Watch Four Feather Falls (1960) online. Free streaming Streaming resources for this Animation, Family, Western TV Show Four Feather Falls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. ... published by Collins in 1960 and 1961. The first book featured a short text story based on the pilot episode of the TV series. In Pop Culture Four Feather Falls (TV Series 1960) - IMDb Editors' Spotlight IMDb Picks: October. IMDb's editors share the movies and TV shows they are excited to see in October. Toonhound - Four Feather Falls (1960) Gerry Anderson, David Elliott, Alan Pattillo Gerry Anderson, Barry Gray, Arthur Provis, Philip Wrestler Four Feather Falls is based on FOUR FEATHER FALLS | A TELEVISION HEAVEN REVIEW FOUR FEATHER FALLS (1960) Whilst working on Roberta Leigh’s 'Torchy the Battery Boy', Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis of AP Films, decided that they wanted to branch out and produce a puppet series of their own creation. ... Four Feather Falls’ harmonica player was Tommy Reilly, ...

TV ACRES: Westerns > Four Feather Falls (in Supermarionation) Four Feather Falls: Syndicated: 1960: ... Other folks in the Four Feather Falls community included: Grandpa Twink, who told tales about Sheriff Tex Tucker ("This kinda reminds of something strange that happened a while back ...") ... Four Feather Falls (TV Series 1960) - Episodes - IMDb GET INFORMED. Industry information at your fingertips. GET CONNECTED. Over 200,000 Hollywood insiders. GET DISCOVERED. Enhance your IMDb Page. Go to IMDbPro » Four Feather Falls - Watch Free Viooz TV Series Download ... Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. ... broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, ... Four Feather Falls: Episode 1 - How It Began - Part 1 - YouTube ... Four Feather Falls, ... Four Feather Falls, about a town full of magic. In this episode Sheriff Tex Tucker arrives in Four Fea... ...

Four Feather Falls - TV Comic, 1960 - Virgin Media Four Feather Falls: TV Comic - 1960 I have a confession to make. I don't like westerns. Never have, probably never will. I'm not that keen on the earlier Gerry Anderson series either. Four Feather Falls (1960) – Mediatly The series is set in the late 19th Century Western town of Four Feather Falls, Kansas and features the adventures of its sheriff, Tex Tucker. In the... Four Feather Falls - TV.com Four Feather Falls: Watch full length episodes & video clips. Read the latest Four Feather Falls ... TV.com. Shows; Videos; News; Listings; People; Community; Search. Four Feather Falls. Follow. ITV (ended 1960) USER EDITOR. mrdivot. User Score: 394. Overview; Episode Guide; Watch Online; Cast ...

Four Feather Falls - ClassicKidsTv.co.uk Four Feather Falls is a series set in the late 19th Century Western town of the same name, and features the adventures of its Sheriff Tex Tucker who was given four magic feathers by Indian Chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving the life of Makooya, the chief's son. FOUR FEATHER FALLS DVD 1960 GERRY ANDERSON TV COMPLETE SERIES ... welcome to my online store containing the best of rare lost TV shows from the 50's and 60's . show title _FOUR FEATHER FALLS CREATED BY GERRY ANDERSON_____ Four Feather Falls News - TV.com Four Feather Falls. Favorite Watched It I've Watched This 2. ITV (ended 1960) USER EDITOR. No Editor. User Score: 0. Overview; Episode Guide; Watch Online; Cast & Crew; Fan Reviews; Forums; News; Photos; Trivia; News. Looks like we don't have any news for Four Feather Falls.

Four Feather Falls - crackflix Four Feather Falls (1960) Animation ; Western ; Action & Adventure ; Sci-Fi & Fantasy; Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. Four Feather Falls (1960) - Smartburk Bli medlem gratis och följ Four Feather Falls (1960) för att inte missa något. Four Feather Falls- Soundtrack details - SoundtrackCollector.com Four Feather Falls : Four Feather Falls (1960) Composer(s): Barry Gray Released in: 1960 Country: Great Britain: Other Resources: Other information: Total number of members who have this title in their: Collection: 21 Wish list: 5 Four Feather Falls - YIFY TV Series Torrent Download - YIFY ... Four Feather Falls (1960) Animation Western Action & Adventure Sci-Fi & Fantasy. Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. Four Feather Falls a puppet show – western TV show ... Four Feather Falls is the third puppet TV show produced ... Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced and broadcast by Granada from February 1960 – November 1960.

