On this day, 14 April, in 1929, the producer Gerry Anderson was born. He, along with his wife Sylvia, were known for their television shows based on marionette puppetry. The best known is Thunderbirds.
Many of my childhood friends loved this show! I wasn’t a big fan. I’m not sure why. When I what them now, I’m amazed. It’s such a finely crafted show!
What I most like about Sylvia and Gerry Anderson is Space: 1999. (See our discussion, Great 1970s TV.) They used their abilities with small-scale special effects to combine with an excellent cast to create quite an enjoyable series.
Space: 1999 starred Martin Landau (Ed Wood) and Barbara Bain (Mission: Impossible) plus a bunch of other notables.
But what I most love about the show is how scientifically illiterate it is. If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know that one thing I hate is listening to lame science-sounding justifications for bizarre plots. No one cares! So I glory in the ridiculousness of Space: 1999.
Also on 14 April
Actor John Gielgud (Star Wars) was born on 1904, Valerie Hobson (Werewolf of London) in 1917, Audrey Long (Born to Kill) in 1918, Joseph Ruskin (Smokin’ Aces) in 1924, Rod Steiger (Duck, You Sucker) in 1925, Liz Renay (The Thrill Killers) and Gloria Jean (If I Had My Way) in 1926, Bradford Dillman (Piranha) in 1930, and Arlene Martel (The Glass Cage) in 1936
Julie Christie (McCabe & Mrs Miller) is 80, John Shea (The Apocalypse Watch) is 71, Lothaire Bluteau (Jesus of Montreal) is 63, Peter Capaldi (Local Hero) is 62, Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) is 60, Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) is 59, Gina McKee (The Zookeeper) is 56, Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) is 52, Adrien Brody (King Kong) is 48, and Rob McElhinney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is 43.
Director Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon) is 55 today.
Image cropped from a frame from the Space: 1999 Blu-ray trailer. Licensed under Fair Use.