SHANE RIMMER

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(28 May 1929 - 29 March 2019)

Shane Rimmer

The Canadian actor and writer Shane Rimmer, who has died aged 89, emigrated to the UK in the 1950s and worked here for the rest of his life. Although his face would be familiar to many filmgoers and TV watchers, he may well be remembered for his voice-over work, in particular on Thunderbirds and other Gerry Anderson puppet series. He was the voice of Scott Tracy on Thunderbirds (1965) on TV and for the features Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbirds 6, was various characters’ voices in Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and Space: 1999. He also co-wrote  some episodes of Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet. In Canada he was a cabaret singer and then worked on TV for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He made his film debut in Sidney J. Furie’s first film, A Dangerous Age (1957), then appeared in Flaming Frontier with Bruce Bennett and Jim Davis. Moving to the UK, he worked on Armchair Theatre for ABC TV and then for Stanley Kubrick in Dr Strangelove... Umpteen television shows followed from then and for the rest of his career and a new Thunderbirds series for its 50th anniversary in 2015. Other films in which Shane Rimmer appeared include You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die (voice only), S*P*Y*S, Rollerball, The ‘Human’ Factor, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Star Wars IV, Silver Bears, The People That Time Forgot, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman I, II and III, The Dogs of War, Priest of Love, Reds, Gandhi, The Hunger, Out of Africa, Whoops Apocalypse, A Kiss Before Dying (1991), Batman Begins etc. Never a star or leading man, Shane Rimmer always brought something extra to a role, be it comedy or drama, and he made a good living out of being on the perimeter or just on the soundtrack. He was married to Sheila G. Logan and they have three children. In 2014 Shame Rimmer published a novel, Long Shot, following his autobiography, From Thunderbirds to Pterodactyls.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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