The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for ... Tower Press Four Feather Falls Card Game Boxed 1960 Tower Press Four Feather Falls Card Game Boxed 1960. Four Feather Falls was the third 'supermarionette' TV series created by Gerry Anderson, this one for Granada TV. Those are web search results for "Four Feather Falls 1960" and may change in time. We are not affiliate with any of these websites. If some of the links harm copyright laws please see our DMCA and Copyright page. Amazon details United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player.

You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: 3-DVD Set, Black & White, Commentary, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Trailer(s), Uncut, SYNOPSIS: This charming puppet series was Gerry Anderson's first Supermarionation series - a process which uses electronic lip-synch and eye movement, a technique he was later to perfect on shows like 'Supercar' and 'Thunderbirds'. When Sheriff Tex Tucker saves a young Indian boy, his father - a great Indian chief - gives him the gift of four magic feathers. Two of them allow the Sheriff's companions (Dusty the dog and Rocky the horse) to talk three allowed his guns to fire automatically whenever he is in danger and four made him, Dusty and Rock invisible when they were in a sticky situation. The complete series of 39 episodes has not been seen anywhere in the world for decades and is presented here in a digitally remastered format. Episodes comprise: 1. How It Began 2. Kidnapped 3. Pedro Has A Plan 4. Pedro's Pardon 5.

A Close Shave 6. Indian Attack 7. Sheriff For A Day 8. Dusty Becomes Deputy 9. Gunrunners 10. Trouble At Yellow Gulch 11. Frame-Up 12. Gold Diggers 13. Gold Is Where You Find It 14. Trapped 15. Best Laid Schemes... 16. Escort 17. The Toughest Guy In The West 18. Ghost Of A Chance 19. Gunplay 20. A Lawman Rides Alone 21. Jailbreak 22. A Little Bit Of Luck 23. Landgrabbers 24. Once A Lawman 25. Election Day 26. Gunfight On Main Street 27. A Bad Name 28. Horse Thieves 29. The Ma Jones Story 30. Bandits Abroad 31. A Cure For Everything 32. Teething Troubles 33. Buffalo Rocky 34. Safe As Houses 35. First Train Through 36. Happy Birthday 37. Fancy Shootin' 38.

Ambush 39. Ride 'Em Cowboy ...Four Feather Falls - The Complete Series - 3-DVD Set ( 4 Feather Falls ) Four Feather Falls - SubzTV - Ελληνικοί Υπότιτλοι Ταινιών και Σειρών Animation Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog.

Tex's speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons, and his singing voice by Michael Holliday. The series has never been repeated on British television, but it was released on DVD in 2005. Writing: About: Four Feather Falls About: Four Feather Falls An Entity of Type : television show , from Named Graph : , within Data Space : dbpedia.org Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog.

Property abstract Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog. Tex's speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons, and his singing voice by Michael Holliday. The series has never been repeated on British television, but it was released on DVD in 2005. (en) comment Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television.

It was based on an idea by Barry Gray, who also wrote the show's music. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog.

(en) 『ウエスタン・マリオネット 魔法のけん銃』(原題:Four Feathers Falls)は、1960年にイギリスでジェリー・アンダーソンが作った人形劇である。モノクロ作品。日本では1963年からTBSで放映されたが、配給会社の太平洋テレビが倒産したため、当時の日本語版フィルムは現存しないと言われており、また、日本語版の資料が大変少ない。『トイ・ストーリー2』に登場する番組の元ネタとなった作品である。 (ja) Vier Veren Waterval (originele titel Four Feather Falls) is de derde poppentelevisieserie geproduceerd door Gerry Andersons bedrijf AP Films voor Granada Television. Het idee voor de serie kwam van Barry Gray.

