Sylvia Beatrice Anderson (; 25 March 1927 – 15 March 2016) was an English television and film producer, writer, voice actress and costume designer, best known for her collaborations with

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

, her husband between 1960 and 1981. In addition to serving as co-creator and co-writer on their TV series during the 1960s and early 1970s, Anderson's primary contribution was character development and

costume design Costume design is the creation of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume may refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. In many cases, it may contribute to the fullness of the arti ...

. She regularly directed the fortnightly voice recording sessions, and provided the voices of many female and child characters. She also helped develop the shows and characters, in particular creating the iconic characters of

Lady Penelope Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series '' Thunderbirds'', which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film sequel ...

and Parker in '' Thunderbirds''.

Early life

Anderson was born in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England on 25 March 1927. Her father, Sidney Thomas, was a champion boxer, and her mother, Beatrice (), a dressmaker. After graduating from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

with a degree in sociology and political science, she became a

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er. She emigrated to the United States to live with her first husband, Jack Brooks, an American golfer. While in America she worked as a journalist.

Career

Anderson returned to the United Kingdom in 1955 with her daughter. She joined the newly founded and short-lived Polytechnic Films as an office assistant in 1957. There, she met

, an editor and director. That year, when Anderson and

Arthur Provis Arthur John Provis (10 March 1925 – 17 May 2016) was an English cinematographer and producer, best known for co-founding AP Films ("Anderson-Provis" Films) with Gerry Anderson. As a former Navy photographer forging a career operating rostrum c ...

created AP Films following Polytechnic's collapse, she joined them on the board of directors of the new company, alongside their colleagues John Read and Reg Hill.

Collaboration with Gerry Anderson

In 1957 AP Films was commissioned by writer Roberta Leigh to produce films based on her children's stories, including '' The Adventures of Twizzle'' and ''

Torchy the Battery Boy ''Torchy the Battery Boy'' is a British television series, the second produced by AP Films and Gerry Anderson, running from 1959 to 1961. Directed by Anderson, it was a collaboration with author Roberta Leigh, with music scored by Barry Gray ...

''. Sylvia Anderson worked on these projects as a production assistant. In late 1960 the couple married, and she developed a wider role in production duties. The couple worked together as a team, co-writing and co-creating the first episode of a series then sharing the work according to their strengths. Gerry tended to specialise in special effects and hardware, and Sylvia in character, voices, costume, dialogue, and plotlines. In this way, Anderson contributed plot development and voice work for a series of half-hour shows including ''

Supercar A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...

'', ''

Stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ...

'' and '' Fireball XL5''. The ''Supercar'' end titles credit her (as Sylvia Thamm) as the Dialogue Director, a task which she would also handle in other projects. However, she felt the half-hour format was insufficient to fully develop characters and stories, and she persuaded the team's TV producer

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 19 ...

to extend their shows to a full hour. In the early 1960s, the Andersons co-created the series '' Thunderbirds'', and Sylvia created the characters. She was aware that Grade intended to sell the show to American TV networks and wanted to make the show appealing to American audiences, hence she introduced the "British aristocrat" character of Lady Penelope, and Parker her "Cockney chauffeur". Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, an aristocratic fashionista who was an undercover agent, was to become one of her most popular characters; Anderson both created the character and provided her voice. AP Films puppet designer Mary Turner used Anderson as the template for the creation of the Lady Penelope puppets, a decision of which Anderson was not immediately aware. Interviewed by the ''Daily Mirror'' in 1968, Turner commented: "we wanted a glamorous blonde and ndersonwas the obvious choice." In 1966 and 1968, Anderson produced two feature-length films based on the ''Thunderbirds'' story, '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' and '' Thunderbird 6''. She was co-creator with Gerry Anderson for the series ''

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

'' (1969-1970) on which she co-produced, was responsible for fashions on the show and did the majority of the casting. The Andersons' creative partnership ended when their marriage broke down during the production of the first series of '' Space: 1999'' in 1975. Gerry announced his intention to separate on the evening of the

wrap party Wrap, as used in the phrase "That's a wrap" has been used by directors since the early days of the film industry to signal the end of filming. Since the 1920s, filmmakers have been using this phrase when principal photography is concluded and the ...

, following which Sylvia ceased her involvement with the company, which by this time had twice been renamed and was now called Group Three.

Talent scout and writing

In 1983 she published a novel titled ''Love and Hisses'' and in 1994 she reprised her voice role as Lady Penelope for an episode of ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...

