Gerry Anderson

Gerald Alexander Anderson (né Abrahams; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–58). Torchy the Battery Boy (1960), and Four Feather Falls (1960) followed. Supercar (1961–62) and Fireball XL5 (1962–63) came next, both series breaking into the U.S. television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, Thunderbirds. Other television productions of the period included Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90. Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films, including Doppelgänger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, 1969). Following a shift towards live-action productions in the 1970s, he had a long and successful association with media impresario Lew Grade and Grade's company ITC, continuing until the second series of Space: 1999. After a lull in which a number of new series failed to materialise, Anderson began a new phase in his career the early 1980s, when nostalgia for his earlier Supermarionation series, prompted by Saturday morning re-runs in Britain and Australia, led to new commissions. Later projects included a 2005 CG remake of Captain Scarlet titled New Captain Scarlet. Anderson died in 2012.

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