Gray, die vooral bekend is als componist van de muziek voor Andersons series, schreef ook de eerste aflevering.De serie werd in Engeland uitgezonden in 1960, en bevatte 39 afleveringen van 15 minuten. In Nederland ging de serie in première op 24 juni 1961 onder de naam Vier Veren Waterval (in feite een letterlijke vertaling van de Engelse titel). (nl) four feather falls : definition of four feather falls and synonyms of four feather falls (English) 6 External links Production The show was made on a tight budget and could not afford sophisticated special effects . To achieve the effect of the guns' muzzle flashes, small specks of black paint were carefully applied to the 35 mm negatives , so that they would appear as white flashes on the prints. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry process, although the term was not coined until Anderson's next series, Supercar . The original puppets produced for the series were made by Christine Glanville and had papier-mâché heads.

Because they were stationary, the viewer could not tell which character was talking unless its puppet moved up or down. This was unsatisfactory to Anderson, and the papier-mâché heads were replaced with hollow fibre glass heads with rods inside which could move the eyes — though the puppets could not blink — and wires which with a 12 volt current could move the mouths. The wires used to control the puppets were eight feet long and made of tungsten , an improvement on the curtain wire used in the two earlier series, and were only 1/200 of an inch thick. Being shiny, the wires had to be blackened. The puppets were made one-third life size with the puppeteers on a bridge eight feet above the set. The horses moved by being pulled along on a trolley which meant the viewer never saw their feet when they were moving. Anderson paid singer Michael Holliday £2,000 to sing the songs in the shows that were composed by Barry Gray . Tommy Reilly played the harmonica and mouth organ music for it, and for Tex Tucker when he played a mouth organ in the show.

A number of people had been brought in for the voices and Denise Bryer suggested her husband for the voice of Tex Tucker. When Anderson asked if he had had any stage experience, she revealed that her husband's name was Nicholas Parsons . Anderson liked Parsons' voice and he got the job. The waterfall in the pilot episode was produced by making a model version of a library film of a waterfall available to Anderson and fading from the model to the film of a waterfall running, so the water seemed to appear by magic. A lot of fantastic scenery and buildings were produced by Reg Hill , his carpenter Bill James and an assistant, Bob Bell. Anderson said that Bob Bell got arrested while getting shrubs and trees for the show by taking cuttings in a local park. Reg Hill meanwhile got hold of huge chunks of coal and painted them white for rocks for the mountain and desert scenery. Shortly afterwards polystyrene appeared and Hill then carved his own "rocks" from this and painted them grey. The show was filmed in a mansion on the side of the River Thames in Leatherhead. The film used was not very sensitive and under the strong lights needed, something would start to smoke if left there too long.

Plot Region 2 DVD release cover The series is set in the late 19th Century Western town of Four Feather Falls, Kansas and features the adventures of its sheriff , Tex Tucker. In the first episode, Grandpa Twink relates the story of how it all began to grandson, Little Jake. Tex is riding up from the valley and comes across a lost and hungry Indian boy, Makooya and saves him. Later when reunited with his father, Tex is given four magic feathers by Indian Chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his son, Makooya. Two of these feathers allow his guns to swivel and fire automatically (often while Tex's hands are raised) and the other two allow his horse (Rocky) and his dog (Dusty) to speak English . As Tex, his horse and dog are very thirsty, Kalamakooya also makes a waterfall where there had been no water before and so when the town was built, it was named after Tex's feathers and the waterfalls. Pedro was introduced as a villain in the first show and was teamed up with Fernando by the second show, so someone to talk to, to plan with, to blame when things went wrong as they always did.

Big Ben was another villain who appeared from time to time, and Red Scalp, the renegade Indian, since it was a western show. Other villains turned up for just one episode. The characters of the town were Grandpa Twink who did little but rest in a chair, Little Jake the only child in town, Ma Jones who run the town store, Doc Haggerty, Slim Jim the bartender of the Denison saloon , Marvin Jackson the bank manager and Dan Morse the telegraphist . Other characters appeared from time to time, for one episode, often just visiting town. Episode guide 39. Ride 'Em Cowboy Syndication The series has not been repeated in Britain since the 1960s. In December 2004 it was announced that the rights had been acquired by Network Video , and was released on three Region 2 DVDs in May 2005. It is the only Supermarionation series not yet released to DVD in North America as of January 2006. Two British children's annuals were produced based on the show published by Collins in 1960 and 1961.

