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
- UFO From Earth to the Moon as Self
- Darkwave: Edge of the Storm as Anderson
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
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
- Pretty Princess as Mr. Hughes
- Lipstick on Your Collar as Lt. Colonel Trekker
1992
- Double Vision as Caroline & Lisa's Father
- Year of the Comet
1991
- Company Business as Chairman, Maxine Gray Cosmetics
- A Kiss Before Dying as Commissioner Malley
1990
- The Saint: The Software Murders as Bob Harrison
1988
- Crusoe as Mr. Mather
- The Bourne Identity as General Conklin
- The Fortunate Pilgrim as Reilly
- A Very British Coup as Secretary of State
1987
- Roman Holiday as Hogan
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes as Lisander Stark
- Breakthrough at Reykjavik as George Schulz
- The Two Mrs. Grenvilles as Doorman
- Dick Spanner as Dick Spanner
1986
- Casualty as Ed Rhinehart
- Space Police as Lt. Chuck Brogan
- Whoops Apocalypse as Marvin Gelber (US Secretary of State)
- The Last Days of Patton as Dr. Col. Lawrence Ball
- Of Pure Blood as The Colonel
1985
- White Nights as Ambassador Larry Smith
- Out of Africa as Belknap, farm manager
- Gulag as Jay
- Dreamchild as Mr. Marl
- The Holcroft Covenant as Lt. Miles
- Morons from Outer Space as Redneck (Melvin)
- Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill as Brod Sarnton
- Reunion at Fairborough as Joe Szyluk
1984
- Mistral's Daughter as Harry Klein
- Nairobi Affair
- Lace as Press Agent
- Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense as Hersh
- Last Video and Testament as Dr. Hersh
1983
- Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
- Superman III as State Policeman
- Philip Marlowe, Private Eye as Detective Murphy
- The Lonely Lady
- The Hunger as Arthur Jelinek
1982
- Gandhi as Commentator
- Countdown to Disaster as Scott Tracy (voice)
1981
- Reds as MacAlpine
- Thunderbirds in Outer Space as Scott Tracy (voice)
- Priest of Love as Chief Immigration Officer
- The Amazing Adventures Of Joe 90 ... (Writer)
1980
- Invasion: UFO as Lt. Bill Johnson / Alien / CIA Agent
- Superman II as Controller
- Thunderbirds to the Rescue as Scott Tracy / Radar Operator (voice)
- Oppenheimer as Ed Condon
1979
- Tales of the Unexpected as Janet Murdoch
- Hanover Street as Col. Ronald Bart
- Charlie Muffin as Braley
- Arabian Adventure as Abu
- A Man Called Intrepid as Willoughby
1978
- Superman as Naval Transport Commander (uncredited)
- Return of the Saint as Falco
- The Billion Dollar Bubble as Fred Levin
- Warlords of Atlantis as Captain Daniels
- 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
- Alternative 3 as Bob Grodin
- Nasty Habits as Officer I / C
- Professional Foul as Stone
- The People That Time Forgot as Hogan
- Twilight's Last Gleaming as Col. Franklin
1975
- Space: 1999 as James Kelly
- Rollerball as Rusty, Team Executive
- The Human Factor as CIA Man
- Quiller as Harry Brent
1974
- Playhouse as Ambassador Bingham
- S*P*Y*S as Hessler
- I Know What I Meant as Donald Ziegler
1973
- Baffled! as Track Announcer
- Scorpio as Cop in Hotel
- The Investigator as John (voice)
- Orson Welles' Great Mysteries as Police Sergeant Warren
1972
- Van der Valk as Lovell J Wallace
- The Protectors as Vickers
1971
- The Persuaders! as Harvey Lomax
- Diamonds Are Forever as Tom (uncredited)
1970
- UFO as Lt. Bill Johnson
- The Chicago Conspiracy Trial
1969
- The Secret Service ... (Writer)
1968
- Thunderbird 6 as Scott Tracy (voice)
- Joe 90
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: Terror In New York City as Scott Tracy/Scanners/Washington
- Thunderbirds: Trapped in the Sky as Scott Tracy/TX 204 Co-pilot (voice)
1964
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as Capt. 'Ace' Owens
- Theatre 625 as Corporal Girtin
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