Actor Roy Skelton, who provided voices for the Daleks and George and Zippy in long-running children's show Rainbow, died today aged 79.

His daughter Samantha said he died at home in Brighton surrounded by his family after a long illness.

She said: "He had a stroke some months ago and had been in and out of hospital and finally he succumbed to pneumonia."

Skelton, originally from Nottingham, earned his acting spurs in regional repertory theatres at the start of a long career which included roles in Zulu and Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy.

Voiceover work lead to a role in Doctor Who where he came up with the voice for the metal monsters The Daleks.

Samantha said: "A lot of people who knew he did the voices would come up to him and ask him to do them and he would. He did not need any sound equipment to do it."

Rainbow host Geoffrey Hayes said Skelton brought characters to "life through his voice".

He told the BBC: "The most wonderful thing was if Zippy and George were having an argument between themselves, it sounded like he'd double-tracked it as they seemed to be talking over each other. It was a wonderful technique and I don't know how he did it."

Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles tweeted that Skelton "entertained me thousands of times as Zippy & George and scared me just as much as a Dalek. A proper hero of mine."

He leaves behind his wife and two daughters.