It's a little sad to see how many people in TWOK are gone.

I just kind of realized the other day how many people in or associated with TWOK are gone.

So in order of importance, in TWOK, I'd rank the actors roles in the following order: *=deceased.

Shatner
Nimoy*
Montablan*
Alley
Kelley*
Bibi Besch*
Merritt Butrick*
Koenig
Paul Winfield*
Doohan*
Judson Scott (As Joachim who isn't in the credits because his agent was an idiot)
Takei
Nichols

So 7 of the 13 primary actors are gone and of the ones that are still alive I'd say only Shatner and Alley had what would be called major roles in the film.

Koenig and Judson Scott had moderate roles and Takei and Nichols basically just sat in their chairs and did their jobs.

So it's not just the number but the fact it's so top heavy with the leading roles.

Plus Bennett, Sowards and Roddenberry, despite not having any real power, others associated with the film.

Yes I'm aware it's been 33 years and many of these people weren't exactly spring chickens when they died....Still at least 3 (Winfield, Buttrick and Besch) died well short of normal life span.

I know...it's death and someday all 13 will be gone and so will everyone on here. Just kind of surprised me when I realized just how many are gone, and it doesn't feel like it was that long ago.

Shit......at this rate I'll be dead in no time. Might as well go out and buy the custom Corvette I've always wanted now I can't dick around for another 30-40 years if I want to enjoy it

 

Winfield was one of those actors who really could do no wrong. Everything he did was gold; even if he was in a bad movie or two, it wasn't because of him at all. TWOK was my first exposure to his work.

As much as we Trekkies talk about Montalban's work, I'm much more impressed by how far he helped advance the visibility of Latino actors in Hollywood. Before him, most of those roles were either as servants, bumbling idiots, or foot soldiers/henchmen. Then comes in this debonair and charismatic actor shooting down all those stereotypes, and then he specifically started the Nosotros Foundation so that future generations of Latino actors would be empowered to break down those barriers as well. I'm of the firm belief that he was cast as Khan precisely because he was such a strong and commanding leader in real life.

 

I really liked Paul Winfield's work in "Darmok" (TNG), where he played a member of an alien race whose means of communication were to relate metaphors, stories, and legends of their people. Seeing the growing understanding between Picard and Winfield's character was really compelling. Winfield for gave such life to his role, and it contributed to making Darmok one of TNG's greatest episodes. (IMVHO).

 

I was thinking about this the other day, as we're getting to the point where more of the actors and actresses from Star Trek are passing away. Other names that stand out from the films are Mark Lenard, Brock Peters, and Persis Khembatta.

--Sran

 

He narrated a show called "City Confidential" in the early 2000's. The show was basically a jazzed up version of a Dateline murder special focusing on the town as well as the crime. I'm generally not a fan of real life crime shown....but CC was just so unique, and the main reason was because his narration was awesome....it was totally cheesy sometimes but I just loved the show and listening to him.

When he died they replaced him with another actor, I can't remember his name offhand, he was in Platoon and was the guy in "Something about Mary" who asked the Frank or the beans when Stiller got his junk caught in his zipper.

He was good too, but it was like trying to replace Michael Jordan. No matter how good a shooting guard you were on the Bulls the year after Jordan retired, it was never going to be good enough.

Winfield was a very talented personality.

 

Yeah Khambatta died very young, like Buttrick.

 

Nobody badmouths Keith David!

(jk, I'm also a big Keith David fan. He's one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, and he's funny in Community right now. His anti-Donky Kong rant is already one of my faves! )

Ahem, anyawy, Keith David is one of those actors who I hope to one day see in Star Trek. Everything he says or does is just laced with gravitas.

 

Bill Paxton. Now there's an actor whilst not amazing by any stretch, has managed to be in a string of entertaining roles and movies down the years, and an actor who I'd love to see in Trek.

'Maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!' - Aliens 1986

 

I didn't badmouthing Keith David a bit. He did a good narrating city confidential, he just didn't have the flair for drama Winfield did.

On the flip side I don't think Winfield would have been as good in platoon as david was. He had a hard ass edge about him that fit perfect with a nam soldier. Don't think Winfield had that kind of attitude.

Both great actors. Just better in different ways.

 

Don't worry, that's why I typed in JK, as in "just kidding" up there, as well as that happy cheery little smiley face. I was just having some chill fun with you.

 

I know. I was just funning back.

I wouldn't have bad mouthed his character in platoon though he was a bad ass. I especially like the scene when sheen is saying how they should frag Barnes for killing Elias and everyone else is too chickenshit to do it except david who says "I'm down with that....an eye for an eye"

He does good comedy too.

 

Bill Paxton. I love that guy. He's the very definition of a mediocre actor imho. Yet he's gotten roles in many big films and as far as I know it's not because was connected like Nicholas Coppola, whoops I mean cage, or gwynwth Paltrow.

Interesting trivia he was in the crowd when jfk landed at love field, his first stop on the day he was killed. There are even pictures of Paxton on his dad's shoulders showing him in the crowd.

 

His role in Aliens, Weird Science, True Lies and A Simple Plan were all just awesome - all memorable characters that have provided me with huge entertainment on their own merit. Like I say he is not a brilliant actor at all but he has chosen his roles so well. Even the likes of U-571, Twister, Predator 2, Trespass, Tombstone, Apollo 13 and Titanic, he's really good in and when he makes an appearance improves the film. I think he's ace. Back to the previous discussion, Paul Winfield is similar but on a smaller scale.

 

Absolutely, he is another actor similar to Paxton. Not amazing but pops up in so many great roles. He could have been shite his whole career and I still wouldn't have cared since he delivered that hilarious, amazing fist fight with 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper in They Live!

 

I don't dislike Paxton and I've never seen him in a film where I just wanted to gag watching him, except Twister but that was more the film than him (They're in the middle of a tornado handcuffed to a grounded pipe and all kinds of pieces of glass and other shrapnel are flying in every square inch at 200 mph and neither he or Helen Hunt gets a scratch.....IRL even if the pipe and cuffs kept them from being sucked up their corpses would be riddled with more holes than a Navy SEAL firing range)

I've just never been taken with him either. Like I said I think he's pretty average. I do give the guy a lot of credit, he's gotten the most out of what he has and seems to have done it on his own and not because he had some well known Hollywood powerbroker to get him his breaks.

 

^I enjoyed Paxton in Twister; the film's not bad as long as you don't take it too seriously. As an aside, I've always Cary Elwes--who played the film's pseudo-antagonist--would be a nice fit on Star Trek.

--Sran

 

No immortality, nor even any extension of biological longevity potential, but we've been lucky to live in an era when survival to age 80 is common and most people in their 40s or 50s are still in good health. This is unprecedented in human history.

 

Bill Paxton is the first person Arnold kills in "The Terminator". "Give me your clothes." Heh.

Keith David's fight with Rowdy Roddy Piper in "They Live" is either top three or number one the best one-on-one knock down drag out fist fight in cinematic history.

 

^And Paul Winfield (as Lieutenant Ed Traxler) is further down that list of victims.

--Sran

 

I remember the first time I saw it I actually had tears rolling down my cheeks I was laughing that hard.