965) and Battle Beneath the Earth (1967). He had small speaking roles in the James Bond films You Only Live Twice (1967) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971), but was not included in the film credits for either. He appeared in a second Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), in which he played the Captain of the Aries 1B Moon shuttle. The role initially featured dialogue but this was later cut from his scenes. Bishop appeared in various film and television projects created by producer Gerry Anderson. He provided narration, in addition to the voice of Captain Blue, for Anderson's Supermarionation puppet series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), and appeared in Anderson's science-fiction film Doppelgänger (1969). Perhaps his most prominent screen role was that of Commander Ed Straker in Anderson's science-fiction series UFO (1970–71). Bishop's dark hair was initially dyed blond for the role, though he eventually wore a blond wig instead. In later years, he appeared in films such as Twilight's Last Gleaming, Saturn 3, Silver Dream Racer, and The Lords of Discipline. He provided vocal work for the 1974 animated TV series of Star Trek, and appeared as Lieutenant Colonel Harrity in the final episode of the British World War II prisoner-of-war drama Colditz. In the 1980s, he made several appearances on The Kenny Everett Television Show, Whoops Apocalypse (he also appeared in the subsequent film), and had a role in the children's television series Chocky's Children. He continued to act on film, TV and radio, usually in British and European productions, and was a frequent guest at science fiction conventions. He and fellow Anderson actor Shane Rimmer (a Canadian actor who often worked in the UK) joked about how frequently their professional paths crossed and termed themselves "Rent-a-yank". They appeared together as NASA operatives in the opening of You Only Live Twice and as United States Navy sailors in The Bedford Incident, as well as the 1983 film of the Harold Robbins novel The Lonely Lady. In 1989, Bishop was reunited with Rimmer and another Anderson actor, Matt Zimmerman, in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. He and Rimmer also toured together in theatre shows, including Death of a Salesman in the 1990s, and they both appeared in the BBC drama-documentary Hiroshima (2005), one of Bishop's last TV projects.
Born: 11 June 1932 • Died: 08 June 2005
Played In
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted
Self (archive footage)
This Is Supermarionation
Captain Blue (voice)
Hiroshima
Stimson
Waking the Dead
Tyler
500!
Padre Jones
2001: The Making of a Myth
Self
Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons
Captain Blue (voice)
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure
Sentry
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
Carstairs
Space Cadets
Self
Broken Glass
Stanton Case
The Demon Headmaster
TV Supremo
White Christmas
Funny Man
Card Player
Calliope
Lewis Belvedere
Highlander: The Series
Edward Banner
Nudism: The Inside Story
Narrator (voice)
Performance
Stanton Case
2Point4 Children
Chet
Born to Ride
Dr. Tate
The Serpent of Death
Grant
The Candy Show
Geoffrey
Testimony
American Commentator
Judgment in Berlin
Dyson Wilde
Three Wishes for Jamie
Proddy
Turnaround
Gerald
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
Strasser
Worlds Beyond
Mr Hitchcock
Whoops Apocalypse
Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
The Fifth Missile
Adm. Stewart Cullinane
Threads
US President (voice) (uncredited)
Restless Natives
Reporter
Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
Wynne and Penkovsky
Alexander
Chocky's Children
Dr. Deacon
Chocky's Children
Dr. Deacon
The Master of Ballantrae
Pinkerton
The Lonely Lady
Dr. Baker
The Lonely Lady
Just Good Friends
Vernon
The Mad Death
Tom Siegler
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
District Attorney
Nutcracker
Sam Dozier
Whoops Apocalypse
Jay Garrick
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Various
London Is Drowning
American reporter
Take a Letter, Mr Jones
Joe Bradley
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Stainless Steel and the Star Spies
Stainless Steel (voice)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
Captain Blue (voice)
Silver Dream Racer
Al Peterson
S.O.S. Titanic
Henry Harris
Saturn 3
Harding (uncredited)
Breakaway
Scott Douglas
Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons
Captain Blue (voice)
Invasion: UFO
Cmdr. Ed Straker
Kelly Monteith
Children of the Gods
Brother Bethlehem
Butch Minds the Baby
Damon Runyon (voice)
Brass Target
Col. Stewart
Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet
Prof. Goonmeyer
Life at Stake
Jim Lovell
Wilde Alliance
Wingman
The Professionals
Dr. Ernest Harbinger
The Professionals
Braddock
1990
Madame Claude
Smith
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Maj. Fox
Into Infinity
TV Announcer
Death in Deep Water
Gang Boss (voice)
Two's Company
Jack
Quiller
Frank Ilroy
Nurse Will Make It Better
Carson
UFO: Radar contact... They're landing!
Pets
Victor Stackman
Star Trek
Asmodeus (voice) (uncredited)
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
The Millionaire
Warship
Thriller
Carson
Thriller
Gang Boss (voice)
The Baron: Mystery Island
Operations Officer
Colditz
Lt. Col. Harrity
The Protectors
Colonel John Hunter
The Adventurer
Wayne
UFO: Take Them Alive
Commander Ed Straker
UFO: Annihilate SHADO... Kill Straker...
Commander Ed Straker
Diamonds Are Forever
Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
UFO: Red alert... Attack on Earth!
Commander Ed Straker
UFO: Destroy Luna Base!
Commander Ed Straker
UFO
Ed Straker
Strange Report
Moran
Doppelgänger
David Poulson
W. Somerset Maugham
Edward Barnard
The Desperados
Army Captain (voice)
Beach Head
Commandant Tom Decker
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
David Beeston
2001: A Space Odyssey
Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
Battle Beneath the Earth
Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Narrator / Captain Blue (voice)
Man in a Suitcase
You Only Live Twice
Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
The Bedford Incident
Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
Out of the Unknown
Commandant Tom Decker
Automania 2000
Narrator
Sherlock Holmes
Theatre 625
Padfield
Man in the Middle
Paul Starr
Paul Starr (voice)
The Mouse on the Moon
American Astronaut (as Edward Bishop)
Big City
Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
The War Lover
Vogt
The Saint
George Felson
The Saint
Tony Allard
The Saint
Cy Imberline
Lolita
Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
Armchair Theatre
Karl
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Pinkerton
Target: Captain Black!
Captain Blue (voice)