Francis Wright (born 1958) is an English voice actor, puppeteer, and television presenter. He also teaches public speaking and communication skills.
Early life Wright was born in St John's Wood, the son of Dr Bedřich Bělohlávek and Joan Wright, and was registered under both names.“BELOHLAVEK Francis P A / BELOHLAVEK / Hampstead 5c 1373/S” and “WRIGHT Francis P A / WRIGHT / Hampstead 5c 1373/S” in General Index to Births in England and Wales, April–June, 1958 His father was a Czech bookseller working in London, while his mother was a journalist then working for the BBC as a publicity officer, and both were authors.Francis Wright, Marmaduke Stephenson and Others: some notes for a family history, at franciswright.wordpress.com, accessed 21 July 2020 Wright was educated at Colet Court and St Paul's School, London, then studied drama, graduating with honours. He later noted “I decided to specialise in puppetry, which seemed to be a good way of never being typecast and/or doomed to a life mainly out of work.”“Francis Wright: Biography” at franciswright.wordpress.com, accessed 21 July 2020
Career
Wright's work on screen began with ITV's The Munch Bunch. After that, he portrayed a leading character in You and Me, a BBC Schools series, in which he played Dibs from 1983 until 1992.Creatives: Puppeteer Francis Wright at braidman.com, accessed 21 July 2020
His first feature film was Dragonslayer (1981), and in the mid-1980s he worked as a puppeteer on Spitting Image. He was also one of the puppeteers for Ludo in Labyrinth (1986)Julian Garner, Father Nandru and the Wolves (Oberon Books, 2003), p. 123 and created and voiced the Psammead for BBC Television in Five Children and It (1991),Anna Home, Into the Box of Delights: A History of Children's Television (BBC Books, 1993), p. 28 returning to the role in The Return of the Psammead (1993) and The Phoenix and the Carpet (1997), for which he also created the puppet of the Phoenix, a character which was voiced by David Suchet.Mark J. Docherty, Alistair D. McGown, The Hill and Beyond: Children's Television Drama - An Encyclopedia (Bloomsbury Academic, 2003), p. 102 In the 1990s he also worked on Wizadora, Mortimer and Arabel, Hotch Potch House, Jay's World, Gophers!, and The Spooks of Bottle Bay, playing Sam the Seagull in Beachcomber Bay and created the March Hare for the star-studded Alice in Wonderland (1999).
Wright played the Head in ITV's Art Attack (1990–2007), was Colin the bat and Lumpy in Grotbags (1991–1993), was both a writer and a performer for Bug Alert (1996–2000) and played Sweep in two series of the ITV children's show Sooty. He has also narrated two television series, B & B the Best for the BBC and Kitchen Showdown with Rosemary Shrager for ITV, and does voice-over work for commercials.
Outside show business, Wright teaches public speaking and communication skills. He was an elocution teacher for American Princess (2005) and Australian Princess (2006) and was hired to teach Paul O'Grady to "speak proper" on The Generation Game.
Notes
External links Francis Wright at British Film Institute Francis Wright at IMDb The Psammead Sings at YouTube The Return of the Psammead at YouTube Francis Wright on Twitter