Ed Bishop

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.

Acting

2022

2014

This Is Supermarionation
Movie

Captain Blue (voice)

2005

2001

500!
Movie

Padre Jones

1994

Funny Man
Movie

Card Player

1992

1992

1991

1988

Testimony
Movie

American Commentator

1986

Whoops Apocalypse
Movie

Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)

1986

The Fifth Missile
Movie

Adm. Stewart Cullinane

1985

1984

Threads
Movie

US President (voice) (uncredited)

1983

The Mad Death
Tv

Tom Siegler

1983

1982

Nutcracker
Movie

Sam Dozier

1982

1981

London Is Drowning
Movie

American reporter

1981

Rise and Fall of Idi Amin
Movie

Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

1980

1980

Saturn 3
Movie

Harding (uncredited)

1980

Breakaway
Tv

Scott Douglas

1980

Invasion: UFO
Movie

Cmdr. Ed Straker

1979

1979

Butch Minds the Baby
Movie

Damon Runyon (voice)

1978

Brass Target
Movie

Col. Stewart

1975

Death in Deep Water
Movie

Gang Boss (voice)

1975

Death in Deep Water
Movie

Gang Boss (voice)

1975

Death in Deep Water
Movie

Gang Boss (voice)

1973

Pets
Movie

Victor Stackman

1973

Star Trek
Tv

Asmodeus (voice) (uncredited)

1972

1972

The Protectors
Tv

Colonel John Hunter

1972

UFO: Take them Alive
Movie

Comandante Edward Straker

1971

Diamonds Are Forever
Movie

Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)

1971

UFO: Destroy Luna Base!
Movie

Comandante Edward Straker

1970

UFO
Tv

Cmdr. Ed Straker

1970

UFO
Tv

Ed Straker

1969

Doppelgänger
Movie

David Poulson

1969

The Desperados
Movie

Army Captain (voice)

1969

Beach Head
Movie

Commandant Tom Decker

1968

2001: A Space Odyssey
Movie

Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain

1967

Battle Beneath the Earth
Movie

Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)

1967

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Tv

Narrator / Captain Blue (voice)

1967

You Only Live Twice
Movie

Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)

1965

The Bedford Incident
Movie

Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications

1964

1964

Paul Starr
Movie

Paul Starr (voice)

1963

The Mouse on the Moon
Movie

American Astronaut (as Edward Bishop)

1963

The Mouse on the Moon
Movie

American Astronaut

1962

The Saint
Tv

Cy Imberline

1962

The Saint
Tv

Tony Allard

1962

The Saint
Tv

George Felson

1962

Lolita
Movie

Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)

Infos

Full Name
Ed Bishop
Gender
Male
Date of Birth
6/11/1932
Date of Death
6/8/2005
Also Known As

Edward Bishop

George Victor Bishop