Sylvia Anderson

:"For complete histories of her work with Gerry Anderson, and of AP Films/Century 21 Productions see the linked articles."

Sylvia Anderson (née Thamm), born birth date and age|1937|03|25, is a British voice artist and film producer, most notable for collaborations with her ex-husband Gerry Anderson.

Though co-creator of some of their productions through the 1960s, and co-writer of some episodes, Sylvia's main contribution was the development of realistic characters that viewers could identify with and become involved with. She usually directed the bi-weekly voice recording sessions, and provided the voices of many female characters, most memorably Lady Penelope in the "Thunderbirds" television series and subsequent films. She and Gerry Anderson married in 1960 and were divorced in 1980 following a 5-year separation.

Biography

Following graduation from the London School of Economics, Sylvia Thamm joined Polytechnic Films as a secretary, where she met editor/director Gerry Anderson. When Anderson and his colleague Arthur Provis created AP Films following the collapse of Polytechnic in 1957, Sylvia joined them along with colleagues John Read and Reg Hill. She became Anderson's second wife shortly after, in 1960, and became more involved in production duties.

The creative partnership with Gerry Anderson concluded when their marriage broke down during the production of the first series of "" in 1975; Gerry announced his intention to separate on the evening of the wrap party,cite book
author = Sylvia Anderson
title = Yes M'Lady
year = 1991
publisher = Smith Gryphon
id = ISBN 1-85685-011-0] cite book
coauthors = Simon Archer, Stan Nicholls
title = Gerry Anderson: The Authorised Biography
year = 1996
publisher = Legend Books
pages = 171
id = ISBN 0-09-978141-7] following which Sylvia severed her ties with the production company.

It is widely believed (and erroneously reported on other websites) that Sylvia was involved in the production of the cult mid-1970s television series "Star Maidens". This is, in large part, due to the striking design of the programme, reminiscent of UFO and . However, as was the case with these Anderson productions, the look of Star Maidens was actually due to production designer Keith Wilson. A large number of the AP Films/Century 21 alumni worked on Star Maidens, but Sylvia was not amongst them.

In 1994 Sylvia reprised her role as Lady Penelope on one episode of "Absolutely Fabulous". Indeed, nowadays Sylvia is widely recognised as Lady Penelope's alter-ego in lieu of virtually any of her other achievements. Whilst Gerry Anderson has continued developing and producing since their separation Sylvia has, until recently, acted as the UK representative for HBO, scouting for new talent. Her autobiography "Yes M'Lady""Yes M'Lady" by Sylvia Anderson; ISBN 1-85685-011-0] was published in 1996, and republished as "My Fab Years" in 2007, with new material bringing it up to date with the latest development in her life, including her role as a consultant on Universal's almost universally (sic) panned "Thunderbirds" (2004) movie.

AP Films productions

*"The Adventures of Twizzle" (1957-1959) - production assistant
*"Torchy the Battery Boy" (first season only) (1960) - production assistant
*"Four Feather Falls" (1960) - Production Assistant
*"Supercar" (1961-1962) - Dialogue Director, Voice Artist
*"Fireball XL5" (1962-1963) - Voice Artist
*"Stingray" (1964-1965) - Production Assistant
*"Thunderbirds" (1965-1966) - Character Visualisation, Voice Artist

Century 21 Productions

*"Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" (1967-1968) - Character Creator, Voice Artist
*"Joe 90" (1968-1969) - Character Creator, Voice Artist
*"The Secret Service" (1969) - Character Creator, Voice Artist
*"UFO" (1970-1971) - Century 21 Fashions

Group Three Productions

*"The Protectors" (1972-1974) - Production Assistant
*"" (1975-1977) - Producer (Year One)

Feature films

*"Crossroads to Crime" (1960) - Production Assistant
*"Thunderbirds Are Go" (1966) - Producer, Voice Artist
*"Thunderbird 6" (1968) - Producer, Voice Artist
*"Doppelgänger" (1969) aka "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" (US title) - Co-Producer
*"Thunderbirds" (2004) - Consultant

References

External links

* [http://www.sylviaanderson.org.uk Sylvia Anderson's official website]
*