Name
Ed Bishop
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1932-06-11
Deathday
2005-06-08 (73 years old)
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.
Known For
8.048
Humanity finds a mysterious object buried beneath the lunar surface and sets off to find i...
6.6
A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two su...
6.405
Diamonds are stolen only to be sold again in the international market. James Bond infiltra...
6.45
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an I...
5.571
Nick Freeman is a motorcycle racer who, following the death of his brother, inherits a rev...
4.684
A young screenwriter allows others to exploit her in the hopes of "making it" in Hollywood...
- 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey as Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
- 1975 The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity as TV Announcer
- 1969 Doppelgänger as David Poulson
- 1994 Calliope as Lewis Belvedere
- 1989 The Candy Show as Geoffrey
- 1983 The Lonely Lady as Dr. Baker
- 1986 The Fifth Missile as Adm. Stewart Cullinane
- 2001 2001: The Making of a Myth as Self
- 1973 Pets as Victor Stackman
- 1985 Chocky's Children as Dr. Deacon
- 1978 Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet as Prof. Goonmeyer
- 1980 Saturn 3 as Harding (uncredited)
- 1982 Nutcracker as Sam Dozier
- 1971 Diamonds Are Forever as Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
- 1981 Stainless Steel and the Star Spies as Stainless Steel (voice)
- 2022 Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted as Self (archive footage)
- 1984 The Master of Ballantrae as Pinkerton
- 1999 The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax as Carstairs
- 1969 The Desperados as Army Captain (voice)
- 1988 Testimony as American Commentator
- 1980 Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons as Captain Blue (voice)
- 1980 Invasion: UFO as Cmdr. Ed Straker
- 1981 Rise and Fall of Idi Amin as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
- 1977 Madame Claude as Smith
- 1981 Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars as Captain Blue (voice)
- 1972 UFO: Annihilate SHADO... Kill Straker... as Commander Ed Straker
- 1971 UFO: Destroy Luna Base! as Commander Ed Straker
- 1974 UFO: Radar contact... They're landing!
- 1965 The Bedford Incident as Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
- 1971 UFO: Red alert... Attack on Earth! as Commander Ed Straker
- 1987 Three Wishes for Jamie as Proddy
- 1963 Big City as Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
- 1977 Twilight's Last Gleaming as Maj. Fox
- 1962 The War Lover as Vogt
- 1964 Man in the Middle
- 1985 Wynne and Penkovsky as Alexander
- 1972 UFO: Take Them Alive as Commander Ed Straker
- 1983 The Lonely Lady
- 1992 Nudism: The Inside Story as Narrator (voice)
- 1980 S.O.S. Titanic as Henry Harris
- 1979 Children of the Gods as Brother Bethlehem
- 2001 500! as Padre Jones
- 1964 Automania 2000 as Narrator
- 1985 Restless Natives as Reporter
- 1980 Silver Dream Racer as Al Peterson
- 1996 Broken Glass as Stanton Case
- 1991 Born to Ride as Dr. Tate
- 1975 Nurse Will Make It Better as Carson
- 1999 The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure as Sentry
- 1985 Threads as US President (voice) (uncredited)
- 1994 Funny Man as Card Player
- 1978 Brass Target as Col. Stewart
- 1967 You Only Live Twice as Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
- 1990 The Serpent of Death as Grant
- 1981 London Is Drowning as American reporter
- 1987 Turnaround as Gerald
- 1995 White Christmas
- 2014 This Is Supermarionation as Captain Blue (voice)
- 1967 Battle Beneath the Earth as Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
- 1975 Death in Deep Water as Gang Boss (voice)
- 1986 Whoops Apocalypse as Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
- 1985 Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
- 1972 The Baron: Mystery Island as Operations Officer
- 1999 Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons as Captain Blue (voice)
- 1979 Butch Minds the Baby as Damon Runyon (voice)
- 1969 Beach Head as Commandant Tom Decker
- 1962 Lolita as Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
- 2005 Hiroshima as Stimson
- 1988 Judgment in Berlin as Dyson Wilde
- 1963 The Mouse on the Moon as American Astronaut (as Edward Bishop)
- 1964 Paul Starr as Paul Starr (voice)
- Soon Target: Captain Black! as Captain Blue (voice)
- 1967 Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ( 32 episodes ) as Narrator / Captain Blue (voice)
- 1965 Out of the Unknown ( 1 episode ) as Commandant Tom Decker
- 1972 Colditz ( 1 episode ) as Lt. Col. Harrity
- 1973 Star Trek ( 1 episode ) as Asmodeus (voice) (uncredited)
- 1982 Whoops Apocalypse ( 6 episodes ) as Jay Garrick
- 1972 The Protectors ( 1 episode ) as Colonel John Hunter
- 1962 The Saint ( 3 episodes ) as George Felson
- 2001 Waking the Dead ( 2 episodes ) as Tyler
- 1951 Hallmark Hall of Fame ( 1 episode ) as Pinkerton
- 1997 Space Cadets ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1977 1990 ( 1 episode )
- 1973 Warship ( 1 episode )
- 1967 Man in a Suitcase ( 1 episode )
- 1964 Sherlock Holmes ( 1 episode )
- 1975 Quiller ( 1 episode ) as Frank Ilroy
- 1982 The Kenny Everett Television Show ( 3 episodes ) as Various
- 1983 Philip Marlowe, Private Eye ( 1 episode ) as District Attorney
- 1973 Thriller ( 1 episode ) as Carson
- 1972 The Adventurer ( 1 episode ) as Wayne
- 1987 The Two Mrs. Grenvilles ( 2 episodes ) as Strasser
- 1991 2Point4 Children ( 1 episode ) as Chet
- 1975 Two's Company ( 1 episode ) as Jack
- 1979 Kelly Monteith ( 1 episode )
- 1992 Highlander: The Series ( 1 episode ) as Edward Banner
- 1962 The Saint ( 1 episode ) as Tony Allard
- 1962 The Saint ( 1 episode ) as Cy Imberline
- 1970 UFO ( 26 episodes ) as Ed Straker
- 1977 The Professionals ( 1 episode ) as Dr. Ernest Harbinger
- 1977 The Professionals ( 1 episode ) as Braddock
- 1969 Strange Report ( 1 episode ) as Moran
- 1996 The Demon Headmaster ( 4 episodes ) as TV Supremo
- 1991 Performance ( 1 episode ) as Stanton Case
- 1978 Wilde Alliance ( 1 episode ) as Wingman
- 1980 Breakaway ( 6 episodes ) as Scott Douglas
- 1973 Thriller ( 1 episode ) as Gang Boss (voice)
- 1983 Just Good Friends ( 1 episode ) as Vernon
- 1964 Theatre 625 ( 1 episode ) as Padfield
- 1983 The Mad Death ( 1 episode ) as Tom Siegler
- 1981 Take a Letter, Mr Jones ( 1 episode ) as Joe Bradley
- 1986 Worlds Beyond ( 1 episode ) as Mr Hitchcock
- 1956 Armchair Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Karl
- 1969 ITV Saturday Night Theatre ( 1 episode ) as David Beeston
- 1973 Orson Welles' Great Mysteries ( 1 episode ) as The Millionaire
- 1969 W. Somerset Maugham ( 1 episode ) as Edward Barnard
- 1978 Life at Stake ( 1 episode ) as Jim Lovell
- 1985 Chocky's Children ( 6 episodes ) as Dr. Deacon
- 1982 American Playhouse ( 1 episode ) as General Tom Farrell
