Speculative: TOS Era Actors who would have worked well on Star Trek

[Grant]

Dr. Severin or maybe better Jaris in "Wolf...

 

[Spock's Barber]

I don't know what kind of role he would have, but how about Claude Akins? (Klingon to me seems too obvious.)

If Morgan Woodward was unavailable at the time, Claude Akins might have been just as good as Captain Ron Tracy in Omega Glory.

 

[Spock's Barber]

How about this guy in the Captain’s chair?

 

[Maurice]

Mark Goddard as Korax.

Eartha Kitt as Number One.

 

[BK613]

Or while we're thinking of 60's westerns...

Peter Breck, Richard Long, Linda Evans, Barbara Stanwyck, Lee Majors.

Poor Eugene....

 

[dupersuper]

How about this guy in the Captain’s chair?

I no longer trust him around chairs.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I don't think this actor has been mentioned, Robert Duvall. I'm not sure what kind of character he would play though.

Robert

He’d be one of the guys on the mobster planet.

View attachment 22331

For Duvall, I immediately flashed on his role as Frank Burns in the original movie version of M*A*S*H (shot in 1969, released in 1970), so I'm seeing him as some sort of obstructive bureaucrat.

Keir Dullea as a Vulcan. Patrick McGoohan as an ambassador/diplomat.

I really like both of these suggestions. The thought of McGoohan playing a part on TOS boggles the mind!

 

[Christopher]

Eartha Kitt as Number One.

Or the Romulan Commander in "The Enterprise Incident." She and Joanne Linville have similar voices. And since Vulcanoids romance with touched fingers, they could've skirted the whole "interracial kiss" controversy.

 

[J.T.B.]

I'd like to see more actors mentioned who had an alien type feel. Some of the actors that they used on the series that really gave a feeling of "alienness" were actors like Ted Cassidy, Joseph Ruskin, Reggie Nalder, William O'Connell, Bart Larue -- actors with unique looks and distinctive voices really added a lot to the series.

This sounds like a call for Anthony James. Which, by coincidence, I find I am posting on the first anniversary of his death.

I think a lot of the actors being mentioned who came from westerns and cop shows wouldn't have actually seemed right for Star Trek to me.

Well, you never know. People might have thought that Shotgun Gibbs from Wyatt Earp wouldn't work on Star Trek, but he was great.

 

[Christopher]

Take away Westerns and cop shows and you'd take away the vast majority of acting jobs in 1960s TV drama.

 

[Ronald Held]

Yul Brynner as Chancellor of the Klingon Empire

Prefer him as Chang.

 

[Yistaan]

Prefer him as Chang.

Well if we're going into 1960s actors, Christopher Plummer was very much around when TOS aired to be young Chang.

 

[J.T.B.]

Well if we're going into 1960s actors, Christopher Plummer was very much around when TOS aired to be young Chang.

Yeah, he had just starred in the most successful movie of the decade, I don't really see him doing a guest spot on a second-tier US tv series.

 

[Yistaan]

Yeah, he had just starred in the most successful movie of the decade, I don't really see him doing a guest spot on a second-tier US tv series.

Considering Clint Eastwood, who was already a film star in the 1960s, had his name tossed around in this very thread I figured anything goes.

 

[J.T.B.]

Considering Clint Eastwood, who was already a film star in the 1960s, had his name tossed around in this very thread I figured anything goes.

Yeah I think that was a joke, but I don't find that likely either.

 

[Maurice]

Or the Romulan Commander in "The Enterprise Incident." She and Joanne Linville have similar voices. And since Vulcanoids romance with touched fingers, they could've skirted the whole "interracial kiss" controversy.

Which was a big nothing in the end anyway, since basically no one cared except Trekkies making lists of Star Trek "firsts" in the show's long tail.

 

[Christopher]

Which was a big nothing in the end anyway, since basically no one cared except Trekkies making lists of Star Trek "firsts" in the show's long tail.

The censors at the time cared, which was what I was referring to. I should've been clearer.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

If Morgan Woodward was unavailable at the time, Claude Akins might have been just as good as Captain Ron Tracy in Omega Glory.

Ooo, now that you mentioned it, I can't unsee it.

 

[Maurice]

The censors at the time cared, which was what I was referring to. I should've been clearer.

There's no actual evidence of that, just anecdotes to that effect. And even there it sounds like the concern was to make sure it was done tastefully and not in a prurient or demeaning way. On ABC It Takes A Thief did it very matter of factly just weeks after "Plato's" cheated around it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Who's watching It Takes a Thief on New Year's Eve? "Let's find out!"