They were both written by Sylvia Anderson and the first one featured a short text story based on the pilot episode of the TV series. The rights to the series remained with Granada until Carlton's recent acquisition of the company. Granada funded 39 episodes. All future Supermarionation ventures were funded by ITC, who later acquired the share capital in the company in 1962. Made by AP Films with Director - Gerry Anderson , Director of Photography by Arthur Provis, Art director by Reg Hill, Special Effects by John Read. Puppetry by Christine Glanville, Mary Turner and Roger Woodburn. Editorial Supervision by David Elliot, Production Supervision by Jim Marsh, Film Editor was Bert Rule. Dubbing Editor was John Kelly, Continuity by Sylvia Thamm (later married and became Sylvia Anderson ). Technical Advisor was Bob Ledbetter. Screenplay was by Mary Cathcart Borer. Music Barry Gray, the show's creator, also composed the music for the series. The best known song to come out of the series was "Four Feather Falls", sung in some episodes by Michael Holliday in the style of Bing Crosby .

This song is sometimes described as the theme song to the series, but it was not as another song referring to the Tex Tucker character actually opened the episodes. The closing theme song was "Two Gun Tex of Texas." Cast Four Feather Falls a puppet show – western TV show | Westerns Theater Four Feather Falls a puppet show – western TV show Posted on February 19, 2015 by Western Movie Man Four Feather Falls a puppet show – western TV show. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO GO TO Four Feather Falls a puppet show – western TV show VIDEOS. Set in the late 1800′s fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls where the hero of the series Tex Tucker is the sheriff. Four Feather Falls is the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television. Based on an idea by Barry Gray who also wrote the show’s music. The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson’s Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced and broadcast by Granada from February 1960 – November 1960.

The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson. 2 feathers allowed Tex’s guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger and two conferred the power of speech on Tex’s horse and dog. Tex’s speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons and his singing voice by Michael Holliday. The series has never been repeated on British television. This western series was released on DVD in 2005. Nicholas Parsons, Kenneth Connor, David Graham. Season 1 Learn and talk about Four Feather Falls, 1960 British television programme debuts, 1960 British television programme endings, 1960s British television series, 19th century in fiction Supercar Four Feather Falls was the third puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television . It was based on an idea by Barry Gray , who also wrote the show's music. [1] The series was the first to use an early version of Anderson's Supermarionation puppetry. Thirty-nine 13-minute episodes were produced, broadcast by Granada from February until November 1960.

The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff . The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog. Tex's speaking voice was provided by Nicholas Parsons , and his singing voice by Michael Holliday . The series has never been repeated on British television, but it was released on DVD in 2005. Contents Production[ edit ] American Western television shows such as Wagon Train and Gunsmoke were popular with British audiences, therefore Gerry Anderson and his business partner Arthur Provis decided to make a cowboy series, based on an idea offered to them by Barry Gray . [1] Anderson considered the puppets with static heads, made by Christine Glanville for his earlier productions, to be unacceptable because the viewer could not tell which character was talking unless its puppet moved up or down.

Anderson's aim was to make the puppets look as realistic as possible, the beginning of the Supermarionation puppetry process, although that term was not coined until his next series, Supercar . The puppets' papier-mâché heads were replaced by interchangeable hollow fibre glass heads with internal rods that could move the eyes from side to side. The heads also contained sound-activated solenoids , which allowed the puppets' lips to move automatically in synchronisation with the dialogue. [2] The electronics of the day required more space than would be available in a human-scale head, therefore all the puppets in Four Feather Falls had oversized heads. Except for the pilot episode, which was made in AP Films ' studios at Islet Park , [3] the series was produced in a converted warehouse in the Slough Trading Estate . [2] The cast assembled to record each script without seeing the puppets, much like recording a radio series; synchronisation of each character's speech with the movement of its puppet's mouth was performed later. [4] The show was filmed in black and white. [3] Its tight budget precluded the use of sophisticated special effects , and less-costly alternatives were used.

