Peter Dyneley
Encyclopedia
Peter Dyneley was a British actor, born in Hastings, East Sussex
, England.
Although appearing in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for his performance as the voice of Jeff Tracy in the Gerry Anderson
1960s TV series Thunderbirds
and the subsequent movies Thunderbirds Are GO
(1966) and Thunderbird 6
(1968). Dyneley also provided the uncredited voice-over countdown in the opening sequence of the TV series.
. Peter appeared as a guest star in many television series. He spoke fluent French, German and Spanish and was five feet, eleven inches tall. Peter died on August 19, 1977 after a long fight against cancer. His wife died of a heart attack only 18 months later on 28 February 1979.
Peter spent his early years in Canada but was educated at Radley College. He had dual nationality (Canadian and British) and served with the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II
. After the war he went to Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London to study opera and had a fine bass voice. While studying there, he met and married his first wife, Christine May, and had two children, Richard and Amanda. He later met Jane Hylton while on the film set of The Manster. With his Canadian background he often performed with an American accent typically in both Thunderbirds and the cult horror movie The Manster
.
has claimed that he provided the voice-over countdown in the opening sequence of the TV series Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds producer Gerry Anderson has stated (as long believed by many of the TV series' fans) that the countdown was recorded by Dyneley -
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, England.
Although appearing in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for his performance as the voice of Jeff Tracy in the Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
1960s TV series Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
and the subsequent movies Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are GO
Thunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science-fiction film based on Thunderbirds, a 1960s television series starring marionette puppets and featuring scale model effects in a filming process dubbed "Supermarionation"...
(1966) and Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6
Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science-fiction and adventure film written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by Century 21 Cinema...
(1968). Dyneley also provided the uncredited voice-over countdown in the opening sequence of the TV series.
Biography
Born on April 13, 1921 in Hastings, Peter Dyneley acted mostly in stage productions prior to 1954 when he began acting in films. Many of his plays and films were done with his second wife, Jane HyltonJane Hylton
Jane Hylton was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...
. Peter appeared as a guest star in many television series. He spoke fluent French, German and Spanish and was five feet, eleven inches tall. Peter died on August 19, 1977 after a long fight against cancer. His wife died of a heart attack only 18 months later on 28 February 1979.
Peter spent his early years in Canada but was educated at Radley College. He had dual nationality (Canadian and British) and served with the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war he went to Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London to study opera and had a fine bass voice. While studying there, he met and married his first wife, Christine May, and had two children, Richard and Amanda. He later met Jane Hylton while on the film set of The Manster. With his Canadian background he often performed with an American accent typically in both Thunderbirds and the cult horror movie The Manster
The Manster
is a tokusatsu 1959 horror film, a co-production between the US and Japan, starring Peter Dyneley. The film was notable for its creative use of special effects...
.
Thunderbirds voiceover
In recent years, British actor Brian CobbyBrian Cobby
Brian Cobby , is a British actor and telephone exchange worker who in 1985 became the first male voice of the British speaking clock.In 2004, Cobby guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio drama The Creed of the Kromon....
has claimed that he provided the voice-over countdown in the opening sequence of the TV series Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds producer Gerry Anderson has stated (as long believed by many of the TV series' fans) that the countdown was recorded by Dyneley -
- Question: An actor by the name of Brian Cobby has claimed that he was the voice of the famous ‘5-4-3-2-1 Thunderbirds are go!’ countdown, whereas the voice sounds just like Jeff Tracy voice artist Peter Dyneley. Can you please confirm, just for the record, who the actual voice artist was? Ian Fryer, Bradford, W Yorks
- Answer: Sorry, but I haven’t got a clue who Brian Cobby is, Ian! Does anyone really believe that we’d hire a different actor to record those eight words in preference to the talented team of artists we’d already assembled to perform in the series? I remember the countdown as being one of the hardest voice recording sessions as it wasn’t just a case of someone coming in and reading out the lines. The actor had to really emote, and only an actor who had been involved in the production and understood what it was about could really do it. No, anyone who’s heard the Thunderbirds countdown knows that it is Peter Dyneley.
Films
- Hell Below ZeroHell Below ZeroHell Below Zero is a 1954 murder mystery film, starring Alan Ladd in the second of his films for Warwick Films.The film was directed by Mark Robson, and was written by Alec Coppel and Max Trell...
as ... Miller - You Know What Sailors Are as ... Lt. Andrews
- The Young LoversThe Young LoversThe Young Lovers is a 1954 British Cold War romance drama, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Odile Versois and David Knight. The film was produced by Anthony Havelock-Allan, with cinematography from Jack Asher and screenplay by George Tabori and Robin Estridge...
as ... Regan (Uncredited) - Beau BrummellBeau Brummell (film)Beau Brummell is a historical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Curtis Bernhardt and produced by Sam Zimbalist from a screenplay by Karl Tunberg, based on the play Beau Brummell by Clyde Fitch. The music score was by Richard Addinsell with Miklós Rózsa...
