"Good night, Troy!"

The square jaw is the same, the blue eyes, black hair, raised eyebrow- fifty years ago, a new TV series was about to be unveiled- Stingray, starring Captain Troy Tempest, or as my Uncle Vernon said, "Maverick!" But it was all true, as the puppeteers had based the look of their lead character on then-hot property and star of Maverick, James Garner, who has died.
Garner was always a welcome presence on TV, his friendly private eye show, The Rockford Files in later years being a nice big hit.
I loved the Stingray strip in TV21, starting January 1965, drawn by Ron Embleton, and I even got to draw Troy myself in 1992 in several issues of Fleetway's 'Stingray' comic.
('Supermarionation'/Century 21 shows took inspiration from real people from time to time. Lady Penelope is very much Sylvia Anderson (especially the voice, of course!), Scott Tracy was based on Sean Connery, and Buddy Ebsen seemed a pretty close fit for Phones. Some people even see a likeness between the lead character in 'Secret Service' and Stanley Unwin.)