Gerald Alexander Anderson (né Abrahams; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic TV series, especially his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts).
Anderson's first TV production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–58). Torchy the Battery Boy (1960), and Four Feather Falls (1960) followed. Supercar (1961–62) and Fireball XL5 (1962–63) came next, both series breaking into the American market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, Thunderbirds. Other productions of the period included Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90.
Anderson also wrote and produced several feature films, including Doppelgänger (aka Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, 1969). Following a shift towards live-action productions in the 1970s, he had a long and successful association with media impresario Lew Grade and Grade's company ITC, continuing until the second series of Space: 1999.
After a lull, in which a number of new series failed to materialise, Anderson began a new phase in his career in the early 1980s, when nostalgia for his earlier Supermarionation series, prompted by Saturday morning re-runs in Britain and Australia, led to new commissions. Later projects included a 2005 computer-animated remake of Captain Scarlet titled New Captain Scarlet. Anderson died in 2012.
Gerald Alexander Abrahams was born in 1929 to Jewish parents Deborah (née Leonoff) and Joseph Abrahams in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital in Bloomsbury, London. His parents had immigrated from Eastern Europe. He was raised in Kilburn, and Neasden, London. He was educated at Kingsgate Infants School in Kilburn and Braintcroft Junior and Senior schools in Neasden, prior to winning a scholarship to Willesden County Grammar School.
At the start of the Second World War, Anderson's elder brother, Lionel, volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF); he was stationed in the United States for advanced training. Lionel often wrote letters to his family, and in one letter described an Army Air Forces base called Thunderbird Field, the name of which stayed in his younger brother's memory. Lionel was killed in action on 27 April 1944 when his de Havilland Mosquito was shot down over the Netherlands.
Anderson began his career in photography, earning a traineeship with the British Colonial Film Unit after the war. He developed an interest in film editing and moved on to Gainsborough Pictures, where he gained further experience. In 1947, he was conscripted for National Service with the RAF, and was based at RAF Manston. He served part of his time in air traffic control.
Two incidents in his final year with the RAF had a profound effect on Anderson. The first occurred during an aircraft display on 18 September 1948 commemorating the Battle of Britain, when a Mosquito aircraft crashed on a road crowded with occupied cars; reports on the death toll ranged between twelve and 20 people. On another occasion, a Spitfire was coming in to land. It was only about 50 feet (15 m) above the ground before the runway controller alerted the pilot to the fact the plane's undercarriage had not lowered. The pilot opened up the throttle and climbed away. As this was a moment Anderson always remembered, he found it all too easy to write about aircraft when he devised stories for Thunderbirds.
After completing his military service, Anderson returned to Gainsborough, where he worked until the studio was closed in 1950. He then worked freelance on a series of feature films. In the mid-1950s, he joined the independent TV production company Polytechnic Studios as a director, where he met cameraman Arthur Provis. After Polytechnic collapsed, Anderson, Provis, Reg Hill and John Read formed Pentagon Films in 1955. Pentagon was wound up soon after and Anderson and Provis formed a new company, AP Films, for Anderson-Provis Films, with Hill and Read as their partners. Anderson continued his freelance directing work to obtain funds to maintain the fledgling company.
AP Films' first venture was produced for Granada Television. Created by Roberta Leigh, The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–1958) was a series for young children about a doll with the ability to 'twizzle' his arms and legs to greater lengths. It was Anderson's first work with puppets, and the start of his long and successful collaborations with puppeteer Christine Glanville, special effects technician Derek Meddings and composer/arranger Barry Gray. It was Anderson's desire to move into live-action television.
The Adventures of Twizzle was followed by another low-budget puppet series with Leigh, Torchy the Battery Boy (1958–1959). Although the APF puppet productions made the Andersons world-famous, Anderson was always unhappy about working with puppets. He used them primarily to get attention from and a good reputation with TV networks, hoping to have them serve as a stepping stone to his goal of making live-action film and TV drama.
AP Films' third series was the children's western fantasy-adventure series Four Feather Falls (1959–60). Provis left the partnership, but the company retained the name AP Films for several more years. Four Feather Falls was the first Anderson series to use an early version of the so-called Supermarionation process, though this term had yet to be used.
Despite APF's success with Four Feather Falls, Granada did not commission another series from them, so Anderson took up the offer to direct a film for Anglo-Amalgamated Studios. Crossroads to Crime was a low-budget B-grade crime thriller, and although Anderson hoped that its success might enable him to move into mainstream film-making, it failed at the box office.
By this time, APF was in financial trouble and the company was struggling to find a buyer for their new puppet series. They were rescued by a fortuitous meeting with Lew Grade, the Associated Television (ATV) boss who offered to buy the show. This began a long friendship and a very successful professional association between the two men.
The new series, Supercar, (1960–61) was developed by Anderson, Hill and Sylvia Thamm and marked several important advances for APF. Thamm, whom Anderson married in 1960, took on a larger role and became a partner in the company. The series was also the official debut of Supermarionation, the electronic system that made the marionettes more lifelike and convincing on screen. The system used the audio signal from pre-recorded tapes of the actors' voices to trigger solenoids installed in the heads of the puppets, making their lips move in synchronisation with the voices of the actors, and actresses.
One of Anderson's most successful ventures was inaugurated during the production of Supercar. The establishment of AP Films (Merchandising) Ltd, a separate company set up to handle the licensing of merchandising rights for APF properties, was headed by Keith Shackleton, a long-time friend of Anderson's from their National Service days.
The next series by APF was the futuristic space adventure Fireball XL5 (1962). At the time it was the company's biggest success, garnering the honour of being the only Anderson series sold to an American TV network, NBC. Around this time, Anderson also saw his Supermarionation style attract imitators—most notably Space Patrol which used similar techniques and was made by several former employees and associates of Anderson, including Arthur Provis and Roberta Leigh.
After the completion of Fireball XL5, Lew Grade offered to buy AP Films. Although Anderson was initially reluctant, the deal eventually went ahead, with Grade becoming the managing director, and the Andersons, Hill, and Read becoming directors of the company.