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Ed Bishop and Michael Billington
A Personal Tribute
It is ironic that both Ed Bishop and Michael Billington should have passed away within
days of each other. I can very clearly remember when I cast them both in UFO.
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Ed Bishop was cast at the beginning of the series to play
the role of Commander Straker. As always, I was looking
for a movie-type hero that would suit the role of a futuristic
leading man. I asked Rose Tobias Shaw to arrange a
casting session for me with suitable actors.
My role in this particular series was, as always, to create
the “look” of our cast of players. This meant designing the
costumes and casting actors and actresses that suited the
futuristic look of the set designs.
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Ed had this wonderful American voice and, in fact, was one of the few American actors
living in the UK at that time in the late 60’s.
He wasn’t exactly as I had envisaged Commander Straker to be, but with my background
of creating the puppet characters, I felt sure that I could transform Ed into the glamorous
personality that he became.
The first step was to accentuate his very blue eyes by having a specially made blonde
wig for him. I’ll always remember the apprehensive look on his face when we first visited
Wig Creations and tried on a very glamorous blonde wig. However, as we shaped the
hair and got rid of the blonde curls, the transformation of Ed Bishop to Commander
Straker began.
Ed grew into his role and on the set he made Straker his own and with the futuristic
fashions and his new hair-do he became a totally different person. So much so, that
often when he left the set as Ed Bishop, minus the blonde wig and in his own under-
stated style of dress, he was scarcely recognisable.
Fortunately I met up with Ed once again over the years and more recently we lunched
together and reminisced over those days. My personal memories of him will always be
two-fold. The screen character of Straker and the quiet, unassuming real-life Ed Bishop.
I know his many fans will miss him greatly but his screen persona will live on.
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Michael Billington came on the scene a little later after a call from Lew
Grade asking me to find a replacement for George Sewell, who was not
considered by the Americans to be pretty enough. George was an
excellent actor however, and I was very sorry to have to replace him but
somehow his rugged looks did not fit the American idea of a leading man.
I hastily organised auditions for a group of possible candidates. I
whittled the numbers down to three that included newcomer Michael Billington, who I’d seen playing a guest part in The Prisoner.
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I set aside a day for screen tests for three actors who had matinee idol looks and, of
course, acting ability.
All went smoothly until it was the turn of Michael Billington’s test.
I wrote a small scene for them all to act out that involved them coming through a door
and making a small speech. Unfortunately, Michael’s dramatic entrance was rather spoilt
by the door collapsing together with half the hurriedly put-together set. Poor Michael,
who had been very nervous before, became almost speechless. However, after a few
encouraging words he managed to get through the scene without any further mishaps.
I recognised immediately a quality in him that I felt would be just right for our show.
I showed Lew Grade the three tests that we had made and he agreed with my choice
and so Paul Foster was born.
He took his work very seriously and was always fully prepared with his lines and often
intelligent script suggestions. Once more, Michael got the make-over treatment and
always conscious of his thinning hair, he readily agreed to wearing a luxuriant hairpiece.
As time went on, the hairpiece became thicker and thicker and the Michael Billington
transformation to Paul Foster took place. With his vast knowledge of movies and his
stage experience, I quickly recognised that Michael had a successful career ahead of him.
I think that it is a tribute to both Ed and Michael that their portrayals of Straker and Foster
in UFO still attract a huge following to this day. I like to think that UFO gave them
both a kick-start to their careers.
I know that they both became friends in recent years during their appearances at various
conventions and particularly in Italy. So let’s think of them both as the characters they
played on the screen who will always live on.
On a personal note, from the days of UFO to the present time, Michael and I remained
friends and I followed his career both on stage and TV. I shall miss his sense of humour
and his many phone calls urging me to watch some of the classic movies on TV and
more particularly off-beat shows like The Office, League of Gentlemen, Little Britain and
Swiss Toni, long before they became popular viewing. In my opinion, Michael was much
under-rated as an actor and critic. Sandra, in my office, has a lovely autographed
photograph in place of honour on our notice board. We’ll both miss him greatly.
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