Almost on TOS......

[Grant]

I know that there were various other choices for Pike or Kirk in the pilot stage....Lloyd Bridges, Jack Lord.

The rumor of Martin Landau replacing Nimoy at some point if he didn't come back.

Robert Ryan almost playing decker in Doomsday

John Drew Barrymore not showing up to play Lazarus.

Does anybody here know of other actors who were up for regulars or guest parts that ultimately didn't?

Lot of great character actors from the 60s must have auditioned but for whatever reason didn't get cast.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

This never really got that far, but there was that early David Gerrold alternate conceptualization of Cyrano Jones as a well-meaning old man who could be played by Boris Karloff.

 

[Redfern]

That would have been a casting coup!

Can you imagine that distinctive "lilt" as Boris talks about his beloved pets? Oh, the possibilities!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Grant]

I actually would have preferred the 'befuddled old man' who doesn't get the ramifications of the tribbles---- to the very sterotypical Cyrano Jones. I never cared for Stanley Adams or Cyrano Jones.

 

[Forbin]

Karloff was too busy dressing in drag on Man From UNCLE?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Based on the folks who appeared, I'd guess that UNCLE had a bigger budget for guest cast.

 

[22 Stars]

There is also the unproduced Spinrad script, that was said to be a potential Milton Berle vehicle.... the less said about that the better

 

[scotpens]

Karloff was too busy dressing in drag on Man From UNCLE?

"The Mother Muffin Affair" was an episode of The Girl from UNCLE, actually.

There is also the unproduced Spinrad script, that was said to be a potential Milton Berle vehicle.... the less said about that the better

Milton Berle on Star Trek?

Well, at least he made a better drag queen than Boris Karloff.

 

[Gary7]

Hugh Laurie had a test run as Captain before Shatner, but obviously it didn't work out. Rumor has it his biting sarcastic line delivery was just too over the top.

They also gave Russell Johnson (The Professor from "Gilligan's Island") a shot in a preliminary run through of "The Corbomite Maneuver", but they felt he looked too much like Mr. Bailey.

Burt Lancaster gave it a shot, but he couldn't stand the material of the uniforms so he bailed...

 

[scotpens]

Hugh Laurie had a test run as Captain before Shatner, but obviously it didn't work out. Rumor has it his biting sarcastic line delivery was just too over the top.

He must have been one hell of a mature-looking seven-year-old!

 

[Grant]

There is also the unproduced Spinrad script, that was said to be a potential Milton Berle vehicle.... the less said about that the better

That's right. Well there must be a god.

 

[Forbin]

Karloff was too busy dressing in drag on Man From UNCLE?

"The Mother Muffin Affair" was an episode of The Girl from UNCLE, actually.

Hm. Could swear the character was also on Man from UNCLE, but I can't find any reference to it.

 

[Greg Cox]

And then, of course, there's that alternate universe where JFK played Kirk.

(As in David Gerrold's story, "The Kennedy Enterprise.")

 

[scotpens]

And then, of course, there's that alternate universe where JFK played Kirk.

(As in David Gerrold's story, "The Kennedy Enterprise.")

So who was President during that time? Couldn't have been Shatner because he's a Canadian citizen.

 

[Elder Knight]

Karloff was too busy dressing in drag on Man From UNCLE?

"The Mother Muffin Affair" was an episode of The Girl from UNCLE, actually.

Hm. Could swear the character was also on Man from UNCLE, but I can't find any reference to it.

Robert Vaughn made a crossover appearance on that Girl From UNCLE episode, which is probably why you remembered it as the other UNCLE show.

 

[Maurice]

There is also the unproduced Spinrad script, that was said to be a potential Milton Berle vehicle.... the less said about that the better

I've read the Spinrad script (it's bland), and Berle—who was a fine actor in both comedy and drama—would have been fine in it. I understand Coon changed it, so I can't speak to how good that would have been.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Based on the folks who appeared, I'd guess that UNCLE had a bigger budget for guest cast.

I imagine also that UNCLE was bigger-budgeted. But was there also something of a deliberate decision in Trek not to go for big-name guest stars, the way that, for example, Batman did, so as not to have the stories overshadowed?

(I'm not saying that this is the case, I don't honestly know and am wondering if anyone else knows)

 

[Christopher]

But was there also something of a deliberate decision in Trek not to go for big-name guest stars, the way that, for example, Batman did, so as not to have the stories overshadowed?

I've never heard anything to that effect. And they definitely weren't above the occasional celebrity stunt casting (Melvin Belli certainly wasn't cast for his acting talent). Not to mention that some of Batman's celebrity villains did in fact appear in Star Trek, including Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Joan Collins (as well as lower-tier Bat-villains Malachi Throne and Roger C. Carmel).

 

[22 Stars]

There is also the unproduced Spinrad script, that was said to be a potential Milton Berle vehicle.... the less said about that the better

I've read the Spinrad script (it's bland), and Berle—who was a fine actor in both comedy and drama—would have been fine in it. I understand Coon changed it, so I can't speak to how good that would have been.

I've read it too and characterizing it as bland is generous.

 

[Captaindemotion]

But was there also something of a deliberate decision in Trek not to go for big-name guest stars, the way that, for example, Batman did, so as not to have the stories overshadowed?

I've never heard anything to that effect. And they definitely weren't above the occasional celebrity stunt casting (Melvin Belli certainly wasn't cast for his acting talent). Not to mention that some of Batman's celebrity villains did in fact appear in Star Trek, including Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Joan Collins (as well as lower-tier Bat-villains Malachi Throne and Roger C. Carmel).

Gorshin did occur to me (I'd forgotten about the other Bat-villain appearances). I don't know if Collins was a stunt-cast - was she as well known in the 1960s as she later was?

But I'd say you're right, it wasn't a deliberate policy. It's probably just a happy accident that, all those years later, we're not distracted by big-name stars, simply because the show couldn't afford them.