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David Graham (actor)

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David Graham
Graham in 2016
Born
David Michael Graham

(1925-07-11)11 July 1925
London, England
Died20 September 2024(2024-09-20) (aged 99)
OccupationActor
Years active1952–2023
Known for

David Michael Graham (11 July 1925 – 20 September 2024) was an English actor. He was best known for voicing the Daleks in Doctor Who, Gordon Tracy, Brains, Aloysius Parker and Kyrano in Thunderbirds, and Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig.

Life and career

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Graham was born in London on 11 July 1925.[1][2] His sister had married a G.I. and had moved to the United States, and his uncle had run away there, and so he became an actor after leaving his Orthodox Jewish household. He trained in New York City, at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre with Sanford Meisner,[3] following service in the Royal Air Force as a radar mechanic.[4]

Graham returned to England and began his theatre career, his breakout role being as Givola in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, alongside Leonard Rossiter. A friend of his, actor Christopher Benjamin, recommended the role to him. He was then recommended by director Michael Blakemore to audition for Laurence Olivier's theatre company,[3] eventually appearing alongside him in Saturday Sunday Monday, using an Italian accent.[1]

While playing characters in the TV series Private Investigator[3][5] in 1958, Graham met writer and producer Gerry Anderson, who was planning his first puppet productions. Graham said that he could pull off accents well, which led to his first voiceover role in Four Feather Falls, as Grandpa Twink, whom he based on Walter Brennan.[2] He subsequently voiced Dr. Beaker, Zarin and Mitch the Monkey in Supercar, Mat Matic and Lieutenant Ninety in Fireball XL5 and various guest characters in Stingray. Graham also played Johnny in Crossroads to Crime, a live-action film Anderson directed.

In 1963, he became the voice of the Daleks in Doctor Who, alongside Peter Hawkins, who devised the way they spoke.[6] He believed Hawkins would always play superior and higher-pitched Daleks, while he voiced with a lower-pitch. He voiced the Daleks in all four of their major First Doctor era appearances, as well as two 1960s feature films: Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., departing due to other commitments,[2] although he and Hawkins remained lifelong friends.[7] Graham also voiced the Mechonoids and played the onscreen role of Charlie in The Gunfighters. He returned to his role as the voice of the Daleks in 2023, when he recorded new lines for that year's official colourised recut of the 1963 serial The Daleks for the show's 60th anniversary.[8]

In 1965, Graham became the voices of Gordon Tracy, Brains, Aloysius Parker and Kyrano in Thunderbirds, as well as its film sequels: Thunderbirds Are Go and Thunderbird 6. He did not believe Brains had a stutter, claiming that he was instead trying to find the words to explain his latest ideas excitedly. He based the voice of Parker on a waiter at the King's Arms pub in Cookham, and he and Ray Barrett shared many of the guest villains. Although he was not highly paid for production, the many repeats earned him a lot more,[3] and Parker became Anderson's favourite voice.[9]

Between 1975 and 1977, Graham was part of the Radio Drama Company.[10] In 1979, he played Professor Kerensky in the Doctor Who story City of Death. He, later, played the role of Big Brother in the "1984" television Super Bowl advert to introduce the Apple Macintosh computer,[11] before reuniting with Hawkins and his wife, Rosemary Miller, to provide voices together in the English dub of German animated film Stowaways on the Ark. In 2004, Graham became the voice of Grandpa Pig in Peppa Pig, having known creator Mark Baker from when he was younger.[12] The following year[13] he played Albert Einstein in a Horizon docudrama, for which he was very proud that the BBC would select him to play the lead role.[3]

In 2009,[14] Graham began playing Edward Elgar in Stirring the Spirit, for which he thoroughly researched the composer,[3] and he reprised the role many times over the next decade. From 2015 to 2020, he reprised his role as Parker in Thunderbirds Are Go, a reboot of the original series. Although Kayvan Novak took over as Brains, Graham had wanted to reprise that role as well. Most of his dialogue was recorded with Rosamund Pike, who played Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward.[15]

In April 2021, Graham announced his retirement from his Thunderbirds characters.[16] In December, actor George Layton, a longtime friend of Graham's, announced on Twitter that Graham had suffered a stroke six months earlier and was unable to leave his home in London. However, Layton stated that Graham was recovering by performing voice-overs,[17] and had since conducted interviews from his home.[18]

