Terrible TOS performances....

[BillJ]

jayrath wrote:

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I have greater problems with other obligatory babes of the week, such as (I forget her name) the vacuous cloud city woman.

Yeah, Droxine was pretty bad.

[plynch]

Guy who plays Roger Corby. Too lazy to look him up.
I have no prob with Belli, actually.
OH! Mira Romaine! or however you spell it. Too lazy to look that up either. She was bad.

[KirkPicard]

Aurelan Kirk, Nancy Hedford, and Victor Lundin (the unamed Klingon Lt. from "Errand of Mercy") come to mind.

[AtoZ]

I love TOS and as such I feel that they did a fine job, a marvelous job of stocking the episodes with fine and often underrated talent. Wracking my brains here. If you are looking for "terrible" then I have to confess I cannot think of it, at least in the classic sense. As the years have passed I have come to view TOS as fine art, from a different era albeit, but art nevertheless.

If there is one actor who gave me something notable to mention here, it doesn't qualify as "terrible", but damn, it sure is over the top and laughable, if not believable.

Ed McCready

He was strangely effective if somewhat suspiciously exaggerated as the aging boy creature in Miri....an episode I love.

He played Chief Medical officer Carter on the USS Exeter, Captain Tracy's ship - another episode I absolutely love watching to this very day.

McCready's warning, facial expression, loud and laughable demise, his collapse from the Captain's chair, made me laugh with horror as a child and today I have to laugh at it for its comic book flare. Point taken, message delivered. The Enterprise landing party is in trouble. LOL!

If that performance wasn't proof enough then his next appearance underlined his colorful contributions to TOS forever as a sort of colorful and at-times understated secret weapon, as Barber in Spectre of the Gun - another of my all-time favorite episodes.

I have to wonder if McCready was sought out for his talent on other television shows more than any convenient availability, but having said that, while he may not come off as believable as a day-to-day sort of real life person, he fit perfectly in the TOS world of over the top characters and fantasy.

I mean no disrespect. In a way, he was so bad he was very very good.

[Elder Knight]

Silvercrest wrote:

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Do we have to mention Melvin Belli by name, or can we just take that as a given?

In another era, he could have sued you to beat the band, but now it's safe.

[plynch]

McCreedy as the barber is awesome. We reach on that ep, though. It has some great, small roles, the barber, the sheriff, Wyatt (or is it Morgan?). Love it. I truly cannot fathom the hatred some have for it.

[jayrath]

Bless his heart, but the actor who played John Gill wasn't too great.

[BillJ]

jayrath wrote:

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Bless his heart, but the actor who played John Gill wasn't too great.

But the script calls for him to be drugged pretty much the whole episode. Not sure I can hold it against him.

[TREK_GOD_1]

Grant wrote:

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Oh, I forgot to say mine. LOL.

I guess I'd have to go with Angelique Pettyjohn--she wasn't hired for her acting.

...then that kind of gives her an excuse, since she served her purpose.

But in response to your topic: I cannot think of anyone bad enough to--err--stink up the joint, but I agree with AtoZ about Ed McCready as Dr. Carter. McCready's UUHHHEEEHEHHAAAHH death cry could have hurt the scene, if not for the principals giving such serious performances.

[Maurice]

You can't just blame the actors when it's a line here and there. The director and editors are complicit, as they might go for the blandest or most scenery chewing takes.

[lurok]

BillJ wrote:

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Yeah, Droxine was pretty bad.

Indeed. Then again, like Pettyjohn, you feel she wasn't hired principally for her acting talents. So I give her a pass. She does wear Ware Theiss well though. Slight off-track, but actress I thought did the Barbie-can-actually-act well was the one in that S3 speed-up time episode. That's still one of my personal underrated episodes.

[foxhot]

I never once thought of Morgan Woodward as fruity/ripe.

And............though some will disagree.........I thought Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel was quite the weak link, for obvious reasons. As Number One I think she'd've been more successful in the long run.

[jayrath]

lurok wrote:

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Indeed. Then again, like Pettyjohn, you feel she wasn't hired principally for her acting talents. So I give her a pass. She does wear Ware Theiss well though. Slight off-track, but actress I thought did the Barbie-can-actually-act well was the one in that S3 speed-up time episode. That's still one of my personal underrated episodes.

That was Kathie Browne, Darren McGavin's wife. She had a long career and was really good. You can catch her in "The Rockford Files" as an evil small town mayor.

[Myko]

McCready was a personal friend, I believe, of director Vincent McEveety, and appears in all his episodes.

[TREK_GOD_1]

Maurice wrote:

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You can't just blame the actors when it's a line here and there. The director and editors are complicit, as they might go for the blandest or most scenery chewing takes.

Yeah, but would a director tell any actor to do what McCready did as Dr. Carter? He was fine delivering his recorded warning, but the death cry was cringe-worthy. Again, IMO, that was the one and only bad acting moment in an episode played seriously--often grim, with great effect.