Just shy of the 50th anniversary, Ray Cusick, the designer of the Daleks, passed away in his sleep this weekend from heart failure. He was 84.
The official Doctor Who Magazine tweeted: "It's with great sadness that we report the death of Ray Cusick - the designer of the Daleks. Half a century on, his iconic design lives on."
Doctor Who actor and writer Mark Gatiss tweeted: "Farewell to the great Ray Cusick. His passing is especially sad in this anniversary year but his creation remains immortal. Daleks forever!”
Though the iconic Doctor Who villains were the brainchild of Who writer Terry Nation, it was Ray Cusick’s design that brought terror to many companions on the series. The concept was simple and its construction perhaps simpler: a mutated species in a mobile tank-like body.
The design made its first appearance in the second serial ever “The Dead Planet” (Check out the first appearance of the Daleks as companion Barbara Wright, played by Jacqueline Hill, is cornered by the menacing monster).
