ED BISHOP (1932-2005) ED BISHOP was born George Victor Bishop at the Shore Road Hospital in Brooklyn on June 11th, 1932, the son of a banker who had high hopes that Ed would adopt the same career in later life. In 1939, the family moved from Brooklyn to the small town of Peekskill, 42 miles outside New York, where Ed graduated from Peekskill High School in 1950. He then attended Courtland State Teachers' College in Courtland, New York but was dismissed after just six months for "failing to maintain a proper academic standing". Ed entered National Service in the United States Army in 1952, serving with the Armed Forces Radio Service at St. John's, Newfoundland, working as an announcer and disc jockey presenting hillbilly and western music on Station VOUS. It was here that Ed had his first acting experience, when he joined the local amateur theatrical company, the St. John's Players. Discharged from the Army in 1954, he went to work for Remington Rand Incorporated in Buffalo, New York, and then attended Boston University to study Business Administration in preparation for a career in banking, but he very quickly realised that he had no interest in pursuing this line of work. In 1956, against his parents' wishes, he enrolled in a two-year course in drama with the Theatre Division at Boston University, graduating in 1959 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in the Theatre. He then won a United States Fulbright Grant to continue his acting studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in England. Changing his name to Ed Bishop for professional purposes, he had intended to return to America after his LAMDA training, but found himself being offered so many roles in television and theatre productions that he decided to stay on in London. Ed's professional career began on April 14th, 1961 when he appeared in an episode of Granada Television's Drama 61, entitled Edge Of Truth. Three months later he landed a part as an American sailor in Look Homeward, Angel at the Pembroke Theatre, Croydon, and from there he went straight into the West End production of Bye Bye Birdie as an understudy to Peter Marshall. At this time, he made his feature film debut with a minor role in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1961), closely followed by another small part in Philip Leacock's The War Lover (1962). More stage work followed: as an American Indian in Little Mary Sunshine and then reprising his role in Look Homeward, Angel in the West End. He returned to America to make his Broadway debut as an Englishman in David Merrick's prestigious production of The Rehearsal with Coral Browne and Alan Badel, and this was followed six months later by a role in Man And Superman, first in Boston and then back in London in 1964. In the mid-Sixties, Ed decided to pay more attention to his film career, appearing as an astronaut in The Mouse In The Moon (1963), a space tracker in You Only Live Twice (1967), and an army intelligence officer investigating covert Chinese activity in Battle Beneath The Earth (1968). In the spring of 1966, he also appeared in a small role as the Aries-1B pilot in Stanley Kubrick's epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), shot at the MGM British Studios. As originally filmed this was a much larger part, but in Kubrick's final edit most of Ed's work ended up on the cutting room floor - in the finished picture he is only seen briefly in a scene with William Sylvester, and has no audible dialogue. Ed was also appearing regularly on television at this time, making guest appearances in The Saint (four times), The Baron, Court Martial and Man In A Suitcase. In the theatre, he attracted considerable attention from critics for his portrayal of John Kennedy in Joan Littlewood's production of MacBird, and went on to co-star with Shirley Knight in And People All Around at the Bristol Old Vic. Then, in 1967, Ed first came into contact with Gerry and Sylvia Anderson when he was cast as the voice of Captain Blue in Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons. He was heard in all 32 episodes of the popular Supermarionation series, as well as in a series of original Captain Scarlet stories recorded for release on the Century 21 Records label. The Andersons were keen to work with Bishop again and the following year, they cast him in Doppelg
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Ed Bishop & Michael Billington pass away
Started by
mccartney007
, Jun 09 2005 04:00 PM
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mccartney007
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Posted 09 June 2005 - 04:00 PM
From: Fanderson.org