Graham died on 20 September 2024, at the age of 99.[19][20] Despite this, a representative of the Peppa Pig brand confirmed that further episodes featuring his voice would continue to be released until 2027.[21]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role References
1960 Crossroads to Crime Johnny [20]
1965 Dr. Who and the Daleks Dalek voices [6]
1966 Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. [6]
Thunderbirds Are Go Gordon Tracy, Brains, Aloysius Parker [2][9]
1968 Thunderbird 6 [2][9]
2009 The End Ernest Samson [22]
2015 Peppa Pig: The Golden Boots Grandpa Pig, Mr. Zebra [19]

Television

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Year Title Role Notes References
1957 O.S.S. Pilot Episode 14 "Operation Yo-Yo" [23]
1960 Four Feather Falls Grandpa Twink, Fernando 39 episodes [2][20]
1961–1962 Supercar Dr. Beaker, Zarin, Mitch the Monkey [2][20]
1962–1963 Fireball XL5 Mat Matic, Lieutenant Ninety [2][20]
1963 The Avengers Producer Episode: "Man in the Mirror" [24]
1963–1966, 1979 Doctor Who Dalek voices, Mechonoid voices, Charlie, Professor Kerensky 35 episodes [2][19]
1964–1965 Stingray Various 39 episodes [25]
1965 Danger Man Detective Episode 17: "The Affair at Castelevara" [26]
1965–1966 Thunderbirds Gordon Tracy, Brains, Parker, Kyrano 32 episodes [2][19]
1969 The Secret Service King of Muldovia, Air Traffic Controller, Lord Edward Hazelwell 2 episodes, uncredited [20]
1970–1971 Timeslip 2957 7 episodes [20]
1990–1991 Moomin Snork English version, 77 episodes [20]
1992–1994 So Haunt Me Mr. Bloom 13 episodes [20]
2004–2027 Peppa Pig Grandpa Pig, Mr. Zebra, Father Christmas 95 episodes, posthumous 2024-2027 [2][19]
2005 Horizon Albert Einstein Episode: "Einstein's Unfinished Symphony" [25]
2009–2012 Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Wise Old Elf, Mr. Gnome 47 episodes [2][19]
2015–2020 Thunderbirds Are Go Parker, Vic, Malloy 40 episodes [9]

References

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  1. ^ a b Graham, David (12 July 2015). "About David Graham". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020. [...] yesterday was my birthday [...]
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Graham, David (8 June 2017). "Voiceover". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2023. The year of my birth was 1925.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Ned Cook's NTBS Newsflash (November–December 2012)" (PDF). Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Thunderbirds Are Go: Meet the man behind Parker – and also Grandpa Pig, the Daleks and Joseph Goebbels". Daily Mirror. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  5. ^ "David Graham – Avengers Forever". Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Talking Daleks. The Dalek Invasion of Earth DVD
  7. ^ Hawkins, Silas (October 2014). "Voices-Voices-Voices!". Doctor Who Magazine (477). Panini Comics: 66.
  8. ^ Cormack, Morgan (9 November 2023). "Doctor Who's The Daleks restoration to feature new material from Russell T Davies". Radio Times. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d "Thunderbirds Are Go is back on Amazon Prime Video 11/9/16". YouTube. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  10. ^ Graham, David. "Radio". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ Graham, David. "Film". David Graham Official Site. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  12. ^ "David Graham on Doing the Voice for Thunderbirds' Parker for 50 Years". YouTube. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  13. ^ Graham, David. "Television". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ^ Graham, David. "Theatre". Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ "Fanderson – The Thunderbirds Are Go Interviews Part 2: Parker, Brains and the Hood". Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Thunderbirds is back!". Big Finish Productions. 11 April 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  17. ^ Layton, George [@Thegeorgelayton] (8 December 2021). "With my dear friend, actor David Graham. You might know him better as 'Parker' from Thunderbirds, 'Grandpa Pig' & was one of the original Dalek voices. He had a stroke six months ago and can't get out. But this young 96-year-old is making a great recovery doing voice work from home!" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 May 2022 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ SCALEXTRIC | Exclusive Interview with David Graham!, 22 December 2023, retrieved 22 December 2023
  19. ^ a b c d e f Bushby, Helen (20 September 2024). "Peppa Pig and Thunderbirds actor David Graham dies". BBC News. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hayward, Anthony. "David Graham obituary". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  21. ^ Campbell, Tina. "Peppa Pig confirms fate of Grandpa Pig following death of voice actor David Graham". The Standard. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  22. ^ "The End — Stand + Stare". Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  23. ^ "CTVA UK – "O.S.S." (ITP/UK) (1957–58)". Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  24. ^ "David Graham – The Avengers". Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  25. ^ a b "Voice of Parker and Brains in Thunderbirds and Daleks in Doctor Who". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  26. ^ "David Graham 1925–2024". Retrieved 27 September 2024.
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