Roy William Skelton (20 July 1931 – 8 June 2011) was a British actor most noted for his voice work. He was best known for playing Zippy and George in ''
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
'', and for voicing the
Daleks
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Na ...
and the
Cybermen in ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''.
Life and career
Born in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
to John H Skelton and Dorothy (née Bromley),
Skelton trained at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and worked at
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
for a year.
Having performed voices, based on those from ''
The Goon Show'', while rehearsing for a ''
Pinocchio
Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...
'' TV serial he played Lampwick in, producer
Gordon Murray cast him as part of the BBC Puppet Theatre.
Skelton met
Peter Hawkins during ''
Toytown'', who would become a close friend.
In 1957, he met his future wife Hilary Tooze at a nightclub, marrying her two years later. They would go on to have two children, Eliza and Samantha.
In 1966, he began his long association with ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' voicing the Monoids in ''
The Ark'', which
Peter Hawkins recommended him for.
In the 1966 story, ''
The Tenth Planet'', Skelton originated the voices of the original
Cybermen, delivering an unsettling, sing-song voice constructed by placing the
inflection
In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...
s of words on the wrong
syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
s. This confused many of the actors, who did not know when his lines finished.
In 1967, Skelton began voicing the
Daleks
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Na ...
with ''
The Evil of the Daleks'' alongside Peter, who recommended him for this as well. He made a rule that although the Dalek voice could get higher when angry, it could never go down.
He also voiced
the Krotons in their sole 1968 appearance, giving them South African accents,
and his first on-screen role was as Norton in ''
Colony in Space'' (1971).
In 1973, he became the voice of both
Zippy and
George in ''
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
'', continuing the roles for over 30 years and writing over 150 episodes. Some moments Skelton most fondly-remembered included meeting
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
and
Ernie Wise,
and with his singing experience he played
Father Christmas in one episode, although the producers at
Thames Television did not believe he did the singing. He considered ''Rainbow'' to be his best work,
and particularly enjoyed being able to quickly switch between Zippy and George. Contrary to popular belief, he did not base Zippy's voice off of the Daleks,
but when asked where he got it, he jokingly claimed that it was a cross between
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
and
Ian Paisley.
Roy had intentions to write for other programmes,
including ''Take a Chance'', but never received any further contracts requiring him to do so.
Also in 1973, he played the on-screen role of James in the ''Doctor Who'' story ''
The Green Death'' standing in for
Tony Adams. Skelton was asked to play
Davros in ''
Genesis of the Daleks'', but due to filming ''Rainbow'' had to be replaced by
Michael Wisher,
a good friend. He, Michael
and another Dalek voice,
Brian Miller, who he befriended alongside his wife
Elisabeth Sladen, would appear together in
Barry Letts's 1986 production of ''
Alice in Wonderland''.
When
Nicholas Briggs
Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He is associated with the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Da ...
became the voice of the Daleks in its 2005 revival, Skelton praised his performance for being able to put emotion into it, even though he wished he had been doing it.
He died at his home in
Brighton
Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
,
East Sussex
East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...
, on 8 June 2011, after suffering a
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
at age 79.
Filmography
References
External links
*
Obituary in ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Roy
1931 births
2011 deaths
English male television actors
English male voice actors
Male actors from Nottingham