Voice of Rainbow's George and Zippy - as well as Doctor Who's foes the Daleks - dies
Actor Roy Skelton, who provided voices for the Daleks and George and Zippy in long-running ********'s show Rainbow, has died today aged 79.
His ******** Samantha said he died at home in Brighton surrounded by his ****** after a long illness.
She said: 'He had a stroke some months ago and had been in and out of hospital and finally he succumbed to pneumonia.'
Premium Image Content
Upgrade to Premium to view all images in this thread
Talented: Roy Skelton, the voice of Rainbow's George (L) and Zippy (R), has died
Skelton, originally from Nottingham, earned his acting spurs in regional repertory theatres at the start of a long career which included roles in Zulu and Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy.
Voiceover work lead to a role in Doctor Who where he came up with the voice for the metal monsters The Daleks.
Skelton, originally from Nottingham, earned his acting spurs in regional repertory theatres at the start of a long career which included roles in Zulu and Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy.
Premium Image Content
Upgrade to Premium to view all images in this thread
Voice of *********: Roy provided the voice for two of Rainbow's favourite characters, who starred alongside Bungle (L) and Geoffrey (TOP RIGHT)
Voiceover work lead to a role in Doctor Who where he came up with the voice for the metal monsters The Daleks.
Premium Image Content
Upgrade to Premium to view all images in this thread
Legendary: Roy was also the terrifying voice of the Daleks
Samantha said: 'A lot of people who knew he did the voices would come up to him and ask him to do them and he would. He did not need any sound equipment to do it.'
Rainbow host Geoffrey Hayes said Skelton brought characters to 'life through his voice'.
He told the BBC: 'The most wonderful thing was if Zippy and George were having an argument between themselves, it sounded like he'd double-tracked it as they seemed to be talking over each other. It was a wonderful technique and I don't know how he did it.'
Roy did however reveal that he had based the voice of Zippy on Ian Paisley and Lady Margaret Thatcher.
Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles tweeted that Skelton 'entertained me thousands of times as Zippy & George and scared me just as much as a Dalek. A proper hero of mine.'
He leaves behind his wife and two *********.
Roy never let himself be drawn into the debate of what exactly his character Zippy was.
Cantakerous Zippy is a brownish-orange puppet with a huge rugby ball shaped oval head, big blue eyes and a zip for a mouth - which can be zipped shut to stop him talking.
While Bungle is obviously a bear and George a pink hippo, Zippy bears no obvious resemblance to any real ******.
However, Roy never alluded to which creature the puppet might represent.
In 2007, Skelton was interviewed via telephone by Russell Brand on his Radio 2 show before he was sacked following Sachsgate.
Brand asked Skelton some questions whilst in the persona of Zippy, but the interview was brought promptly to a halt when Brand said: 'Zippy? Please help me. I am impotent.'
Skelton, whilst holidaying in the south of France, immediately said -still using the voice of Zippy - that he had to go and promptly hung up the phone.
Skelton also appeared voicing Zippy on Harry Hill's TV Burp in 2008, in sketches about EastEnders and a long running gag about cataracts.
He was also a guest star voice on Peter Kay's ******** In Need 2009 single.
Read more:
Premium Link
Upgrade
RIP
