RIP to Ed Bishop, best known (to me, at least) as Commander Straker in the short-lived UFO show by Gerry Anderson. (Ironically, Michael Billington, who played Paul Foster in the same show died two days earlier.) (Both also had roles in Bond flicks.)
And RIP to Dana Elcar, too, who played in a zillion things, but was best known to me as Col. Lard in Black Sheep Squadron and Pete Thornton on MacGyver. Oh, yeah, and he was in The Sting. Any TV show or movie that called for an obnoxious and/or officious and/or bullying, bald, stocky guy, that was Dana Elcar. Good, solid actor.
And, I’ll be darned, RIP to Leon Askin, a Jewish refugee from the Nazis who went on to fame as, among other things, General Burkhalter on Hogan’s Heroes.
My thanks to them (long after the fact) for the various hours of entertainment they provided me.
I’m not sure how I could have missed Bishop and Billington. As a UFO fan, I’m broken hearted and based on her comments at last summer’s Comic-Con about Ed and Michael, I’m sure Antonia Ellis is very sad as well.
UFO was the first show I remember begging to stay up late and watch in the summer as a kid. I was fascinated by the ‘Anderson’ future. And Paul Foster was really dreamy.
That they died so close together will definetly be a source of rumors…
UFO was a summer favorite of mine, too. I was fascinated by the liquid-breathing aliens. Of course, the accents were beguiling. All these actors belong in the “That Guy” hall of fame (if they’re not already listed at Fametracker, they should be).
They entertained me, too. It’s sad to think that they and that link to the past are gone.
UFO fell into that post-Star Trek era, where there was nothing SF-wise worth the name (that ST:TOS was the pinnacle of SF on TV to that point is a sad commentary in and of itself). As such, and with that British cachet, cool miniatures, and impenetrable plots (not to mention fun sets and, um, costuming), it’s no wonder it hold a warm place in so many hearts.
I was actually surprised to see all the Bond connections, too.
Of course, I was surprised that Leon Askin was alive, too.
Don’t forget the purple hair on moon base. Sylvia Anderson insisted on the purple wigs along with the, um, costuming. Supposedly it was an anti-static thing but the men never needed to wear them. I associated the ITV theme song with the UFO one that followed.
Sylvia thought that wigs would be a standard female fashion accessory in the future. She may have missed the date, but I wouldn’t bet against it sometime being so (again).
The ITV music I associated with all Anderson productions, from Stingray to Thunderbirds to UFO to Space: 1999. As iconic as the 20th Century Fox fanfare …