Trek Actors: Did you know ?

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 4:33 am

So I was bored, I googled some stuff on trek actors...

Some of this I knew, some I didnt.

The Great Bird
Gene Roddenberry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
89 B-17 missions in the pacific, Distinguished flying cross.


Scotty
James Doohan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saw comabt at Juno Beach, and lost a finger due to friendly fire.
Later flew jets, and even got yelled at for hot doging it at near ground level between objects for fun.

Uhura
Nichelle Nichols - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
She ended up working for NASA for a time. Trek gave NASA more than the name for the first shuttle (tho to be honest, I think the first shuttle's name shoulda been Enterprise anyway, considering the impact the big E had on world history)

Checkov
Walter Koenig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He has a BA in Psychology (more commonly known as a BA in BS :p ) but was pre-med before that.

D.C. Fonatana (trek writer)
D. C. Fontana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Among her many credits, she wrote the ONLY 'cannon' TAS episode (Yesteryear)

Chris Pike
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hunter
In '61 he played Jesus.

Picard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart
"The fact is all of those years in Royal Shakespeare Company -- playing all those kings, emperors, princes and tragic heroes -- were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise" - Patrick Stewart

Number One, Computer Voice, Nurse Chapel, Luxwana Troi (and I forget what others were)]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majel_Barrett
I'd always heard some of her quotes like how paramount told Rodenbery 'ditch the woman or the alien' and 'gene married the woman and hired the alien because Nimoy wouldnt have appreciated the other way'. Apparently Paramount was mostly annoied trhat Rodenbery had cast the woman he was having an affair with (Majel Barret).

Geordi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geordi_La_Forge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeVar_Burton
In TNG Season 1, he kept tripping over stuff cause of the visor.
He had worked with the TNG producer before, and didnt like him.
Years later that same producer called him about TNG, he only came casue Gene was involved.
Tim Russ (Tuvok) almost got the role.

Riker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Frakes
He used to work for Marvel, appearing as Captain America at conventions.

Q
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_de_Lancie
His son played Q's son in Voyager

Troi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Troi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Sirtis
She auditioned as Tasha Yar, and didnt get the part. She came within under an hour of missing 'the call' saying she had a part, and was prepared to fly back to england because her visa was expiring.
Gene planed to have her as the 'eye candy' of the show..... he also planed to have her have four breasts. Majel Barret vetoed that idea.

Yar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasha_Yar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Crosby
She originally was going to play Troi.

Barclay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Schultz
I never noticed, he was Murdock on the A-Team

Kira
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana_Visitor
I knew her and Siddig El Fadil (Bashir) were married, but turns out they only married AFTER he knocked her up. Score one for the Doctor (aside from getting the cuter Dax)

Odo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_ ... 28actor%29
He played Father Mulcahy  in the movie version of MASH.

Bashir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Siddig
has a history of dating co-stars

Ezri Dax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_de_Boer
Nothing really suprising about her. She's still the cuter Dax.

O'Brien
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colm_Meaney
He worked episode to episode w/o a contract for TNG and liked it that way, and almost didnt sign on DS9.
He is second (only to Mike Dorn) in number of trek episodes to be in.
His accent is NOT fake, hes irish.


Anyway, what intersting factoids can the rest of you dig up ?

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 4:54 am

Didn't Roddenberry also have an affair with Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) too?  What a stud...

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 4:58 am

Didn't Roddenberry also have an affair with Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) too?  What a stud...

That I DIDNT know, and indeed he got all the chicks.

Also Shatner didnt get along with Doohan apparently, read that several places but never heard why.

One things for sure this deffintily has made Doohan stand out even more, a true war hero etc etc.


Also suprised no TOS novel explained how he lost his finger.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 6:32 am

Ezri Dax
Nicole de Boer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nothing really suprising about her. She's still the cuter Dax.

Agreed! 

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 11:58 am

shatner didnt get on with anyone, he had a massive ego.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 12:36 pm

Interesting trivia:
George Takei is one of the coolest, funniest people ever to have starred in Trek:

YouTube
- George Takei Roasts William Shatner

Gotta love Shatner's facial expression.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 1:22 pm

go takei!

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 1:31 pm

Most awesome helmsman EVER

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 1:41 pm

i dunno, i liked Branson a lot too, he got an awesome death.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 8:30 pm

Interesting trivia:
George Takei is one of the coolest, funniest people ever to have starred in Trek:

   YouTube
       - George Takei Roasts William Shatner
 

Gotta love Shatner's facial expression.

I just nearly peed myself laughing.

That is prehaps the best roast I have ever heard.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 8:52 pm

Also suprised no TOS novel explained how he lost his finger.

The reason it's never explained is because it's never really considered official canon.  Doohan may have lost his finger before TOS, but they did everything in their power to hide he was missing one.  If you go back and watch any close ups on Scotty's hands, they usually used a double, or stunt hand, for those scenes.  So you can only very rarely catch it, and even then, you have to watch very closely for it.  I grew up watching that show and never realized it till I read about it (sadly, I think last year for the first time).

Fun fact to add, Jeffery Combs who is famed for playing several Trek characters (Weynon, Shran) tried out for the role of Commander Riker.  You can read about it, and some other interesting 'almost' cast choices here:
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/02/10_almost-cast_star-trek_actors_that_wouldve_impro.php

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 10:35 pm

Fun fact to add, Jeffery Combs who is famed for playing several Trek characters (Weynon, Shran) tried out for the role of Commander Riker.  You can read about it, and some other interesting 'almost' cast choices here:
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/02/10_almost-cast_star-trek_actors_that_wouldve_impro.php

Jeffrey Combs is CREEPY. Not only is Weyoun one of the DS9 characters whose presence always was a sign that the episode would end bad. He also played Herbert West, from HPL's story Reanimator: A Crazy Scientist working on a method to reanimate dead people. When finding himself in need of fresh bodies for his experiments, he begins to kill people just to try bringing them back to life. Without saying too much, his subjects don't necessary like that, and his end is rather gruesome.
Oh, and he did Poe. That's right, Mr. Combs played the master of the macabre himself. 

[Tok`ra]

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 10:49 pm

Last edited by Tok`ra on April 2nd, 2011, 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/02/10_almost-cast_star-trek_actors_that_wouldve_impro.php

That was a neat read, thanks.

Oh, and he did Poe. That's right, Mr. Combs played the master of the macabre himself. 

ROFL yeah he wouldnt have been a good Riker. That said his acting is great, he gets the creepy vorta down good, and was one of the high points of DS9 (the cute Dax in leather in the mirror universe being another).


Of course in 'for the uniform' (the one were Edington is captured) the whole 3d viewer and way they did overly annoying attempt to be 'military' with orders being issued in the defiant was one of the low points....



Oh and for creepy heres some mirror universe.

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 11:32 pm

Oh and for creepy heres some mirror universe.

Your mileage may vary about creepy-factor when lesbians are involved. Rarely seems to apply for the other side, though...

posted on April 2nd, 2011, 11:48 pm

Your mileage may vary about creepy-factor when lesbians are involved

*smacks hand on desk* oh DRAT!

And I watched that scene over and over again trying to get the creepiest frame too!

.>



I swear, thats why I watched it over and over.