London (AP) – Sylvia Anderson, the co-creator of the cult classic science fiction TV puppet show “Thunderbirds,” died last week at age 88.
Publicist Richard Leon said the writer and producer died Wednesday, March 17 at her home in Bray, 30 miles west of London, after a short illness.
She created the series about a high-tech rescue squad operating from a secret island with her late former husband Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012. The show made its debut in 1965. Sylvia Anderson also voiced and provided inspiration for the upper-crust character Lady Penelope — who like all the other characters in the series was a marionette.
This undated photo shows Sylvia Anderson with her iconic Thunderbirds puppet character, Lady Penelope. (AP Photo/File)
Other hit science fiction TV shows produced by the Andersons in the 1960s and 70s included “Fireball XL5”, “Stingray”, “Joe 90”, “Captain Scarlet”, “UFO” and “Space 1999”.
The Andersons divorced in 1981 but continued working in TV independently.
