- “Thomas is a smashing little engine - he's Number One and never lets anyone forget it!”
- ― Ringo Starr on his storytelling role
Ringo Starr, MBE, (born, Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940 in Dingle, Liverpool, England, UK) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, producer and actor who was the former drummer of the British pop-rock band, The Beatles, and the leader of his band, The All Starr Band. He narrated the first and second seasons of the television series. He was the first narrator of the television series and the first to play Mr. Conductor in Shining Time Station. He left the show after 1989 to focus on his music career and tour with his All Starr Band though he often praises his work on the show. This could explain the reason the first Mr. Conductor was written out.
Filmography
Television
Films
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Discography
The Beatles
Solo
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Awards and nominations
- Won - Oscar Awards - Best Music, Original Song Score, 1971 for "Let it Be" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Won - Grammy Awards - Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special, 1971 for "Let it Be" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Inducted - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1988 as a member of The Beatles with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Won - Grammy Awards - Best Music Video - Long Form, 1997 for "The Beatles Anthology" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Bob Smeaton, Geoff Wonfor, Chips Chipperfield and Neil Aspinall.
- Won - Walk of Fame - Recording, 2010.
- Won - Award For Musical Excellence, 2015 - From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his solo career.
- Nominated - Golden Laurel Awards - Musical Performance and New Faces, Male, 1964 for "A Hard Day's Night" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Nominated - Golden Laurel Awards - Musical Performance, Male, 1965 for "Help!" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Nominated - British Academy Film and Television Awards - Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, 1965 for "A Hard Day's Night" shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
- Nominated - Daytime Emmy Awards - Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series, 1989 for "Shining Time Station."
Trivia
- According to Britt Allcroft, she picked Ringo as the narrator when she heard his voice on the radio and thought it would relate for children. She denied that it was because of his "Beatles" fame, as Allcroft was not a fan at the time.
- Ringo Starr recorded the narration for the first season in eight days. That includes re-doing four episodes due to the tone of his voice.
- He also recorded narration for the Ladybird audio books.
- Ringo Starr returned to voice Thomas in the 2009 Children in Need charity single.
- He, George Carlin, Alec Baldwin, and Pierce Brosnan have hosted Saturday Night Live and made guest appearances on The Simpsons.
- In the Thomas the Tank Engine DOS game, he played the voice of Sir Topham Hatt whenever he said: "Hurry up, Thomas!"
- He, Radovan Vaculík, Carlos Enrique Bonilla, Jorge Ornelas, Enzo Avolio, Víctor Delgado, Bohuslav Kalva, Daiki Nakamura, Aku Laitinen, Marjolein Algera, Jukka Voutilaninen, Shinobu Adachi, Pasi Ruohonen, Loretta Santini, Olga Hnidey, Don Nemitz, Bin Shimada, Reinder van der Naalt, Ángel Amorós, Gerardo Reyero, Luis Alfonso Padilla, Octavio Rojas, Louise Raeder, Humberto Vélez, Hadar Shachaf Ma'ayan, Chie Kōjiro, Samuel Harjanne, Keiko Toda, Pierce Brosnan, George Carlin and Alec Baldwin all worked on "The Simpsons".
External Link
Gallery
Narrator Cards
Season 1 Narrator Card
Other
Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor
Ringo Starr with the Reverend W. Awdry
Starr with the rest of the Season 1 crew
Ringo with Thomas
Ringo Starr and the TV model engines
Ringo Starr and Didi Conn
Ringo Starr, Britt Allcroft, and Rick Siggelkow
Ringo on TV-AM
Ringo Starr with his Mr. Conductor counterpart
Ringo with Paul McCartney in 2009
Ringo behind his drums in 1963
(From left to right) Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison of the Beatles
Ringo as Atouk in "Caveman"
Ringo Starr in The Flying Kipper
