Francis Matthews, the voice of Captain Scarlet, has died at the age of 86, the puppet show's maker said today.
Anderson Entertainment said it was "sad" to announce the passing of the actor who brought the Mysteron-battling sci-fi hero to life in Gerry Anderson's show between 1967 and 1968.
Matthews' voice for Scarlet, which was based on the Transatlantic accent of Hollywood star Cary Grant, became well known to generations of children thanks to countless re-runs over the years.
Matthews also became known for playing Francis Durbridge's amateur detective, Paul Temple, in the BBC TV drama series. He also appeared in several Hammer Horror films.
In a statement on www.gerryanderson.co.uk, the company said: "We are very sorry to report that Francis Matthews, best known to Gerry Anderson fans as the voice of the indestructible puppet hero Captain Scarlet, has died aged 86.
"Having previously had a policy of using American accents in their shows to aid sales to America, Gerry and Sylvia relaxed their casting requirements for Captain Scarlet as it was felt that British accents were now more acceptable Stateside than had previously been the case.
"After hearing Matthews' uncanny impression of Cary Grant, a voice that would have been familiar to all on both sides of the Atlantic, he was cast in 1966."
Matthews's wife, the actress Angela Browne, died in 2001, Anderson Entertainment said. He is survived by his sons Damien, Paul and Dominic.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article