Simon Prebble
| Simon Prebble | |
|---|---|
| Born | Simon Micawber Prebble February 13, 1942  Croydon, London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor, narrator |
| Spouse(s) | Marie-Janine Hellstrom |
Simon Micawber Prebble (born February 13, 1942) is an English actor and narrator. Initially a stage actor, he has a wide ranging career in television drama, was a game show announcer in Britain, and a voice-over narrator for television, and film. In recent years he has narrated a large number of audio books and received an Audie (Audio book Oscar) in 2010.
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Early life
Born and raised in Croydon, England, Simon Prebble is the son of the novelist, screenwriter and historian John Prebble and fashion artist Betty Prebble (both deceased). He is brother to Jolyon Gade Prebble and Sarah Bryony Prebble
Career
In 1960 he attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London[1] and began his acting career in one of Britain's first live television soap operas, 'Home Tonight' with David Hemmings. For the next eleven years he worked extensively on radio and television and in provincial repertory theatre including a year with Ian McKellen's Hamlet. In 1972, in a change of direction, he worked as a continuity announcer for Southern Television. Then in 1973 Prebble joined Capital Radio, the first legal commercial music station in Britain, where he hosted a daily news magazine programme London's Day. He then embarked on a freelance career as a presenter and voice-over announcer, including thirteen years as the promo voice of Thames Television, and from 1984 he was the announcer for the British version of the game show The Price Is Right with Leslie Crowther.
In 1990 Prebble moved to New York where he continued doing voice-over work. As well as recording numerous radio and television commercials, he hosted and narrated several television documentary series, notably Target-Mafia. He has also voiced characters in various television cartoon series, such as Courage the Cowardly Dog. His film voice work includes playing Ernest Shackleton in the 2000 documentary The Endurance. In 1996, he was a lead actor[2] for a year (as the villain Martin Chedwyn) on the American daily soap opera As the World Turns.
In the U.S., he also began narrating audiobooks, and this has now become his main occupation.[3] As of 2014, he has recorded well over 500 titles, including the Alex Rider series. As one of AudioFile Magazine's 'Golden Voices' and 'Best Voices of the Century', his work has gained him five 'Listen Up' awards, thirty-five 'Earphone' awards, and in 2005, he was named 'Narrator of theYear' by Publishers Weekly. Nominated seventeen times for the 'Audies' (the audiobook 'Oscars'), he was finally awarded a coveted 'Audie' in 2010, the year he was also named Booklist's 'Voice of Choice'.
He also narrated four stories based on the American books of the British children's TV series Thomas and Friends for the Thomas' Read-Along Storybook Audio CD in 2007.
In 2003, at Chiswick House, west London, he married Swedish graphic artist, Marie-Janine Hellstrom. In 2007, both he and his wife became US citizens.
References
- ↑ Simon Prebble, soap-news.com/atwt January 14, 1999
- ↑ As The World Turns cast
- ↑ How Should a Book Sound? What About Footnotes?
