Denise Bryer – actress who played Zelda in Terrahawks – dies, aged 93
Bryer was best known for her long association with series produced by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson.
Actress and voice artist Denise Bryer has died, aged 93.
Bryer passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday (16th October), according to the official Gerry Anderson website.
With a career that spanned an incredible 75 years, Bryer was perhaps best known for her work alongside legendary TV producer and Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson – in particular for her voice work on the series Terrahawks (1983-1986), terrorising a generation with her performance as the villainous Zelda.
Want to see this content?
To show this content, we need your permission to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes to load content on this page.
Born on 5th January 1928, Bryer made her film debut aged just 9-years-old, going on to train at RADA and becoming a regular voice on British radio from the mid-1940s onwards.
She first worked with Anderson in 1957 on the puppet series The Adventures of Twizzle and would also play multiple roles in 1960's Four Feather Falls before re-teaming with Anderson in the 1980s on Terrahawks, in which she also voiced the character Mary Falconer.
She later reprised both Zelda and Mary for a new series of Terrahawks audio plays released by Big Finish between 2015 and 2017.
Jamie Anderson, Gerry's son and now head of Anderson Entertainment, paid tribute to Bryer on Twitter, describing her as his "surrogate grandmother".
Want to see this content?
This page contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Twitter may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Twitter and its required purposes.
Bryer was also known for voicing Kiki the Frog on 1960s TV series Hector's House, Billina in 1985 film Return to Oz and The Junk Lady in 1986's Labyrinth.
She married actor/presenter Nicholas Parsons in 1954 and the couple had two children together, but divorced in 1989.
You can watch a clip from Terrahwks, featuring Bryer's iconic performance as Zelda, below:
Want to see this content?
This page contains content provided by YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as YouTube may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow YouTube and its required purposes.
Find something to watch with our TV Guide or visit our Sci-fi hub for more news and features.
Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
