Gerry Anderson Gerry Anderson Gerry Anderson (born Gerald Alexander Abrahams; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation" (marionette puppets containing electric moving parts). Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series "The Adventures of Twizzle". "Supercar" (1961–62) and "Fireball XL5" (1962) followed later, both series breaking into the US television market in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s Anderson produced his most successful series, "Thunderbirds". Other television productions of the 1960s
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1958 TV series) playing the role of Hammer with a hint of tongue-in-cheek satire – against the wishes of Universal Studios executives. Unlike the series that appeared in the 1980s, Mickey Spillane had minimal involvement in the production of the 1950s program. "I just took the money and went home," Spillane said of the show. "Believe me, I had bigger fish to fry, namely, that darn elusive Batmanfish." Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (1958 TV series) Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the first syndicated television series based on Spillane's hard-boiled private detective Mike Hammer, played by Darren McGavin. The series (produced from 1957 to