Ray Barrett: Troubleshooter-R.I.P.

[Tony.London Suburbs]

Raymond Charles "Ray" Barrett (2 May 1927 ? 8 September 2009) was an Australian actor. He was one of the more popular leading men on British television in the 1960s, appeared in Doctor Who in 1965 as a murderer, and back in Australia was a leading man in many TV series over the decades.

Barrett was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He was educated at Brisbane State High School. He was fascinated by radio from an early age and won an on-air talent competition in 1939. At the age of 12 he won an Eisteddfod, which was broadcast on 4BH radio, with a musical monologue about a dog named 'Paddy'. This was to set him on a different path from his dream of boatbuilding. Many acting jobs on Australian radio followed, but he left Brisbane for Sydney in 1954, and then travelled further from Australia to England in 1957.

He was given character and tough guy roles from an unusually young age. In Britain he played one of the lead roles in the British TV series Emergency - Ward 10, and later played one of the main characters, hard-nosed oilman Peter Thornton, in the long-running BBC series about the oil industry The Troubleshooters (1965 to 1971). He was also the voice of a number of characters in Gerry Anderson marionette series: he voiced Commander Shore and Titan in Stingray, and later was John Tracy, The Hood and many of the extra characters in Thunderbirds. He appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Rescue in 1965.

It was only in the decades that followed that he emerged to big-screen stardom in his native country, earning roles as a central character in many TV series. Barrett was the Prime Minister (who was assassinated) in Burn the Butterflies and a tough miner in Golden Soak, and he had secondary roles in many others, including Something in the Air. He won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Awards Longford Life Achievement Award.

Remember him well in The Troubleshooters and assumed he was British at the time.

Used to have a very distinctive "pot-holed" face that older Forumites might remember him by.

Ray Barrett R.I.P.

[*Bob*]

Thanks for that, Tony, me old china

[????]

I've taken the liberty of suggesting a new section for you in the About The Forum section Tony...

[Tony.London Suburbs]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> Thanks for that, Tony, me old china

>

> http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/file.php?2

> 0,file=6381

Spooky or what??

Its even got some of me sequins on it from when I was a right old Cockney Pearly King....B)

[Tony.London Suburbs]

???? Wrote:

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> I've taken the liberty of suggesting a new section

> for you in the About The Forum section Tony...

I see what you mean ????.

p.s. Why was Moos sitting on her hands after your announcement?