He leaves a massive footprint: RIP Gerry Anderson

"This guy did so much that no one will need to pull any strings to get him into Heaven."

Rest in peace, Gerry Anderson.

Gerry died this Boxing Day at the age of 83. It is reported that he passed peacefully in his sleep.

Anderson had a varied life and although best known for his puppet based shows such as Thunderbirds, he also worked on feature films and live action television, with UFO, Space 1999 and The Protectors  being perhaps his best known live action shows.

Gerry Anderson cast a legendary shadow over the development of adventure TV.

TV SHOWS

• The Adventures of Twizzle (1957–59)
• Torchy the Battery Boy (first series only) (1960)
• Four Feather Falls (1960)
• Supercar (1961–62) – first Supermarionation production
• Fireball XL5 (1962–63)
• Stingray (1964–65)
• Thunderbirds (1965–66)
• Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967–68)
• Joe 90 (1968–69)
• The Secret Service (1969)
• UFO (1970–71)
• The Protectors (1972–74)
• Space: 1999 (1975–77)
• Terrahawks (1983–84, 1986)
• Dick Spanner, P.I. (1987)
• Space Precinct (1994–95)
• Lavender Castle (1999–2000)
• Firestorm (2003)
• Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet (2005)

It is also widely known that much of the James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved me came from an aborted Moonraker script which Anderson had written for the Bond franchise many years earlier. In fact Anderson took legal action against the Bond team after The Spy Who Loved me but backed down because of the legal might the Bond team threw against him. In the end he  relinquished the rights to his treatment, and received £3,000 in compensation.