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
Gerry Anderson space adventure "Fireball XL5" (1962). At the time it was the company's biggest success, garnering the honour of being the first Anderson series sold to an American TV network, NBC-TV. Around this time, Anderson also saw his Supermarionation style attract imitators—most notably "Space Patrol", which used similar techniques and was made by several former employees and associates of Anderson, including Arthur Provis and Roberta Leigh. After the completion of "Fireball XL5", Lew Grade offered to buy AP Films. Although Anderson was initially reluctant, the deal eventually went ahead, with Grade becoming the managing director, and the Andersons, Hill, and Read