Denise Bryer obit

Denise Bryer – actress who played Zelda in Terrahawks – dies, aged 93

Bryer was best known for her long association with series produced by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson.

 

 She was not on the list.

Actress and voice artist Denise Bryer has died, aged 93.

Bryer passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday (16th October), according to the official Gerry Anderson website.

With a career that spanned an incredible 75 years, Bryer was perhaps best known for her work alongside legendary TV producer and Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson – in particular for her voice work on the series Terrahawks (1983-1986), terrorising a generation with her performance as the villainous Zelda.

Born on 5th January 1928, Bryer made her film debut aged just 9-years-old, going on to train at RADA and becoming a regular voice on British radio from the mid-1940s onwards.

She first worked with Anderson in 1957 on the puppet series The Adventures of Twizzle and would also play multiple roles in 1960’s Four Feather Falls before re-teaming with Anderson in the 1980s on Terrahawks, in which she also voiced the character Mary Falconer.

She later reprised both Zelda and Mary for a new series of Terrahawks audio plays released by Big Finish between 2015 and 2017.

Jamie Anderson, Gerry’s son and now head of Anderson Entertainment, paid tribute to Bryer on Twitter, describing her as his “surrogate grandmother”.

Bryer was also known for voicing Kiki the Frog on 1960s TV series Hector’s House, Billina in 1985 film Return to Oz and The Junk Lady in 1986’s Labyrinth.

She married actor/presenter Nicholas Parsons in 1954 and the couple had two children together, but divorced in 1989.

Filmography

Film and television

 

    Junior Miss (1946) - Lois Graves

    Here Comes Kandy (1956) - Additional voices

    The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–1958) - Twizzle, Additional voices

    Four Feather Falls (1960) - Martha Jones, Makooya the Little India Boy, Additional voices

    Maigret (1963) - Child's Voice

    Hector's House (1966) - Kiki the Frog, Mrs. Frog (voices)

    Gulliver's Travels (1977) - Additional voices

    Star Fleet (1980–1982) - Commander Makara (voice)

    Hercules (1983) - Circe (voice; uncredited)

    Terrahawks (1983–1986) - Mary Falconer, Zelda

    Return to Oz (1985) - Billina (voice)

    Labyrinth (1986) - The Junk Lady (voice)

    G-Force Intergalactic (1993) - Dr. Julie Sigmund

    The Noddy Shop (1998–1999) - Noddy (voice)

    Reflections in the Mirror (2018) - Billina (voice)

 

Radio

 

    Eurydice (1951)

    Zuleika Dobson (1954)

 

What Ho! Jeeves! Joy in the morning! Edwin the boy scout (1978)

Narrator

 

    Tale Spinners for Children series (1960s)