Eric Thompson
| Eric Thompson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Eric Norman Thompson 9 November 1929 Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, UK |
| Died | 30 November 1982 (aged 53) Camden, London, England, UK |
Eric Norman Thompson (9 November 1929 - 30 November 1982) was an English actor, producer and television presenter.
Thompson was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of George Henry and Anne Thompson,[1] and grew up Rudgwick, Sussex, attending Collyer's School, Horsham. He trained to be an actor at the Old Vic acting school in London and joined the Old Vic theatre company in 1952.
He worked mostly for the BBC, and was a presenter of the children's television programme Play School in the 1960s. He was best known as the narrator of The Magic Roundabout, for which he wrote the English-language scripts, using the visuals from the French Le Manège Enchanté. These were transmitted between October 1965 and January 1977. Thompson rarely worked on television after his voice became well-known, but occasionally appeared in programmes such as Doctor Who in the serial The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve in 1966.
Contents |
[edit] Death and legacy
On 30 November 1982 Thompson died of a pulmonary embolism in London three weeks after his 53rd birthday. His death was widely reported as he was well-known for his voice acting and narration.
In 1992, ten years after Thompson's death, fifty-two unseen episodes of The Magic Roundabout were broadcast on Channel 4. The adaptation and narration of the episodes was done by The Young Ones star Nigel Planer in a pastiche of Thompson's style.
[edit] Personal Life
Thompson married Scottish actress Phyllida Law[2], whom he met while at the Old Vic, in 1957. Their daughters Emma and Sophie Thompson have followed in their footsteps into acting.
