Victor Herbert Perrin was an American radio, film, and television actor, perhaps best remembered for providing the "Control Voice" in the original version of the television series The Outer Limits. He was also a radio scriptwriter as well as a narrator in feature films and for special entertainment and educational projects, such as the original Spaceship Earth and Universe of Energy rides at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
Early years
Perrin was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, the elder of two sons of Kathryn and Milton A. Perrin, who was a traveling salesman. In 1940, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the late 1930s, Vic moved to California.
Career
Radio
During the 1940s and 1950s, Perrin was a regular performer on many commercial radio programs. In 1941 he became a staff announcer for NBC, staying there for several years before moving to ABC and becoming chief announcer at the Blue Network. His first credited role came in 1943, when he served as the announcer for "The Last Will and Testament Of Tom Smith", a radio episode of Free World Theatre, which was produced and directed by Arch Oboler. He narrated too "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 joined Charles Laughton's theatrical repertory group. Perrin was also a regular guest staron the radio version of Gunsmoke, and he wrote or co-wrote five scripts for that popular Western series between 1959 and 1961. Perrin was a series regular as well on the anthology radio drama Family Theatre, played Ross Farnsworth on One Man's Family, and was featured as cavalry trooper Sergeant Gorse in Fort Laramie in 1956. He performed too as several characters in Escape, Pete Kelly's Blues, Dragnet, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and Have Gun – Will Travel. In an uncredited role, he also impersonated Clyde Beatty on The Clyde Beatty Show.
Television
One of Perrin's first television roles is in "The Golden Vulture", a 1953 episode of the Adventures of Superman. In that episode he portrays a hapless sailor onboard a freighter run by a self-styled pirate. He also appears in 16 installments of Dragnet and plays characters in a variety of other series, including Peter Gunn, Black Saddle, Have Gun – Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Mackenzie's Raiders, The Untouchables, Going My Way, Perry Mason, Adam-12, Mannix, and '. Perrin voiced multiple characters on the animated television seriesScooby-Doo, Where Are You! Those characters include, Pietro, The Puppet Master, Karl the Stuntman, Ape Man, The Snow Ghost, Mr. Leech, Dr. Najib among others. He also provided the voice of Dr. Zin, the main antagonist in Jonny Quest, as well as the voice for the villain The Gimmick in the Blue Falcon. Perrin is the voice of Hawkman on The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and yet another villain, Sinestro, who is the nemesis of the Green Lantern, in the Super Friends series. In performances in front of the camera, Perrin portrays a voyeuristicserial 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-stars too on "The Guardians", a 1981 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and he appears in two The Twilight Zone episodes: "People Are Alike All Over" and "Ring-a-Ding Girl". He has voice and character roles in three classic 1967 ' episodes. In the series' first-season episode "Arena |Arena," he is the voice of the Metrons, an alien species. He appears as well in the second-season episode "Mirror, Mirror |Mirror, Mirror", portraying the head of the ruling council on Halka, a planet of pacifists. Also in the second season, in the episode "The Changeling |The Changeling", he is the voice of Nomad, a space probe.
Other professional activities
For many years Perrin narrated dozens of science and educational short films for educational filmmaking pioneer Sy Wexler and continued to do voice-overs and to play character roles until a short time before his death. Perrin was active in off-camera work in television commercials, prompting one newspaper article to include the comment "Vic Perrin is one actor who makes more money when he's not seen on camera than when he is."
He was first married to Evelyn Held on March 10, 1963. Evelyn died in 1972 and they had no children. He married for a second time to Rita Singer in 1977 and had a son, George. He also had a stepson, Steven, from Rita's previous marriage. Perrin and Rita divorced in January 1979, but remarried soon after in September 1979. Perrin died of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, July 4, 1989, aged 73.
