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Space Travel Hero Role: Television and Radio series Space Patrol as “Buzz Corry” Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol

What They Are Doing Today: Ed Kimmer passed away on November 09, 2004 age 84 in New York City, New York

Ed Kemmer, who played Commander “Buzz” Corry, Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol, in the popular ABC 1950′s sci-fi television and radio show Space Patrol.

Space Patrol chronicled the adventures of Commander “Buzz” Corry, who fought intergalactic villains of the 30th century while flying around in the Space Patrols Terra V spacecraft with comic sidekick, Cadet Happy, played by Lyn Osborn.

Listen below to an audio taken from a children’s record that was recorded with the original actors. In this story we learn how then Captain Buzz Corey became the Commander and Chief of the Space Patrol:

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The series was seen from 1950 to 1955 and for most of its run was broadcast live on ABC television network. On radio he was in 128 episodes and one record between October 1952 and March 1955. The series began as a 15 minute program on a local Los Angeles TV station in March 1950 and continued 5 days a week with around 800 episodes until 1953. Then ABC took over and it developed 210 30 minute episodes. The show ran until February 1955.

Ed Kemmer Actor of Buzz Corry, Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol

Ed Kemmer once said he took his role in the children’s show seriously. “I played it as straight as I could,” he told The Columbus Dispatch in 1994. “You don’t play down to children. A lot of shows make that mistake. Kids see through that right away.”

He switched from playing space adventurer on radio and Television and became an actual star with a following of science fiction fans when he played leading roles in “Giant From the Unknown” and Earth vs. the Spider. In 1964 when he spent the next 19 years starring regularly on television soaps as a regular on The Edge of Night, The Secret Storm, The Doctors, Clear Horizon, Another World, Somerset and All My Children.

He always cited his early television role as Commander “Buzz” Corry, Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol as his most important work.

Ed Kemmer hard at work at the microphone

Before becoming The Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol while in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII as a fighter pilot. He spent 11 months as a Prisoner of War in a German prisoner-of-war camp. On June 17, 1944, eleven days after the Normandy Invasion, he was shot down in his P-51 fighter plane over German Occupied France in the middle of a german patrol and was slightly wounded by an ‘excited’ German soldier. After was shot down over France in 1944 he was in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany, the British compound, with 2,500 British officers. He managed to escape once in the spring of 1945 but was recaptured.

During his service in WWII he was awarded the Air medal with three oak leaf clusters, the European campaign ribbon with two battle stars and the Purple Heart.

In his later years, true to the many science fiction fans he had, he attended several Science Fiction Conventions and Film Festivals.

He retired from acting in 1983 and died after suffering from a stroke on Novemer 9th 2004. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Fran Sharon, a former actress, and his children Jonathan, Todd and Kimberly.

Major Sci-Fi Acting Roles:
1950 – 1955 – Commander “Buzz” Corry, Commander in Chief of the Space Patrol
1956 – Science Fiction Theater – TV 1 episode as Joe Castle episode; The Throwback
1958 – Giant from the Unknown
1958 – Earth vs. the Spider
1959 – Men Into Space – TV 1 episode

Date of Birth: Edward Kemmerer October 29, 1920 Reading, Pa.

Date of Death: November 09, 2004 age 84 in New York City, New York

List of Whatever Became Of Episodes: