Hey folks, Harry here... Wasn't that familiar with Ed Bishop by name, but I certainly remember his work on UFO and CAPTAIN SCARLET and the STAR TREK animated series, but I hadn't heard he'd passed away. Here's SpectrumIsSad with the proper OBIT that Ed deserved...

Wow – I just found out that Ed Bishop died on the 8th June – I know that it probably too long a time since his death to effectively say any words on this occasion and that maybe in some bizarre world Ed Bishop isn’t a giant amongst geeks and doesn’t warrant a mention but – wow – Commander Ed Straker is gone! Jay Garrick will never tell the news again!!! Ed Bishop, a stalwart of geek entertainment has been taken from us by a viral infection at the age of 73

My first real encounter with Mr Bishop was when I watched Gerry Anderson’s live-action ‘UFO’ series and to be honest, as a kid, he scared me. Maybe it was the white wig, maybe it was the acrylic clothing but I think it was because for the first time ever I had been presented with a hero in a show that didn’t give too much of a damn about anything apart from protecting the world from UFO infiltration. When I watched it recently on DVD – UFO startled me by being an incredibly successful science fiction series. It was encumbered by the ridiculous fashions and cheesy attempts to make 1980 look like a swinging extension of the sixties but the acting was fantastic and the stories were great and tense and often quite dark. Ed Straker was a man that you could trust to get the job done and he cast a powerful aspect over the show considering that he seldom got involved in the action / adventure of the show.

But Ed Bishop was much more – he appeared in two Bond movies (albeit uncredited), he was the voice of Captain Blue in ‘Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons’, he was in ‘2001 – A Space Odyssey’. Hell, the man ever provided voices for the ‘Star Trek’ cartoon. Ed Bishop was a constant, if hardly major, face for geeks around the world. He was a dependable and remarkably versatile actor and will be sadly missed. I met him once at a Memorabilia fair and he was charming and interesting – but I cannot base my opinion on him because of that. I can only base what I know as a fan of science fiction. He was someone that I just assumed would always be there – someone who may not have had too many starring roles but was dependable and – well – there!

For me – his shining light was not in ‘Battle Beneath the Earth’ but in the 1980’s television show ‘Whoop Apocalypse’. Jay Garrick was the anchorman of the Apocalypse – in a world where the American President was an ex Tarzan actor and the British Prime Minister thought he was Superman – Jay Garrick, and Ed Bishop anchored us all through the apocalypse.

Goodbye Mr Bishop – I will miss you!

I don’t know if this is of any use whatsoever if it is call me Spectrumissad!