Peter Dyneley

Peter Dyneley
File:Peter Dyneley.tif Dyneley in 1975
Born	(1921-04-13)13 April 1921 Hastings, Sussex, England, UK
Died	London, England, UK
Cause of death	Cancer
Nationality	British and Canadian
Education	Radley College
Alma mater	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Film, television, stage and voice actor
Years active	1954–77
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Television	Thunderbirds (1965–66)
Spouse(s)	Christine May and Jane Hylton
Children	1st marriage: 1 son and 1 daughter

Peter Dyneley (13 April 1921 – 19 August 1977) was an Anglo-Canadian actor. Although he appeared in many smaller roles in both film and television, he is best remembered for supplying the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 1960s "Supermarionation" TV series Thunderbirds and its two film sequels, Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968), all produced by Gerry Anderson. Uncredited, Dyneley also provided the voice of the countdown that introduces the Thunderbirds title sequence.

Life and career

Born in Hastings, Sussex, England, Peter Dyneley spent his early years in Canada but was educated at Radley College in Oxfordshire, England. He possessed dual nationality (Canadian and British) and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. After the war, he attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied opera and developed his bass voice. It was at this institution that he made the acquaintance of fellow student Christine May, whom he later married. They had two children, Richard and Amanda.

With his Canadian background, Dyneley frequently performed with a North American accent. He acted primarily in stage productions prior to 1954, when he turned his attention to film. On stage and in film, he regularly appeared opposite his second wife, the actress Jane Hylton, whom he met on the set of the horror film The Manster (1959). He also appeared as a guest star in many television series. He spoke fluent French, German and Spanish and was 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall. Dyneley died of cancer on 19 August 1977, Hylton of a heart attack 18 months later, on 28 February 1979.

Thunderbirds voice-over

English actor Brian Cobby (1929–2012), former voice of the British Speaking Clock, claimed that it was he who had provided the voice-over countdown for the opening sequence of Thunderbirds in 1964. This was refuted by Thunderbirds producer Gerry Anderson, who confirmed that the countdown was indeed 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.

Dyneley's countdown was reused in the first trailer for the series' 2015 reboot Thunderbirds Are Go!, as well as its opening sequence, and is also used for the launch countdown for the various Thunderbirds in the episodes.

Filmography

File:The-manster-eye.jpg

Dyneley as Larry Stanford in The Manster (1959)

• Hell Below Zero (1954) as Miller
• You Know What Sailors Are (1954) as Lieutenant Andrews
• The Young Lovers (1954) as Regan (uncredited)
• Beau Brummell (1954) as Midger
• Third Party Risk (1954) as Tony Roscoe
• The Stolen Airliner (1955) as Uncle George
• Ett Kunggligt Aventyr (1956) as Greg Preston
• The Battle of the River Plate (1956) as Newton Beach Captain and Graf Spee Prisoner (uncredited)
• The Golden Disc (1958) as Mr Washington
• The Strange Awakening (1958) as Dr Rene Normand
• The Whole Truth (1958) as Willy Reichel
• The Manster (1959) as Larry Stanford
• October Moth (1960) as Tom
• House of Mystery (1961) as Mark Lemming
• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) as Lloyd Greener
• Call Me Bwana (1963) as Williams
• Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) as Jeff Tracy (voice)
• Thunderbird 6 (1968) as Jeff Tracy (voice)
• The Executioner (1970) as Balkov
• Chato's Land (1972) as Ezra Meade
• Death of a Snowman (1976) as Captain

Television appearances

• Fabian of the Yard (1 episode) as Captain Pool
• The Vise (1 episode)
• Portrait of Alison (5 episodes) as Henry Carmichael
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents (2 episodes) as Bill Stevens/Mitch
• London Playhouse (1 episode) as John Bell
• Colonel March of Scotland Yard (1 episode) as Red
• The Adventures of Aggie (1 episode) as Mike
• Sailor of Fortune (1 episode) as Darren
• The Adventures of a Jungle Boy (1 episode) as Harold Gayland
• Assignment Foreign Legion (1 episode) as Richard Harding
• The New Adventures of Charlie Chan (2 episodes) as Dr Paul Liggat/John Robey
• ITV Playhouse (1 episode) as Arthur Hayes
• Ivanhoe (1 episode) as Baron Mauray
• The Flying Doctor (1 episode) as Jeff Ferguson
• Dial 999 (1 episode) as Harry Killian
• African Patrol (3 episodes) as Landray/Robert Gibson
• Armchair Theatre (4 episodes) as Lew Myrick
• Interpol Calling (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 World (1 episode) as Inspector Slinn
• Man of the World (1 episode) as Tony Gardner
• Z-Cars (1 episode) as Jackey Simmons
• Sunday-Night Play (1 episode) as Mr Wright
• Ghost Squad (2 episodes) as Arnell/Phil Slade
• Maigret (1 episode)
• Espionage (1 episode) as Parrott
• Sergeant Cork (1 episode) as Field Marshal
• Catch Hand (1 episode) as Mr Niel
• ITV Play of the Week (3 episodes) as Major Ritter/Pyotr Kirpichov/Sir Basil Fleming
• Crane (1 episode) as Peter Garvey
• No Hiding Place (2 episodes) as Cliff Davidson/Mr Brome
• Theatre 625 (1 episode) as Grantley Lewis
• Hereward the Wake
• The Mask of Janus (1 episode) as Commander Charles Hastings
• Thunderbirds (32 episodes) as Jeff Tracy (voice)
• The Spies (1 episode) as Charles Hastings
• The Saint (3 episodes) as Nat Grindel/Paul Verrier/Richard Eade
• The Sweeney (1 episode) as Tarley
• Graf Yoster (1 episode) as Lord Alistair Abdington

External links

• Peter Dyneley at the Internet Movie Database