''. She worked as a London-based talent scout for HBO for 30 years. Her autobiography, ''Yes M'Lady'', was first published in 1991; in 2007, it was re-published as ''My FAB Years'' with new material to bring it up to date with the latest developments in her life, such as her role as a production consultant for the 2004 live-action film adaptation of '' Thunderbirds''. Of the film, Anderson commented, "I'm personally thrilled that the production team have paid us the great compliment of bringing to life our original concept for the big screen. If we had made it ourselves (and we have had over 30 years to do it!) we could not have improved on this new version. It is a great tribute to the original creative team who inspired the movie all those years ago. It was a personal thrill for me to see my characters come to life on the big screen." ''My FAB Years'' was re-released as a spoken CD, narrated by Anderson, in 2010.

Late career and charity work

In 2013, Anderson worked with her daughter Dee, a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer, on a concept for a new TV series named ''The Last Station''. In 2015, Anderson briefly returned to the ''Thunderbirds'' universe, when she guest-starred in an episode of the reboot TV series, '' Thunderbirds Are Go'', as Great Aunt Sylvia, a relative of Lady Penelope. Anderson was also known for her charity work, particularly in support of

Breast Cancer Care Breast Cancer Care is the only specialist UK-wide charity in the UK providing care, support and information to anyone affected by breast cancer. The charity's headquarters are in London, with additional offices in Sheffield, Cardiff, and Glasgow. ...

and

Barnardo's Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children. As of 2013, it raised and spent around £200 million each year running around 900 local services, aimed at helping these same group ...

Recognition

In 1966, ''Thunderbirds'' received the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Silver Medal. In 2015, Anderson travelled to Italy to receive a

Pulcinella Award Cartoons on the Bay is an international festival held in Italy dedicated to television-, film- and transmedia- animation. The ''Pulcinella Awards'' are presented at the festival for excellence in animation production. Its purpose is to promote the ...

in recognition of her career in television production.

Personal life and death

In 1946, Anderson married Jack Brooks, with whom she had a daughter, Dee. The marriage ended in divorce and in 1952 she married George Thamm, this marriage also ending in divorce. Her third marriage, in 1960, was to Gerry Anderson, with whom she had a son, Gerry Anderson Jr, before divorcing Anderson in 1981. Sylvia Anderson died on 15 March 2016, ten days before her 89th birthday.

Television

AP Films

* '' The Adventures of Twizzle'' (1957–59) – production assistant * ''

'' ( first series) (1960) – production assistant * '' Four Feather Falls'' (1960) – production assistant * ''

'' (1961–62) – dialogue director, voice artist * '' Fireball XL5'' (1962–63) – voice artist * ''

'' (1964–65) – production assistant, voice artist * '' Thunderbirds'' (1965–66) – character development, voice artist

Century 21

* ''

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'', often shortened to ''Captain Scarlet'', is a British science fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company Century 21 Productions for distributor ...

'' (1967–68) – character development, voice artist * ''

Joe 90 ''Joe 90'' is a 1968–1969 British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television series created by Gerry Anderson, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and filmed by their production company, AP Films#Century 21, Century 21, for ITC Enterta ...

'' (1968–69) – character development, voice artist * '' The Secret Service'' (1969) – character development, voice artist * ''

'' (1970–71) – costume designer

Group Three

* ''

The Protectors ''The Protectors'' is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It was Anderson's second TV series to exclusively use live actors as opposed to marionettes (following ''UFO''), and his second to be firmly set in ...

'' (1972–74) – writer * '' Space: 1999'' (1975–77) – producer (" Year One")

ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures

* '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' (2015) – voice artist (as Great Aunt Sylvia)

Filmography

* '' Crossroads to Crime'' (1960) – production assistant, uncredited acting role * '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' (1966) – co-writer, co-producer, voice artist * '' Thunderbird 6'' (1968) – co-writer, co-producer, voice artist * ''

Doppelgänger A doppelgänger (), a compound noun formed by combining the two nouns (double) and (walker or goer) (), doppelgaenger or doppelganger is a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a double, of a living person. In fiction and mythology, a doppelg ...

'' (1969) a.k.a. ''Journey to the Far Side of the Sun'' (US title) – co-writer, co-producer * '' Thunderbirds'' (2004) – production consultant

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sylvia 1927 births 2016 deaths 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers Actresses from London Alumni of the London School of Economics Audiobook narrators British media executives British women screenwriters British women television producers British television producers Businesspeople from London English autobiographers English company founders English costume designers English expatriates in the United States English film producers English screenwriters English talent agents English television producers English television writers English voice actresses English women in business English women novelists HBO people People from Bray, Berkshire Television show creators English voice directors Women autobiographers British women television writers Writers from London English women non-fiction writers 20th-century English businesspeople