For example, to achieve the effect of muzzle flashes , small specks of black paint were carefully applied to the 35 mm negatives so they would appear as white flashes on the finished prints. The wires used to control the puppets were eight feet long and made of tungsten , an improvement on the curtain wire used in the two earlier series, and were only 1/200 of an inch thick. Being shiny, the wires had to be blackened. The puppets were made one-third life size with the puppeteers on a bridge eight feet above the set. The horses moved by being pulled along on a trolley, which meant the viewer never saw their feet when they were moving. Continuity for the series was provided by Sylvia Thamm who married Gerry Anderson. Plot[ edit ] The series is set in the fictitious late 19th-century Western town of Four Feather Falls, Kansas, and features the adventures of its sheriff , Tex Tucker. In the first episode, Grandpa Twink relates the story of how it all began to grandson, Little Jake. Tex is riding up from the valley and comes across a lost and hungry Indian boy, Makooya and saves him.

Tex is given four magic feathers by the boy's grandfather, chief Kalamakooya, as a reward for saving his grandson. Two of the feathers allow his guns to swivel and fire automatically (often while Tex's hands are raised), [a] and the other two allow his horse, Rocky, and his dog, Dusty, to speak. As Tex, his horse, and dog are very thirsty, Kalamakooya also makes a waterfall where there had been no water before, and so when the town was built it was named after Tex's feathers and the waterfall. The characters of the town are Grandpa Twink, who does little but rest in a chair; his grandson Little Jake, the only child in town; Ma Jones, who runs the town store; Doc Haggerty; Slim Jim, the bartender of the Denison saloon ; Marvin Jackson, the bank manager; and Dan Morse, the telegraphist . Other characters appeared from time to time for only one episode, often just visiting town. The villains included Pedro, who was introduced in the first show and Fernando, who first appeared in the second episode as a sidekick and someone Pedro could blame when things went wrong, as they always did.

Big Ben was another villain who appeared from time to time, as did Red Scalp, a renegade Indian. Other villains only appeared in single episodes. Syndication[ edit ] The series has not been repeated or rerun in Britain since its original broadcast. In December 2004 it was announced that the rights had been acquired by Network Distributing , and it was released on three Region 2 DVDs in May 2005. It is the only Supermarionation series not yet released to DVD in North America as of January 2006. Sylvia Anderson wrote two British children's annuals based on the show, published by Collins in 1960 and 1961. The first book featured a short text story based on the pilot episode of the TV series. Music[ edit ] The show's music and song lyrics were composed by Barry Gray . Michael Holliday provided Tex's singing voice, and Tommy Reilly performed the harmonica pieces. [1] The best known song to come out of the series was "Four Feather Falls", sung in some episodes by Michael Holliday in the style of Bing Crosby and sometimes incorrectly described as the theme song to the series.

The closing theme song was "Two Gun Tex of Texas." Holliday was paid £2000 for his singing work on the pilot episode, equivalent to about £38,000 [5] [b] as of 2010, a significant part of the show's £6000 budget. [3] In all, Holliday recorded six songs for the series: "Four Feather Falls", "The Phantom Rider", "The Rick-Rick-A-Rackety Train", "Happy Hearts and Friendly Faces", "My Home Town", and "Two Gun Tex of Texas". [3] Cast[ edit ] Denise Bryer had worked with Anderson on The Adventures of Twizzle, and he wanted her to play some of the voices in Four Feather Falls. Anderson visited Bryer at her home with some scripts and asked her husband, Nicholas Parsons , to help by reading some of the other parts, including the sheriff Tex Tucker. Anderson liked Parsons' interpretation and offered him the job of providing Tex's speaking voice.

[4] Nicholas Parsons – Sheriff Tex Tucker (speaking voice) [1] / Telegraph Operator Dan Morse [3] / Various Four Feather Falls | TVmaze Four Feather Falls Gallery (1) Follow "Four Feather Falls" was an animated puppet TV show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television that aired on the ITV network in 1960. The setting is the late 19th-century fictional Kansas town of Four Feather Falls, where the hero of the series, Tex Tucker, is a sheriff. The four feathers of the title refers to four magical feathers given to Tex by the Indian chief Kalamakooya as a reward for saving his grandson: two allowed Tex's guns to swivel and fire without being touched whenever he was in danger, and two conferred the power of speech on Tex's horse and dog. Share this on: Gerry Anderson obituary | Television & radio | The Guardian Gerry Anderson obituary Thunderbirds creator who made some of the most popular children's TV shows of the 1960s Gerry Anderson with some Thunderbirds figures in 2000. The Tracy brothers were named after US astronauts and fought evil from their International Rescue base on a south Pacific island.

Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian Wednesday 26 December 2012 12.41 EST First published on Wednesday 26 December 2012 12.41 EST Share on Messenger Close Gerry Anderson, who has died aged 83 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease, was the main mover behind a number of puppet series commissioned by Lew Grade's Independent Television Corporation. They made the company a fortune from the space age: perhaps the best known was Thunderbirds (1965-66), and among the others were Fireball XL5 (1962-63), Stingray (1964) and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68). Anderson embarked on Thunderbirds in 1964. For Grade, international sales – particularly into the US market – were a key concern. So Thunderbirds focused on the Tracy brothers, with first names borrowed from the US astronauts Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gordon Cooper. Enormously popular in its time, the series is still being repeated today.

Scott and the others were members of International Rescue, based on a south Pacific island, set up, in a nod to the Bonanza western series, by their father, former astronaut Jeff Tracy. Thus did the brothers, with their motto "Thunderbirds are go!", fight fires in mines and villains in Monte Carlo, rescue solarnauts from the sun, quench blazing gasfields and take on the evil of The Hood, a villainous mastermind operating from a Malaysian jungle temple over some 32 episodes. The British featured with aristo blonde bombshell Lady Penelope (voiced by, and modelled on, Anderson's then wife Sylvia Thamm) and Parker, Cockney butler-cum-chauffeur of Penelope's 21st-century Rolls-Royce, FAB 1. The pre-ITV world of the early 50s had been one of puppets such as Muffin the Mule and the Flowerpot Men, a mirror for a Britain on extremely visible strings. Rocket men, on BBC radio, Radio Luxembourg and in the Eagle comic, meant Dan Dare and Jet Morgan – recycled Biggles and Battle of Britain pilots.

After Anderson, they were destined for the galactic dole queue, just as Eagle's demise was hastened by the arrival of Anderson spin-offs such as TV Century 21 (1965-71). "Everything we did," Anderson told his biographers Simon Archer and Marcus Hearn, in What Made Thunderbirds Go! (2002), "was in an endeavour to sell to America," and Grade spectacularly achieved that with Fireball XL5, a US network sale to NBC . Thunderbirds, shown across the world and more than a dozen times on British TV, is the show that defines the Anderson achievement, yet never attracted a US network. There was also the merchandising, for all the hit Anderson series, but spectacularly for Thunderbirds. While listening to the Royal Netherlands Air Force's rendition of the theme tune, the consumer could contemplate the purchase of the Dinky Toy FAB 1. There was a (very) minor hit record for Fireball XL5 and, beyond toys, wrote Chris Bentley in The Complete Gerry Anderson (2003), there were "clothing, toiletries, crockery, bedding, soft furnishings, ornaments, stationery, confectionery and baked beans".

Grade and Anderson's collaboration began in 1960, in the wake of the latter's western series for children, Four Feather Falls. Anderson proposed Supercar, featuring – just before astronauts took off – a test pilot hero from Arizona, Mike Mercury. Grade slashed Anderson's projected budget by a third, commissioned 39 episodes, and sold the series to the US, where it was a huge hit. That year, Anderson married Sylvia, beginning their tempestuous creative partnership. Two years later, as Fireball XL5 was going to NBC, Grade's Associated Television (ATV) purchased Anderson's company, Anderson Provis Films (APF). The deal enriched Anderson, and left him, Grade aside, in creative control. In October 1964 Stingray, with Captain Troy Tempest of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, battling, among others, Titan, ruler of Titanica, waded ashore on ITV – and netted ITC millions worldwide. After Thunderbirds came Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, and then Joe 90 (1968), which was erratically broadcast – or not – around the ITV network.

However, the moment seemed to have passed: television appeared clogged up with Anderson's Supermarionation puppets. Two Thunderbird movies had flopped; the tide was ebbing. Anderson was born in London, the younger son of Deborah and Joseph Abrahams. Joseph's parents were Jews from eastern Europe. Deborah Leonoff's background mixed Jewish and Cornish roots. Their vituperative marriage gave Anderson an unhappy childhood. His father was a socialist, increasingly debt-ridden and trapped in low-paid jobs. The family gravitated from Willesden Green to penury in Kilburn, and then on to Neasden. In the face of the commonplace antisemitism of the times, mother and son, prevailing over Joseph, had the family surname changed to Anderson. Gerry was educated at Kingsgate infants school in Kilburn and Braintcroft junior and senior schools in Neasden. Puppetry did not feature – indeed, he preferred knitting. Escape was provided in the front stalls at the Kilburn State and Grange cinemas, facing each other across the Kilburn high road. He won a scholarship to Willesden county secondary school and became a chain smoker.

