It's time for another podcast and it's a chat with someone you could subscribe as an absolute stalwart of puppetry. Someone who had a career spanning some fifty years and is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. It's a chat with Ronnie Le Drew.
You can also listen to the chat via Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
In this bumper ninety four minute edition of the podcast, Ronnie talks about his career in puppetry. Starting off with a love for puppets as a child and then fresh out of school joining the Little Angel Theatre in London which specialised in puppetry in the mid 1960's.
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| Ronnie (Centre) outside the Little Angel Theatre with John & Lyndie Wright, Christopher Leith, Joyce Wren and Mary Kenny in 1964. |
From humble beginnings this lead to a varied career in TV and film. Ronnie's best known work is that of being the puppeteer for Zippy on Rainbow. Which Ronnie has been doing since 1973! Roy Skelton was the original voice of Zippy, however Ronnie has also provided the voice since the show was briefly revived twice in the mid 90's after the original Thames version finished in 1992and also during any sporadic appearances on other TV shows such as The Last Leg.
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| Ronnie's work as Zippy spans nearly 50 years as of 2021! |
Aside from Rainbow, Ronnie has also had a long association with Sooty. Puppeteering Sweep for the most part as well as occasionally the other characters for a few years during the Matthew Corbett days in the 1970's and also alongside Richard Cadell both in the late 90's and also in 2018.
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| Ronnie with a 1970's Sweep puppet which was a gift from Matthew Corbett |
Ronnie also puppeteered for other kids TV shows such as Mortimer and Arabel, Roger and the Rottentrolls and Jay's World.
Moving on from TV, Ronnie has also done a lot of film work. Helping operate many characters on the likes of Labyrinth, Little Shop of Horrors and The Muppet's Christmas Carol.
Ronnie now has an autobiography out called Zippy and Me which tells the story of his career and you can also follow him on Twitter.
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| A great read! I recommend it |
