Shane Rimmer
Born: 1929-05-28 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died: 2019-03-29
Known For: Acting
Biography
Shane Rimmer was a Canadian actor, voice actor and screenwriter, known for providing the voice of Scott Tracy in the British television series Thunderbirds. He has mostly performed in supporting roles, frequently in films and television series filmed in the United Kingdom, having relocated to England in the late 1950s. His appearances include roles in such widely-known films as Dr Strangelove (1964), Rollerball (1975), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Gandhi (1982), Out of Africa (1985) and Crusoe (1989). More recently, he has appeared in Spy Game (2001) and Batman Begins (2005). In the earlier years of his career, there were several uncredited performances, among others for films such as You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Star Wars (1977) and Superman II (1980). With the exception of recurring featured cast members, he has appeared in more James Bond films than any other actor. Rimmer has a long association with Gerry Anderson. Thunderbirds fans may recognise him as the voice actor behind the character Scott Tracy. He drafted the plotline for the penultimate episode, "Ricochet", which was later turned into a script by Tony Barwick. He also wrote scripts and provided uncredited voices for Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service, has made appearances in episodes of Anderson's live-action UFO and The Protectors, and has provided voices for Space: 1999 and has guest-starred in the episode "Space Brain". In later years, he starred in the unscreened pilot Space Police (later made into a series with other actors and titled Space Precinct) and provided the voice for Anderson's stop-motion gumshoe Dick Spanner, P.I. Rimmer and fellow Anderson actor Ed Bishop often joked about how often their professional paths crossed and termed themselves "Rent-a-Yanks". They appeared together as NASA operatives in the opening of You Only Live Twice and as USN sailors in The Bedford Incident, as well as touring together in live stage shows, including "Death of a Salesman" in the 1990s. He also appeared in Doctor Who in 1966, and in Coronation Street as two different characters: Joe Donnelli (1968–1970), who held Stan Ogden hostage in No. 5 before committing suicide, and Malcolm Reid (1988), father of Audrey Roberts' son Stephen. He has made many guest appearances in British television series for ITV, including in Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, and ITC's The Persuaders!. In 1989, Rimmer was reunited with former Gerry Anderson actors Ed Bishop and Matt Zimmerman in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet. Rimmer and Bishop also appeared in the BBC drama-documentary Hiroshima, completed not long after Bishop's death in 2005. Note: His official website and travel record on the Immigration & Travel section of Ancestry give his year of birth as 1929.
Filmography
2025
- Thunderbirds 60th Anniversary Double Bill - Trapped in the Sky / Terror in New York City as Scott Tracy (voice)
2020
- Thunderbirds: The Anniversary Episodes as Scott Tracy (voice)
2017
- Dick Spanner P.I.: The Case of the Screaming Dame as Dick Spanner (voice)
2016
- Darkwave: Edge of the Storm as Anderson
- UFO From Earth to the Moon as Self
2014
- Filmed in Supermarionation as Self
- This Is Supermarionation as Scott Tracy (voice)
2012
- Dark Shadows as Board Member #1
2006
- Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut as Controller #2
- Alien Autopsy as Colonel
2005
- Batman Begins as Older Gotham Water Board Technician
- Hiroshima as James F. Byrnes
- Mee-Shee: The Water Giant as Bob Anderson
2004
- Caught in the Act as Father
2003
- Seven Wonders of the Industrial World as William Kingsley
2002
- One of the Hollywood Ten as Parnell Thomas
2001
- Spy Game as Estate Agent
2000
- Inside 'Diamonds Are Forever' as Self
1999
- Dockers as US Longshoreman
1998
- Only Love as Warren Oliver
1996
- Space Truckers as E. J. Saggs
1995
- A Kid in King Arthur's Court as Coach
1993
- Lipstick on Your Collar as Lieutenant Colonel Trekker
- Pretty Princess as Mr. Hughes
1992
- Double Vision as Caroline & Lisa's Father
- Year of the Comet
1991
- A Kiss Before Dying as Commissioner Malley