as ... Midger - Third Party RiskThird Party RiskThird Party Risk is a 1954 British thriller film, directed by Daniel Birt and starring Lloyd Bridges, Simone Silva and Finlay Currie...
as ... Tony Roscoe - The Stolen AirlinerThe Stolen AirlinerThe Stolen Airliner is a 1955 British family film directed by Don Sharp and starring Fella Edmonds, Diana Day and Michael Maguire. It was based on the novel Thursday Adventure by John Pudney...
as ... Uncle George - Ett Kunggligt aventyr as ... Greg Preston
- The Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate (film)The Battle of the River Plate is a 1956 British war film by director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring John Gregson, Anthony Quayle and Peter Finch...
as ... Captain, Newton beach, Prisoner on Graf Spee (Uncredited) - The Golden Disc as ... Mr. Washington
- Strange Awakening as ... Dr. Rene Normand
- The Whole TruthThe Whole Truth (1958 film)The Whole Truth is a 1958 British thriller film directed by John Guillermin and starring Stewart Granger, George Sanders, Donna Reed and Peter Dyneley.-Cast:* Stewart Granger as Max Poulton* Donna Reed as Carol Poulton* George Sanders as Carliss...
as ... Willy Reichel - The MansterThe Mansteris a tokusatsu 1959 horror film, a co-production between the US and Japan, starring Peter Dyneley. The film was notable for its creative use of special effects...
as ... Larry Stanford (Lead Role) - October Moth as ... Tom (Lead Role)
- The Roman Spring of Mrs. StoneThe Roman Spring of Mrs. StoneThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a 1961 British film made by Seven Arts-Warner Bros. It was directed by José Quintero and produced by Louis De Rochemont with Lothar Wolff as associate producer. The screenplay was written by Gavin Lambert and Jan Read and based on the novel by Tennessee Williams...
as ... Lloyd Greener - Call Me BwanaCall Me BwanaCall Me Bwana is a 1963 farce film starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg, and directed by Gordon Douglas. It is largely set in Africa. It is the only film made by EON Productions which is not about the Ian Fleming spy character, James Bond and was made by most of the same film crew as Dr...
as ... Williams - Thunderbirds Are GoThunderbirds Are GOThunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science-fiction film based on Thunderbirds, a 1960s television series starring marionette puppets and featuring scale model effects in a filming process dubbed "Supermarionation"...
as ... Jeff TracyJeff TracyJeff Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television show Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. The voice for the character in these shows was supplied by Peter Dyneley. The character also appeared in the live...
(Voice) (Lead Role) - Thunderbird 6Thunderbird 6Thunderbird 6 is a 1968 British science-fiction and adventure film written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by Century 21 Cinema...
as ... Jeff TracyJeff TracyJeff Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television show Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. The voice for the character in these shows was supplied by Peter Dyneley. The character also appeared in the live...
(Voice) (Lead Role) - The Executioner as Balkov
- Chato's LandChato's LandChato's Land is a 1972 American western film directed by Michael Winner, starring Charles Bronson and Jack Palance. It falls more closely into the revisionist Western genre, which was at its height at the time...
as ... Ezra Meade - Death of a Snowman as ... Captain
Television
- Fabian of the YardFabian of the YardFabian of the Yard was a British police procedural television series based on the real-life memoirs of Scotland Yard detective Robert Fabian, made by the BBC and broadcast between November 1954 and February 1956. It is considered the earliest police procedural to be made for British TV, sharing...
1 episode ... as Captain Pool - The ViseThe ViseThe Vise is a half-hour dramatic anthology television series which aired at 9:30 p.m. EST on Fridays on ABC from December 1955 to June 1957....
1 episode - Portrait of AlisonPortrait of Alison (television series)Portrait of Alison was a 1955 British television series featuring Patrick Barr, Lockwood West, Anthony Nicholls and Brian Wilde. A crime-based thriller written by Francis Durbridge it aired in six half-hour episodes between February and March 1955...
5 episodes ... as Henry Carmichael - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., PresentsDouglas Fairbanks, Jr., PresentsDouglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents, is a 1950s syndicated anthology series hosted and occasionally starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. The series offered Buster Keaton in his first dramatic role in the episode entitled "The Awakening". British actor Christopher Lee appeared in varied role in thirteen...
2 episodes ... as Bill Stevens/Mitch - London Playhouse 1 episode ... as John Bell
- Colonel March of Scotland YardColonel March of Scotland YardColonel March of Scotland Yard is a 1950s British television series based on author John Dickson Carr's fictional detective Colonel March from his book The Department of Queer Complaints . Carr was a mystery author who specialised in locked-room whodunnits and other 'impossible' crimes: murder...
1 episode ... as Red - The Adventures of AggieThe Adventures of AggieThe Adventures of Aggie was a black-and-white sitcom starring Joan Shawlee that was made by ME Films and broadcast on ITV. It lasted for one series of twenty-six episodes. Also being aimed at the American market, it was broadcast in the US from December 1957 under the name Aggie...
