Jeff Tracy
| Jeff Tracy | |
|---|---|
| Thunderbirds character | |
 | |
| First appearance |
"Trapped in the Sky" (30 September 1965) |
| Last appearance | Thunderbirds (2004 film) |
| Created by | Gerry Anderson |
| Portrayed by | Bill Paxton (2004 film) |
| Voiced by | Peter Dyneley (1965-1966, 1968) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation |
Colonel Astronaut Head of International Rescue |
| Family |
Grant Tracy (father; name debatable[1]) "Grandma" Tracy (mother) |
| Spouse(s) |
Lucille "Lucy" Tracy (2039-March 2044, deceased; name debatable[2]) |
| Children |
Scott Tracy (son, with Lucille) John Tracy (son, with Lucille) Virgil Tracy (son, with Lucille) Gordon Tracy (son, with Lucille) Alan Tracy (son, with Lucille) |
Jeff Tracy is a fictional character from Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation television show Thunderbirds and the subsequent films Thunderbirds Are GO and Thunderbird 6. The voice for the character in these shows was supplied by Peter Dyneley. The character also appeared in the live-action movie Thunderbirds. In the latter he was played by actor Bill Paxton.
Biography
The series was first broadcast in 1965 and was set a hundred years in the then future, in 2065, when Jeff was (or will be) 56. According to his backstory "bio", Jeff was born 2 January 2009,[3] the son of a combine harvester driver on a Kansas wheat farm.
- Military service in the U.S. Air Force achieving rank of colonel
- Transfer to Space Agency to become an early lunar astronaut[4]
- Jeff married[2] and became the father of five sons; Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan born in rapid succession in the period 2039-2044. The sons were named after the first 5 American astronauts into space via the Mercury space project, i.e. Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn.[5]
- His wife died prematurely, commonly accepted to have been due to complications with the birth on 12 March 2044 of her youngest son, Alan. A non-canonical 1993 comic strip has a different explanation, in which she and Jeff's father, Grant Tracy, died in an avalanche,[1] while a novel published in 2008 had her pass away as a result of a road accident, where her vehicle fell off the side of a cliff.[6]
- Jeff raised his five sons, while building up a civil engineering, construction and aerospace business that made him one of the richest men in the world.
- He became a philanthropist and instigated and financed International Rescue
As the Tracy family patriarch, he spends most of his time on Tracy Island, situated somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, from where he co-ordinates rescue missions.
It has been suggested that the Tracy family are based on the Cartwrights from the TV series Bonanza, and that the Jeff Tracy puppet is based on the actor who played Ben Cartwright, Lorne Greene.[3]
Along with his sons, Scott and Virgil, Jeff is the only other Tracy to appear in all 32 episodes of Thunderbirds.
Absence from Remake Series (2015)
In the 2015 'reboot' of the series, Jeff has vanished (rumour has it that he is kidnapped) some time ago in an implied boating accident, and is currently presumed deceased, with his demise attributed to his investigation into the mysterious 'Hood'. Scott appears to have assumed control of International Rescue in his father's place as he is the oldest of the Tracy brothers.
References
- 1 2 The Complete Thunderbirds Story says Jeff's wife, Lucille, and his father, Grant, both died in an avalanche at their Aspen holiday home. The lack of rescue equipment supposedly inspired Jeff to form International Rescue. However the narrative has several deviations from canon, e.g. how Jeff Tracy first met Kyrano, Tin-Tin, and The Hood.
- 1 2 The Calling International Rescue! fan site names his wife as Lucille, Lucy for short, but this is not an official site
- 1 2 http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/thunderbirdsbiography.htm. Retrieved 19 December 2008. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Thunderbirds Annual," p.10, 1966, City Magazines Ltd. and A.P. Films (Merchandising) Ltd.
- ↑ "Thunderbirds - The Characters". Fab1.co.nz. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
- ↑ Archived 6 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
