Vic Perrin

Victor H. Perrin (April 26, 1916 – July 4, 1989) was an American actor and voice artist. He is best remembered for having provided the "Control Voice" in the original version of the TV series The Outer Limits (1963 – 1965).

Life and career

Vic Perrin graduated in 1935 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. He moved to California in 1940.^[1]

During the 1940s and 1950s, Perrin was a regular performer on old-time radio, appearing in many shows. His first role, however, came in 1943, when he became announcer for Free World Theatre's episode "The Last Will and Testament Of Tom Smith".^[2] The series was produced and directed by Arch Oboler. He later appeared on Oboler's short-lived television series, Arch Oboler's Comedy Theatre. Perrin narrated "A Star With Two Names", part of the segment "Behind The Scenes Hollywood Story" of The Hollywood Music Hall radio program. At the same time, he would join Charles Laughton's theatrical repertory group.

He went on to become a staff announcer for NBC for several years before moving to ABC. He was a regular guest star on the radio version of Gunsmoke and indeed, he wrote at least one script for that show. Perrin was a series regular on the anthology radio drama Family Theatre, played Ross Farnsworth, who married Claudia's daughter Joan on One Man's Family and was Seargeant Gorse in Fort Laramie in 1956. Perrin, uncredited to the listeners, impersonated Clyde Beatty on The Clyde Beatty Show. He performed several characters in Escape, Pete Kelly's Blues and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.^[2]

One of his first television roles was in a 1953 episode of Adventures of Superman titled "The Golden Vulture", where he played a hapless sailor on board a freighter run by a self-styled pirate. He also made 16 guest appearances on Dragnet. Perrin played minor character roles in Peter Gunn, Black Saddle, Gunsmoke, The Untouchables, Going My Way, Perry Mason, Adam-12, Mannix, and Mission: Impossible. Perrin guest-starred as several characters in both the radio and television versions of Have Gun - Will Travel.

He was a regular voice actor in the original Jonny Quest animated series as the voice of Dr. Zin and other villains. He voiced the villain, The Gimmick, in an episode of Blue Falcon. Vic Perrin also voiced multiple characters, including The Puppet Master, Karl the Stuntman, and others in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

He played a voyeuristic serial killer in the 1966 made-for-TV movie Dragnet, which served as a pilot episode for the color version of the television series, which premiered in 1967. He guest-starred on a 1981 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century titled "The Guardians". Perrin was in The Twilight Zone episodes titled "People Are Alike All Over" and "Ring-a-Ding Girl."

Perrin also had voice and character roles in three classic Star Trek episodes. During the first season, he voiced the Metron in "Arena", where Kirk fought the Gorn. He also appeared on camera as the head of the ruling council on Halka, a planet of pacifists who would not trade dilithium crystals, in "Mirror, Mirror", and provided the voice of the reconstructed Nomad probe in "The Changeling", both second season episodes. To the legions of fans of the Super Friends series, Perrin's voice is well known as the voice of villain, Sinestro, an arch-nemesis of the Green Lantern, a role he played on Challenge of the Super Friends and Super Friends (1980 TV series). One of his last voice roles was reprising Dr. Zin on The New Adventures of Jonny Quest.

He continued to do voice-overs and to play character roles until a few years before his death from cancer.^[1] He is survived by his wife Rita Perrin, his son and his stepson.

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Obituaries: Vic Perrin, Longtime Radio, Tv Announcer". sun-sentinel.com (Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)). 1989-07-07. Retrieved 2012-08-15. 
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vic Perrin's radiography at the Radio Gold Intex

External links

• Vic Perrin at the Internet Movie Database

• Vic Perrin at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Vic Perrin picture
• Vic Perrin at Find a Grave
• Vic Perrin as the Control Voice on "Outer Limits"