The death of his Mosquito pilot brother, Lionel, on active service in 1944 devastated the family. Anderson enrolled at the local polytechnic, flirted with a career in architecture, and developed an aptitude for plaster modelling, which triggered dermatitis. Then a friend invited him to the Pathé laboratories at Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, and Anderson the moviegoer became intrigued by film. At the end of the war he became a trainee at the Colonial Film Unit, before joining Gainsborough Pictures as an assistant editor. Work on two bodice rippers, Caravan (1946) and Jassy (1947), and a thriller, Snowbound (1948), was followed by a posting as an RAF radio operator. By 1950, he was a freelance dubbing editor. The films included The Clouded Yellow (1950) with Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons, Appointment in London (1953) with Dirk Bogarde, A Prize of Gold (1955) with Richard Widmark and Mai Zetterling, and Devil Girl from Mars (1954).

It was a journeyman's career path, in a then declining industry. In the mid-50s, commercial TV arrived. Anderson and Arthur Provis, a camera operator, set up Pentagon Films, whose recruits included Sylvia as a secretary. After Pentagon went bust came APF, which struggled until commissioned to produce a 52-part, 15-minute puppet series, The Adventures of Twizzle (1957-58). This was followed by Torchy the Battery Boy (1959-60). The wild west was big on late 50s British TV, via shows such as Wagon Train and Wells Fargo. APF came up with Four Feather Falls . Nicholas Parsons voiced, and Michael Holliday sang, Sheriff Tex Tucker. Bought by Granada, the programme debuted on ITV in February 1960. Tucker, his English-accented horse Rocky (Kenneth Connor), his dog Dusty and Pedro the villainous bandit rode into British children's teatime – to be followed by Supercar. In 1960 Anderson had produced and directed the B-movie Crossroads to Crime.

At the other end of the decade, alongside a late and ill-starred puppet-live action series The Secret Service (1969), he produced the science fiction movie Doppelgänger. The live action TV series UFO (1970), The Protectors (1972-74) and Space 1999 (1975-78) followed. None greatly prospered. In 1975, financially battered, and in the era before video sales, Anderson sold off his share of APF royalties. That year, too, he and Sylvia separated. Soon his relationship with ATV, in decline since the late 60s, ended. Anderson's finances were collapsing; his career reached its nadir before signs of revival in the 80s. From the 1990s onwards the work of Anderson and the group of gifted puppeteers and film-makers he had worked with in 1960s Slough was rediscovered. There were conventions, live shows and repeat showings. Anderson developed other projects, but nothing really compared with those strange times – and the mystery of Supermarionation, credited from the later episodes of Supercar.

Not that there was a mystery: it was the product, as the 60s advanced, of increasingly sophisticated and expensive technique. Just as the Wizard of Oz turned out to be a man behind a curtain, so Supermarionation merely combined the words "super", "marionette" and "animation". "It didn't mean," Anderson told Archer and Hearn, "anything other than that." He was appointed an MBE in 2001. His first two marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, Mary, two daughters from his first marriage, a son from his second, and a son from his third.

• Gerald Alexander Anderson, film and TV producer, director and writer, born 14 April 1929; died 26 December 2012 Animator behind popular puppet TV shows Captain Scarlet, Stingray and Joe 90 died in his sleep, his son announces Published: 26 Dec 2012 Gerry Anderson, who has died aged 83, had TV hits with Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet Joe 90 and Stingray Published: 26 Dec 2012 The British director behind puppet TV shows Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet has died aged 83 Published: 26 Dec 2012 Stephen La Rivière and Howard Dawber on how Gerry Anderson paved the way for a range of cinematic special effects Published: 27 Dec 2012

Question: ‘Four ‘what’ Falls’ was the third puppet television show produced by Gerry Anderson for Granada Television?
Answer: Feather