
Ed Bishop
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1932-06-11
Day of Death
2005-06-08 (72 years old)
Place of Birth
Brooklyn - New York - USA
Ed Bishop
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.
Acting
(2022)
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted
as Self (archive footage)
(2014)
This Is Supermarionation
as Captain Blue (voice)
(2001)
2001: The Making of a Myth
as Self
(2001)
500!
as Padre Jones
(1999)
(1999)
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
as Carstairs
(1999)
Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons
as Captain Blue (voice)
(1996)
Broken Glass
as Stanton Case
(1995)
(1994)
Funny Man
as Card Player
(1994)
Calliope
as Lewis Belvedere
(1992)
Nudism: The Inside Story
as Narrator (voice)
(1991)
Born to Ride
as Dr. Tate
(1990)
The Serpent of Death
as Grant
(1989)
The Candy Show
as Geoffrey
(1988)
Testimony
as American Commentator
(1987)
Three Wishes for Jamie
as Proddy
(1987)
Turnaround
as Gerald
(1986)
Whoops Apocalypse
as Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
(1986)
The Fifth Missile
as Adm. Stewart Cullinane
(1985)
Restless Natives
as Reporter
(1985)
(1985)
Wynne and Penkovsky
as Alexander
(1985)
Chocky's Children
as Dr. Deacon
(1984)
Threads
as US President (voice) (uncredited)
(1984)
The Master of Ballantrae
as Pinkerton
(1983)
The Lonely Lady
as Dr. Baker
(1983)
(1982)
Nutcracker
as Sam Dozier
(1981)
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
(1981)
Stainless Steel and the Star Spies
as Stainless Steel (voice)
(1981)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
as Captain Blue (voice)
(1981)
London Is Drowning
as American reporter
(1980)
Saturn 3
as Harding (uncredited)
(1980)
S.O.S. Titanic
as Henry Harris
(1980)
Silver Dream Racer
as Al Peterson
(1980)
Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons
as Captain Blue (voice)
(1979)
Children of the Gods
as Brother Bethlehem
(1978)
Brass Target
as Col. Stewart
(1978)
Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet
as Prof. Goonmeyer
(1977)
Madame Claude
as Smith
(1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
as Maj. Fox
(1975)
Into Infinity
as TV Announcer
(1975)
Death in Deep Water
as Gang Boss (voice)
(1975)
Nurse Will Make It Better
as Carson
(1974)
(1973)
Pets
as Victor Stackman
(1972)
UFO - Prendeteli vivi
as Comandante Edward Straker
(1972)
UFO... annientare S.H.A.D.O. Stop. Uccidete Straker...
as Com.te Ed Straker
(1972)
The Baron: Mystery Island
as Operations Officer
(1971)
Diamonds Are Forever
as Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
(1971)
Invasion: UFO
as Cmdr. Ed Straker
(1971)
UFO - Allarme rosso... Attacco alla Terra!
as Comandante Ed Straker
(1971)
UFO - Distruggete base Luna!
as Comandante Edward Straker
(1969)
Doppelgänger
as David Poulson
(1969)
The Desperados
as Army Captain (voice)
(1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey
as Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
(1967)
You Only Live Twice
as Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
(1967)
Battle Beneath the Earth
as Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
(1965)
The Bedford Incident
as Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
(1964)
(1964)
Automania 2000
as Narrator
(1963)
The Mouse on the Moon
as American Astronaut
(1963)
Big City
as Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
(1962)
The War Lover
as Vogt