Ed Bishop

Birthday:

06/11/1932

Place of birth:

Brooklyn - New York - USA:

Biography:

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.



Credits

Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted (2022)
Self (archive footage)
This Is Supermarionation (2014)
Captain Blue (voice)
500! (2001)
Padre Jones
2001: The Making of a Myth (2001)
Self
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure (1999)
Sentry
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1999)
Carstairs
Broken Glass (1996)
Stanton Case
White Christmas (1995)
Funny Man (1994)
Card Player
Calliope (1994)
Lewis Belvedere
Nudism: The Inside Story (1992)
Narrator (voice)
Born to Ride (1991)
Dr. Tate
The Serpent of Death (1990)
Grant
The Candy Show (1989)
Geoffrey
Testimony (1988)
American Commentator
Three Wishes for Jamie (1987)
Proddy
Turnaround (1987)
Turnaround (1987)
Gerald
Whoops Apocalypse (1986)
Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
The Fifth Missile (1986)
Adm. Stewart Cullinane
Restless Natives (1985)
Reporter
Wynne and Penkovsky (1985)
Alexander
Chocky's Children (1985)
Dr. Deacon
Threads (1984)
US President (voice) (uncredited)
The Master of Ballantrae (1984)
Pinkerton
The Lonely Lady (1983)
The Lonely Lady (1983)
Dr. Baker
Nutcracker (1982)
Sam Dozier
London Is Drowning (1981)
American reporter
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981)
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Stainless Steel and the Star Spies (1981)
Stainless Steel (voice)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars (1981)
Captain Blue
Invasion: UFO (1980)
Cmdr. Ed Straker
Silver Dream Racer (1980)
Al Peterson
S.O.S. Titanic (1980)
Henry Harris
Saturn 3 (1980)
Harding
Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons (1980)
Captain Blue
Brass Target (1978)
Col. Stewart
Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet (1978)
Prof. Goonmeyer
Madame Claude (1977)
Smith
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
Maj. Fox
Into Infinity (1975)
TV Announcer
Death in Deep Water (1975)
Gang Boss (voice)
Nurse Will Make It Better (1975)
Carson
UFO - Contatto radar... stanno atterrando! (1974)
Pets (1973)
Victor Stackman
UFO - Prendeteli vivi (1972)
Comandante Edward Straker
UFO... annientare S.H.A.D.O. Stop. Uccidete Straker... (1972)
Com.te Ed Straker
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
UFO - Allarme rosso... Attacco alla Terra! (1971)
Comandante Ed Straker
UFO - Distruggete base Luna! (1971)
Comandante Edward Straker
Children and Cars (1970)
Narrator
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)
David Poulson
The Desperados (1969)
Army Captain (voice)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
Battle Beneath the Earth (1967)
Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
The Bedford Incident (1965)
Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
Automania 2000 (1964)
Narrator
Man in the Middle (1964)
The Mouse on the Moon (1963)
American Astronaut
Big City (1963)
Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
The War Lover (1962)
Vogt