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.
Acted in
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted
2022
as Self (archive footage)
This Is Supermarionation
2014
as Captain Blue (voice)
Waking the Dead
2001
as Tyler
500!
2001
as Padre Jones
2001: The Making of a Myth
2001
as Self
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure
1999
as Sentry
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
1999
as Carstairs
Space Cadets
1997
as Self
Broken Glass
1996
as Stanton Case
White Christmas
1995
Funny Man
1994
as Card Player
Calliope
1994
as Lewis Belvedere
Highlander: The Series
1992
as Edward Banner
Nudism: The Inside Story
1992
as Narrator (voice)
2Point4 Children
1991
as Chet
Born to Ride
1991
as Dr. Tate
The Serpent of Death
1990
as Grant
The Candy Show
1989
as Geoffrey
Testimony
1988
as American Commentator
Three Wishes for Jamie
1987
as Proddy
Turnaround
1987
Turnaround
1987
as Gerald
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
1987
as Strasser
Whoops Apocalypse
1986
as Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
The Fifth Missile
1986
as Adm. Stewart Cullinane
Restless Natives
1985
as Reporter
Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
1985
Wynne and Penkovsky
1985
as Alexander
Chocky's Children
1985
as Dr. Deacon
Threads
1984
as US President (voice) (uncredited)
The Master of Ballantrae
1984
as Pinkerton
The Lonely Lady
1983
as Dr. Baker
The Lonely Lady
1983
The Mad Death
1983
as Tom Siegler
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
1983
as District Attorney
Nutcracker
1982
as Sam Dozier
Whoops Apocalypse
1982
as Jay Garrick
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982
as Various
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982
as Guest
London Is Drowning
1981
as American reporter
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin
1981
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Stainless Steel and the Star Spies
1981
as Stainless Steel (voice)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
1981
as Captain Blue
Silver Dream Racer
1980
as Al Peterson
S.O.S. Titanic
1980
as Henry Harris
Saturn 3
1980
as Harding (uncredited)
Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons
1980
as Captain Blue
Kelly Monteith
1979
Children of the Gods
1979
as Brother Bethlehem
Brass Target
1978
as Col. Stewart
Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet
1978
as Prof. Goonmeyer
The Professionals
1977
as Dr. Ernest Harbinger
The Professionals
1977
as Braddock
1990
1977
Madame Claude
1977
as Smith
Twilight's Last Gleaming
1977
as Maj. Fox
Into Infinity
1975
as TV Announcer
Death in Deep Water
1975
as Gang Boss (voice)
Two's Company
1975
as Jack
Quiller
1975
as Frank Ilroy
Nurse Will Make It Better
1975
as Carson
UFO - Contatto radar... stanno atterrando!
1974
Pets
1973
as Victor Stackman
Star Trek
1973
as Asmodeus (voice) (uncredited)
Warship
1973
Thriller
1973
as Carson
Colditz
1972
as Lt. Col. Harrity
The Protectors
1972
as Colonel John Hunter
The Adventurer
1972
as Wayne
UFO - Prendeteli vivi
1972
as Comandante Edward Straker
UFO... annientare S.H.A.D.O. Stop. Uccidete Straker...
1972
as Com.te Ed Straker
Diamonds Are Forever
1971
as Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
Invasion: UFO
1971
as Cmdr. Ed Straker
UFO - Allarme rosso... Attacco alla Terra!
1971
as Comandante Ed Straker
UFO - Distruggete base Luna!
1971
as Comandante Edward Straker
UFO
1970
as Comandante Ed Straker
UFO
1970
as Cmdr. Ed Straker
Doppelgänger
1969
as David Poulson
The Desperados
1969
as Army Captain (voice)
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968
as Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
Battle Beneath the Earth
1967
as Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
1967
Man in a Suitcase
1967
You Only Live Twice
1967
as Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
The Bedford Incident
1965
as Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
Out of the Unknown
1965
Automania 2000
1964
as Narrator
Sherlock Holmes
1964
Man in the Middle
1964
The Mouse on the Moon
1963
as American Astronaut
Big City
1963
as Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
The War Lover
1962
as Vogt
The Saint
1962
as George Felson
The Saint
1962
as Tony Allard
The Saint
1962
as Cy Imberline
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Pinkerton