Ed Bishop

Birthday: 1932-06-11
Deathday: 2005-06-08
Birthplace: Brooklyn - New York - USA
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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

Year Title Character
2014-10-12 This Is Supermarionation Captain Blue (voice)
2002-02-17 The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure Sentry
2001-02-09 500! Padre Jones
1999-05-20 The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax Carstairs
1996-10-19 Broken Glass Stanton Case
1995-12-01 White Christmas
1994-06-10 Funny Man Card Player
1994-02-06 Calliope Lewis Belvedere
1991-05-03 Born to Ride Dr. Tate
1990-12-06 The Serpent of Death Grant
1989-12-31 The Candy Show Geoffrey
1988-11-01 Testimony American Commentator
1987-03-09 Three Wishes for Jamie Proddy
1987-02-12 Turnaround Gerald
1986-05-06 Whoops Apocalypse Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
1986-02-23 The Fifth Missile Adm. Stewart Cullinane
1985-06-01 Restless Natives Reporter
1985-05-08 Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
1985-02-01 Wynne and Penkovsky Alexander
1985-01-07 Chocky's Children Dr. Deacon
1984-09-23 Threads US President (voice) (uncredited)
1984-01-31 The Master of Ballantrae Pinkerton
1983-10-02 The Lonely Lady Dr. Baker
1983-10-02 The Lonely Lady
1982-12-17 Nutcracker Sam Dozier
1981-10-27 London Is Drowning American reporter
1981-01-01 Stainless Steel and the Star Spies Stainless Steel (voice)
1980-06-13 Silver Dream Racer Al Peterson
1980-02-29 S.O.S. Titanic Henry Harris
1980-02-15 Saturn 3 Harding (uncredited)
1979-01-06 Children of the Gods Brother Bethlehem
1978-12-22 Brass Target Col. Stewart
1978-11-09 Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet Prof. Goonmeyer
1977-05-11 Madame Claude Smith
1977-02-09 Twilight's Last Gleaming Maj. Fox
1975-12-09 Into Infinity TV Announcer
1975-11-04 Death in Deep Water Gang Boss (voice)
1975-01-11 Nurse Will Make It Better Carson
1974-10-23 UFO - Contatto radar... stanno atterrando!
1973-10-01 Pets Victor Stackman
1972-10-20 The Baron: Mystery Island Operations Officer
1972-08-15 UFO - Prendeteli vivi Comandante Edward Straker
1972-05-23 UFO... annientare S.H.A.D.O. Stop. Uccidete Straker... Com.te Ed Straker
1971-12-14 Diamonds Are Forever Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
1971-09-06 Invasion: UFO Cmdr. Ed Straker
1971-09-06 UFO - Allarme rosso... Attacco alla Terra! Comandante Ed Straker
1971-06-18 UFO - Distruggete base Luna! Comandante Edward Straker
1969-08-27 Doppelgänger David Poulson
1969-02-28 The Desperados Army Captain (voice)
1968-04-02 2001: A Space Odyssey Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
1967-10-01 Battle Beneath the Earth Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
1967-06-13 You Only Live Twice Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
1965-10-11 The Bedford Incident Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
1964-01-27 Man in the Middle
1963-05-07 The Mouse on the Moon American Astronaut
1962-10-25 The War Lover Vogt