Edward Judd

Edward Judd (4 October 1932 – 24 February 2009) was a British actor.

Born in Shanghai, China, he and his English father and Russian mother fled when the Japanese attacked China five years later.

His career was at its peak in the 1960s, with a series of leading roles in British science fiction films, including The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), a film that foresaw global warming, First Men in the Moon (1964), and Island of Terror (1966). In between starring in cult sci-fi films during the 1960s he worked as a soap opera actor and performed other character parts on television. Even though his roles in these classic science fiction films were highly praised by audiences and critics alike, his greatest exposure within the mainstream came with the 1975 "Think Once, Think Twice, Think Bike" campaign on making motorists aware of the risks faced on the road by motorcyclists. Judd appeared regularly on TV.

Very little is known of his life after the 1970s. He was heard in an episode of the BBC Radio comedy Drop Me Here, Darling, starring Leslie Phillips, in 1983, as well as playing Barrymore in The Hound of the Baskervilles the same year, and the BBC radio play Philadelphia Moonshine in 1985. He appeared in the 1988 TV film Jack the Ripper as Thomas Arnold.

In the early 70's he lived in Cottenham Park Road, Wimbledon and as of 1990, he lived in a hotel in Wimbledon and was a credit officer for a Canadian Investment bank. It was believed he died in Wimbledon in July 2004, homeless but this has since been proved incorrect. Apparently, he lived at a retirement home in Mitcham in his last years.

During the 1970s and 1980s Edward Judd, better known as Eddie, as evidenced in Michael Caine's 2011 autobiography, was a highly respected voiceover artiste used on many mainstream commercials recorded in the recording studios in London's Soho.

He was married twice; His first wife was Gene Anderson who died in 1965. His second wife was actress Norma Ronald, with whom he had two daughters.