- Company Business as Chairman, Maxine Gray Cosmetics
- Stanley and the Women as Morton Fendig
1990
- The Saint: The Software Murders as Bob Harrison
1989
- Crusoe as Mr. Mather
- Red King, White Knight
1988
- The Bourne Identity as General Conklin
- The Fortunate Pilgrim as Reilly
- A Very British Coup as Secretary of State
1987
- The Two Mrs. Grenvilles as Doorman
- Dick Spanner as Dick Spanner
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes as Lisander Stark
- Roman Holiday as Hogan
- Breakthrough at Reykjavik as George Schulz
1986
- Casualty as Ed Rhinehart
- The Last Days of Patton as Dr. Col. Lawrence Ball
- Whoops Apocalypse as Marvin Gelber (US Secretary of State)
- Of Pure Blood as The Colonel
- Space Police as Lt. Chuck Brogan
1985
- Out of Africa as Belknap, farm manager
- White Nights as Ambassador Larry Smith
- The Holcroft Covenant as Lt. Miles
- Morons from Outer Space as Redneck (Melvin)
- Dreamchild as Mr. Marl
- Gulag as Jay
- Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill as Brod Sarnton
- Reunion at Fairborough as Joe Szyluk
1984
- Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense as Hersh
- Lace as Press Agent
- Mistral's Daughter as Harry Klein
- Nairobi Affair
- Last Video and Testament as Dr. Hersh
1983
- Superman III as State Policeman
- Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
- The Hunger as Arthur Jelinek
- Philip Marlowe, Private Eye as Detective Murphy
- The Lonely Lady
1982
- Gandhi as Commentator
- Countdown to Disaster as Scott Tracy (voice)
1981
- Reds as MacAlpine
- Priest of Love as Chief Immigration Officer
- The Rose Medallion as Sgt Ed Kusborski
- Thunderbirds in Outer Space as Scott Tracy (voice)
- The Amazing Adventures Of Joe 90 ... (Writer)
1980
- Superman II as Controller
- The Dogs of War as Dr. Oaks
- Oppenheimer as Ed Condon
- Invasion: UFO as Lt. Bill Johnson / Alien / CIA Agent
- Thunderbirds to the Rescue as Scott Tracy / Radar Operator (voice)
1979
- Tales of the Unexpected as Janet Murdoch
- Hanover Street as Col. Ronald Bart
- Arabian Adventure as Abu
- A Man Called Intrepid as Willoughby
- Charlie Muffin as Braley
1978
- Superman as Naval Transport Commander (uncredited)
- Return of the Saint as Falco
- Warlords of Atlantis as Captain Daniels
- The Billion Dollar Bubble as Fred Levin
- The One and Only Phyllis Dixey as US Colonel
1977
- Star Wars as InCom Engineer (uncredited)
- Secret Army as Canadian Commandant
- The Spy Who Loved Me as Cmdr. Carter
- Twilight's Last Gleaming as Col. Franklin
- The People That Time Forgot as Hogan
- Nasty Habits as Officer I / C
- Alternative 3 as Bob Grodin
- Professional Foul as Stone
1976
- Second Verdict as Harold Giles Hoffman
1975
- Space: 1999 as James Kelly
- Rollerball as Rusty, Team Executive
- Quiller as Harry Brent
- The Human Factor as CIA Man
1974
- Playhouse as Ambassador Bingham
- S*P*Y*S as Hessler
- I Know What I Meant as Donald Ziegler
1973
- Orson Welles' Great Mysteries as Police Sergeant Warren
- Scorpio as Cop in Hotel
- Baffled! as Track Announcer
- The Investigator as John (voice)
1972
- The Protectors as Vickers
- Van der Valk as Lovell J Wallace
1971
- The Persuaders! as Harvey Lomax
- Diamonds Are Forever as Tom (uncredited)
1970
- UFO as Bill Johnson
- The Chicago Conspiracy Trial
1969
- The Secret Service ... (Writer)
1968
- Joe 90 as Kelly (voice)
- Thunderbird 6 as Scott Tracy (voice)
1967
- You Only Live Twice as Hawaii Radar Operator (uncredited)
- Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons as Mason (voice)
1966
- Thunderbirds Are GO as Scott Tracy (voice)
- Doctor Who: The Gunfighters as Seth Harper
1965
- BBC Play of the Month as Marine Sergeant
- Thunderbirds
- The Bedford Incident as Seaman 1st Class - C.I.C.
- Thunderbirds: Trapped in the Sky as Scott Tracy/TX 204 Co-pilot (voice)
- Thunderbirds: Terror In New York City as Scott Tracy/Scanners/Washington
1964
- Theatre 625 as Corporal Girtin
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as Capt. 'Ace' Owens
1963
- Doctor Who as Seth Harper
1958
- Flaming Frontier as Running Bear
- The Day the Sky Exploded as John McLaren (uncredited) (voice)
1957
- Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans as Farber
- A Dangerous Age as Nancy's Father
1956
- Armchair Theatre as Paul