Ed Bishop
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Jun 11, 1932
- Died
- Jun 8, 2005 (aged 72)
- Place of birth
- Brooklyn - New York - USA
- Credits
- 116
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
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968Movie
Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
You Only Live Twice
1967Movie
Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
Diamonds Are Forever
1971Movie
Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
Lolita
1962Movie
Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
Threads
1984Movie
US President (voice) (uncredited)
Highlander: The Series
1992TV
Edward Banner
Filmography
Target: Captain Black!
2026Movie
Captain Blue (voice)
Spectrum is 20: The Death and Life of New Captain Scarlet
2026Movie
Captain Blue (archive audio) / Himself (archive footage)
Gerry Anderson: A Life Uncharted
2022Movie
Self (archive footage)
This Is Supermarionation
2014Movie
Captain Blue (voice)
Hiroshima
2005Movie
Stimson
Waking the Dead
2001TV
Tyler
500!
2001Movie
Padre Jones
2001: The Making of a Myth
2001Movie
Self
Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons
1999Movie
Captain Blue (voice)
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure
1999Movie
Sentry
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
1999Movie
Carstairs
Space Cadets
1997TV
Self
Broken Glass
1996Movie
Stanton Case
The Demon Headmaster
1996TV
TV Supremo
White Christmas
1995Movie
Funny Man
1994Movie
Card Player
Calliope
1994Movie
Lewis Belvedere
Highlander: The Series
1992TV
Edward Banner
Nudism: The Inside Story
1992Movie
Narrator (voice)
Performance
1991TV
Stanton Case
2Point4 Children
1991TV
Chet
Born to Ride
1991Movie
Dr. Tate
The Serpent of Death
1990Movie
Grant
The Candy Show
1989Movie
Geoffrey
Testimony
1988Movie
American Commentator
Judgment in Berlin
1988Movie
Dyson Wilde
Three Wishes for Jamie
1987Movie
Proddy
Turnaround
1987Movie
Gerald
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles
1987TV
Strasser
Worlds Beyond
1986TV
Mr Hitchcock
Whoops Apocalypse
1986Movie
Wink Persiman (TV interviewer)
The Fifth Missile
1986Movie
Adm. Stewart Cullinane
Restless Natives
1985Movie
Reporter
Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
1985Movie
Wynne and Penkovsky
1985Movie
Alexander
Chocky's Children
1985Movie
Dr. Deacon
Chocky's Children
1985TV
Dr. Deacon
Threads
1984Movie
US President (voice) (uncredited)
The Master of Ballantrae
1984Movie
Pinkerton
The Lonely Lady
1983Movie
Dr. Baker
Just Good Friends
1983TV
Vernon
The Mad Death
1983TV
Tom Siegler
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
1983TV
District Attorney
Nutcracker
1982Movie
Sam Dozier
Whoops Apocalypse
1982TV
Jay Garrick
The Kenny Everett Television Show
1982TV
Various
American Playhouse
1982TV
General Tom Farrell
London Is Drowning
1981Movie
American reporter
Take a Letter, Mr Jones
1981TV
Joe Bradley
Amin: The Rise and Fall
1981Movie
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Stainless Steel and the Star Spies
1981Movie
Stainless Steel (voice)
Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
1981Movie
Captain Blue (voice)
Oppenheimer
1980TV
General Tom Farrell
Silver Dream Racer
1980Movie
Al Peterson
S.O.S. Titanic
1980Movie
Henry Harris
Saturn 3
1980Movie
Harding (uncredited)
Breakaway
1980TV
Scott Douglas
Captain Scarlet vs. The Mysterons
1980Movie
Captain Blue (voice)
Invasion: UFO
1980Movie
Cmdr. Ed Straker
Kelly Monteith
1979TV
Children of the Gods
1979Movie
Brother Bethlehem
Butch Minds the Baby
1979Movie
Damon Runyon (voice)
Brass Target
1978Movie
Col. Stewart
Dylan: The Life and Death of a Poet
1978Movie
Prof. Goonmeyer
Wilde Alliance
1978TV
Wingman
The Professionals
1977TV
Dr. Ernest Harbinger, Braddock
1990
1977TV
Madame Claude
1977Movie
Smith
Twilight's Last Gleaming
1977Movie
Maj. Fox
The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity
1975Movie
TV Announcer
Death in Deep Water
1975Movie
Gang Boss (voice)
Two's Company
1975TV
Jack
Quiller
1975TV
Frank Ilroy
Nurse Will Make It Better
1975Movie
Carson
UFO: Radar contact... They're landing!
1974Movie
Pets
1973Movie
Victor Stackman
Star Trek
1973TV
Asmodeus (voice) (uncredited)
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
1973TV
The Millionaire
Warship
1973TV
Thriller
1973TV
Carson, Gang Boss (voice)
The Baron: Mystery Island
1972Movie
Operations Officer
Colditz
1972TV
Lt. Col. Harrity
The Protectors
1972TV
Colonel John Hunter
The Adventurer
1972TV
Wayne
UFO: Take Them Alive
1972Movie
Commander Ed Straker
UFO: Annihilate SHADO... Kill Straker...
1972Movie
Commander Ed Straker
Diamonds Are Forever
1971Movie
Klaus Hergersheimer (uncredited)
UFO: Red alert... Attack on Earth!
1971Movie
Commander Ed Straker
UFO: Destroy Luna Base!
1971Movie
Commander Ed Straker
UFO
1970TV
Ed Straker
Strange Report
1969TV
Moran
Doppelgänger
1969Movie
David Poulson
W. Somerset Maugham
1969TV
Edward Barnard
The Desperados
1969Movie
Army Captain (voice)
Beach Head
1969Movie
Commandant Tom Decker
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969TV
David Beeston
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968Movie
Aries-1B Lunar Shuttle Captain
The Portrait of a Lady
1968TV
Caspar Goodwood
Battle Beneath the Earth
1967Movie
Lt. Cmdr. Vance Cassidy (as Edward Bishop)
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
1967TV
Narrator / Captain Blue (voice)
Man in a Suitcase
1967TV
You Only Live Twice
1967Movie
Hawaii CapCom (uncredited)
The Bedford Incident
1965Movie
Lieutenant Hacker U.S.N. - Communications
Out of the Unknown
1965TV
Commandant Tom Decker
Automania 2000
1964Movie
Narrator
Sherlock Holmes
1964TV
Theatre 625
1964TV
Padfield
Man in the Middle
1964Movie
Paul Starr
1964Movie
Paul Starr (voice)
The Mouse on the Moon
1963Movie
American Astronaut (as Edward Bishop)
Big City
1963Movie
Narrator (as Edward Bishop)
The War Lover
1962Movie
Vogt
The Saint
1962TV
George Felson, Tony Allard, Cy Imberline
Lolita
1962Movie
Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
Armchair Theatre
1956TV
Karl
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951TV
Pinkerton