1 episode ... as Mike - Sailor of Fortune 1 episode ... as Darre
- The Adventures of a Jungle BoyThe Adventures of a Jungle BoyThe Adventures of a Jungle Boy is a 1957 British syndicated adventure series. The show was known for its striking similarity to the Tarzan movie series.-Plot:...
1 episode ... as Harold Gayland - Assignment Foreign Legion 1 episode ... as Richard Harding
- The New Adventures of Charlie ChanThe New Adventures of Charlie ChanThe New Adventures of Charlie Chan was a syndicated television crime drama series made in 1957. The first five episodes were made by Vision Productions in the United States, before production switched to the United Kingdom under ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America.The series,...
2 episodes ... as Dr Paul Liggat/John Robey - ITV Television Playhouse 1 episode as Arthur Hayes
- IvanhoeIvanhoeIvanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
1 episode ... as Baron Mauray - The Flying DoctorThe Flying DoctorThe Flying Doctor is a 1936 Australian-British drama film directed by Miles Mander and starring Charles Farrell, Mary Maguire and James Raglan. The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia operate in the Australian Outback...
1 episode ... as Jeff Ferguson - Dial 999 1 episode ... as Harry Killian
- African Patrol 3 episodes ... as Landray/Robert Gibson
- Armchair TheatreArmchair TheatreArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
4 episodes ... as Lew Myrick - Interpol CallingInterpol CallingInterpol Calling was a 1959 Rank Organisation and Jack Wrather Productions television crime drama series for ITC Entertainment. The series, which ran for one season of 39 half-hour monchrome episodes, followed the adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against...
1 episode ... as LeRoy - The Four Just Men 2 episodes ... as Dougan/Police Chief
- Golden Girl ... as Joe Francis
- Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond 1 episode ... as Hadley
- International Detective 1 episode ... as Len Rickman
- Kraft Mystery Theatre 2 episodes ... as Dr. Morrow/Mark Lemming
- Drama 61-67 1 episode ... as Frank Ellinger
- Out of This WorldOut of This World (UK TV series)Out of This World is a British science fiction anthology television series made by ABC Television and broadcast in 1962. A spin-off from the popular anthology series Armchair Theatre, each episode was introduced by the actor Boris Karloff. Many of the episodes were adaptations of stories by...
1 episode ... as Isnp. Slinn - Man of the World 1 episode ... as Tony Gardner
- Z-CarsZ-CarsZ-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
1 episode ... as Jackey Simmons - BBC Sunday-Night Play 1 episode ... as Mr. Wright
- Ghost SquadGhost Squad (TV series)Ghost Squad, known as G.S.5 for its third season, was a crime drama series about an elite division of Scotland Yard that ran between 1961 and 1964. Each episode the Ghost Squad would investigate cases that fell outside the scope of normal police work...
2 episodes ... as Arnell/Phil Slade - MaigretMaigretJules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
1 episode - EspionageEspionage (TV series)Espionage is a 1963 Associated TeleVision series, distributed outside the UK by ITC Entertainment and networked in the United States by NBC.-Synopsis:...
1 episode ... as Parrott - Sergeant CorkSergeant CorkSergeant Cork is a British detective television series which first aired between 1963 and 1968 on ATV. It featured a police procedural show which followed the efforts of two police officers and their battle against crime in Victorian London. In all 66 hour-long episodes were aired during the five...
1 episode ... as Field Marshal - Catch Hand 1 episode ... as Mr. Niel
- ITV Play of the Week 3 episodes ... as Maj. Ritter/Pyotr Kirpichov/Sir Basil Fleming
- CraneCrane (TV series)Crane is a British black and white adventure series that aired on ITV from 1963 to 1965. It was shown on Monday nights at 8 PM.-Plot:The series was based around Richard Crane who was a successful city businessman who was tired of the big city rat race...
1 episode ... as Peter Garvey - No Hiding PlaceNo Hiding PlaceNo Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967....
2 episodes ... as Cliff Davidson/Mr. Brome - Theatre 625Theatre 625Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...
1 episode ... as Grantley Lewis - Hereward the Wake
- The Mask of JanusThe Mask of JanusThe Mask of Janus is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1965.The series was set in the fictional European country of Amalia and dealt with the political interests of the British, American and Communist espionage communities within. Eschewing the action formula of its ITV...
1 episode ... as Cmdr. Charles Hastings - ThunderbirdsThunderbirds (TV series)Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
32 episodes ... as Jeff TracyJeff TracyJeff Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television show Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. The voice for the character in these shows was supplied by Peter Dyneley. The character also appeared in the live...
(voice) - The Spies 1 episode ... as Charles Hastings
- The SaintThe Saint (TV series)The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
3 episodes ... as Nat Grindel/Paul Verrier/Richard Eade