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The actor known for voicing characters on TV shows “Peppa Pig” and “Thunderbirds” has died at the age of 99.
David Graham’s death was confirmed by Jamie Anderson, the son of late “Thunderbirds” creator Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012.
“We’re incredibly sad to confirm the passing of the legendary David Graham,” Jamie posted on his father’s official X account.
“The voice [of] Parker, Gordon Tracy, Brains and so many more. David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment,” he added.
“We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family.”
In a post on his own X page, Jamie wrote, “Farewell dear David! What heartbreaking news that the legendary David Graham has left us aged 99. The last Tracy brother, voice of Parker and so much more. A great actor, iconic voice, and all round lovely man. We’ll all miss him very much.”
Jamie also uploaded a video of a packed auditorium singing “Happy Birthday” to Graham just a few weeks ago at a Gerry Anderson concert in the UK.
“Less than 2 months ago nearly 2,000 Anderson fans were singing happy birthday to celebrate his 99th year,” he posted.
“It’s very sad indeed that this news strikes so soon after that lovely moment.”
Graham’s official cause of death is not known at this time.
Before becoming an actor, Graham was a radar mechanic in the British Royal Air Force during World War II and, later, an office clerk. He went on to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and soon gained work in theatre and television when he returned to England.
His career as a voice actor began after he starred in an episode of “Martin Kane, Private Investigator” directed by Gerry Anderson. Anderson then hired him to voice puppets in various productions, beginning with the character Grandpa Twink in “Four Feather Falls.”
The British thespian appeared on-screen in the first two episodes of the iconic TV series “Doctor Who,” before he started voicing the xenophobic mutant alien known as the Daleks on the show.
Graham reached a new level of fame thanks to his work voicing multiple characters — Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker — in Anderson’s 1960s sci-fi adventure series “Thunderbirds.”
He would reprise his role as Parker on the remake “Thunderbirds Are Go” for its entire five-year run from 2015 to 2020.
The actor joined the now-beloved children’s animated series “Peppa Pig” when it debuted in 2004, playing the role of Grandpa Pig until 2021.
Graham never viewed the work as beneath him and brought his theater training to bear in his work as the patriarch pig.
“Just because it’s a cartoon or puppet doesn’t mean you don’t take it seriously,” he told The Mirror in 2015. “I take it as seriously as working at the National [Theatre].”
Of his “Doctor Who” character the Daleks, Graham told the outlet, “I created it with Peter Hawkins, another voice actor. We adopted this staccato style, then they fed it through a synthesizer to make it more sinister.”
The star also revealed how his work on “Thunderbirds” may have helped him book a job opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in a 1973 production of the play “Saturday Sunday Monday” at the National Theatre.
Calling Olivier “a wonderful man,” Graham recalled, “I auditioned for him and he said, ‘Are you doing anything at the moment?’ As if I was the most in demand actor in the country! I don’t know if his children were fans of ‘Thunderbirds’ …”