31 Facts About Ed Bishop

George Victor Bishop, known professionally as Ed Bishop or Edward Bishop, was an American actor, predominantly based in the UK.

Ed Bishop 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.

George Victor Bishop was born on June 11,1932, the son of a Manhattan banker, in Brooklyn, New York.

Ed Bishop attended Peekskill High School before a brief spell at teacher training college.

Ed Bishop served in the United States Army as a disc jockey with the Armed Forces Radio at St John's in Newfoundland where he was introduced to acting with the St John's Players.

Ed Bishop adopted the stage name "Ed Bishop" at this time to distinguish himself from George Bishop, an established actor of the time.

Ed Bishop made his film acting debut as an ambulance driver in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 movie Lolita.

Ed Bishop played an American astronaut going to the Moon in the film The Mouse on the Moon and appeared in The Bedford Incident and Battle Beneath the Earth.

In 1966 Ed Bishop appeared in The Saint playing Tony Allard, a reporter friend of Simon Templar's who is murdered after a few lines.

Ed Bishop had small speaking roles in the James Bond films You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever, but was not included in the film credits for either.

Ed Bishop appeared in a second Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in which he played the Captain of the Aries 1B Moon shuttle.

Ed Bishop appeared in various film and television projects created by producer Gerry Anderson.

Ed Bishop provided narration, in addition to the voice of Captain Blue, for Anderson's Supermarionation puppet series, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and appeared in Anderson's science-fiction film Doppelganger.

Ed Bishop 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.

Ed Bishop is one of the most talented people I've ever worked with, and my only sadness was that he didn't go on to become an international star.

On radio in 1977 and 1978, Ed Bishop played the private eye Philip Marlowe in The BBC Presents: Philip Marlowe, adaptations of Raymond Chandler's stories for the BBC.

Ed Bishop continued to act on film, TV and radio, usually in British and European productions, and was a frequent guest at science fiction conventions.

In 1989, Ed 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.

In 2000, Ed Bishop briefly reprised the role of Captain Blue in a trailer for the new Captain Scarlet series.

Ed Bishop did not reprise the role for the actual series, which would not debut until five years later.

Ed Bishop was politically active, participating in the March 2003 UK protest against the Iraq War.

Ed Bishop had already shown his disapproval of the military-industrial complex when, in 1993, he gatecrashed an arms-trade fair held in Aldershot, Hampshire whilst dressed to resemble Augusto Pinochet.

Ed Bishop was married three times; first to Jane Thwaites in 1955 before divorcing a few months later in the year.

Ed Bishop then married Hilary Preen in 1962; they had four children, they remained married for thirty-four years before divorcing in 1996.

Ed Bishop later married photographer Jane Skinner in 2001, the marriage lasted until his death in 2005.

Ed Bishop died on June 8,2005 at the age of 72, three days before his 73rd birthday, and five days after the death of his UFO co-star Michael Billington.

Ed Bishop succumbed to a chest infection contracted while undergoing treatment for leukemia.

Ed Bishop is buried in the churchyard of the Parish Church of Saint Lawrence in Napton, Warwickshire, having previously lived there for many years.

Ed Bishop's epitaph reads: From This Valley They Say You Are Going.

Ed Bishop spent the last few years of his life living in West Molesey.

Ed Bishop was survived by his widow and by three daughters from his second marriage.