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

[Scott Kellogg]

Inspired by the "Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles" thread I'd like to pose a question:

What actors did not appear on Star Trek, but would have been interesting to see?

As a first casting suggestion:
Vito Scotti
An actor that was all over TV shows and Movies of the time: The Man From UNCLE, Gilligan's Island, The Monkees, Hogan's Heroes, The Godfather, Master of the World... A very Versatile Actor, always putting on a good (if comical) performance.

Who would you suggest?

 

[Takeru]

Barbara Bain as Number One, I think she would have been great as a lead on the show.

 

[Greg Cox]

Burgess Meredith. Given that he was all over THE TWILIGHT ZONE and BATMAN, I remain surprised he never popped up on STAR TREK as well.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

How about Eric Braeden?
He did a great job in "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "the Rat Patrol."

Thing is, I don't think they ever had any German characters in Star Trek, TOS or any other iterations.
Russians, French, Arab, African, Japanese, but virtually no Germans.

(There was that one guy Jaeger in "Squire of Gothos" but I think he only had 1 line and that was it. Blink and you missed him.)

 

[Redfern]

Burgess Meredith. Given that he was all over THE TWILIGHT ZONE and BATMAN, I remain surprised he never popped up on STAR TREK as well.

Strange, I never thought about it, but now that you mention him, I can imagine Meredith as Cyrano Jones. Besides, he and Nichelle Nichols did some stage work together, didn't they. At least, I've seen a "backstage" or "rehearsal" type photo with both of them in frame. I might have seen it here, on this board.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

How about Anne Francis? Or maybe her Friend?

 

[Christopher]

Meredith would've been great. Also the other four-time Twilight Zone star, Jack Klugman. Or Robert Culp.

I was just about to mention Anne Francis when Scott beat me to it.

I would've loved to see Vincent Price as the Klingon emperor. (Yes, I know "Rightful Heir" said there'd been no emperor for 300 years, but that hadn't been established at the time.)

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Inspired by the "Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles" thread I'd like to pose a question:

What actors did not appear on Star Trek, but would have been interesting to see?

As a first casting suggestion:
Vito Scotti
An actor that was all over TV shows and Movies of the time: The Man From UNCLE, Gilligan's Island, The Monkees, Hogan's Heroes, The Godfather, Master of the World... A very Versatile Actor, always putting on a good (if comical) performance.

Who would you suggest?

Vito Scotti was far too associated with comedic roles to break that perception on TOS; as we know, Carmel as Mudd was that kind of casting, and that was enough for the entire series (I leave Stanley Adams out this category, as he also landed dramatic roles, so he was not as associated with yuks as Scotti).

How about Eric Braeden?
He did a great job in "Colossus: The Forbin Project" and "the Rat Patrol."

Thing is, I don't think they ever had any German characters in Star Trek, TOS or any other iterations.
Russians, French, Arab, African, Japanese, but virtually no Germans.

Eric Braeden was strong in any role (he made Escape from the Planet of the Apes a very memorable sequel as Hasslein), and would have been a great guest star on TOS.

How about Anne Francis? Or maybe her Friend?

Not sure about Francis (even though she was solid on her series Honey West), but a big NO to Robby the Robot; TOS--only a decade past Forbidden Planet--deliberately avoided that kind of robot image, and would not have meshed with TOS' aesthetics at all.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Larry Hagman as Arne Darvin and David Janssen as Cyrano Jones might have been fun. Janssen as a fast talker peddling tribbles would have been amazing. Richard Basehart as Commodore Decker would have had me giddy.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

Now that I think of it:
Although he was not an actor,
I'd love to hear what Henry Mancini would do if he did the score to a Star Trek episode...!

 

[M'Sharak]

Suzanne Pleshette
John Dehner
Victor Buono

 

[Maurice]

[...]but a big NO to Robby the Robot; TOS--only a decade past Forbidden Planet--deliberately avoided that kind of robot image, and would not have meshed with TOS' aesthetics at all.

Citation needed.

 

[Christopher]

Vito Scotti was far too associated with comedic roles to break that perception on TOS; as we know, Carmel as Mudd was that kind of casting, and that was enough for the entire series (I leave Stanley Adams out this category, as he also landed dramatic roles, so he was not as associated with yuks as Scotti).

Harry Mudd was hardly the only comedy character to appear in TOS. I can easily imagine Vito Scotti playing the bartender in "Tribbles," or one of the Iotian mob bosses. Remember, Scotti played a mobster in The Godfather, so it's not like all his roles were in comedies. (He was the train engineer in Von Ryan's Express too, apparently. I haven't seen it, but it doesn't look all that comedic.)

For that matter, Carmel played his share of non-comedic roles as well, including a heroic character in The Man from UNCLE's first season and a shrewd, canny villain in its second (in an episode coincidentally titled "The Ultimate Computer Affair").

 

[Scott Kellogg]

Stylistically, Robby might not fit in with Matt Jeffries designs.
But, on the other hand, sleek and shiny Gort probably would.

He certainly would have provided a change from the endless parade of Androids that were indistinguishable from humans.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Citation needed.

I'm comparing Robby to the design direction of TOS robots such as Nomad, or the androids of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" That's a very different approach than the man-in-a-suit, domes and spinning gears look of Robby.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

Suzanne Pleshette
John Dehner
Victor Buono

Good Choices! Suzanne Plechette has a good range of acting from serious in "The Invaders" to "The Bob Newhart Show."
John Dehner was very convincing as a con man in "The Twilight Zone"
Victor Buono was very good, not quite over the top scientist in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"

I can easily imagine Vito Scotti playing the bartender in "Tribbles," or one of the Iotian mob bosses. Remember, Scotti played a mobster in The Godfather, so it's not like all his roles were in comedies. (He was the train engineer in Von Ryan's Express too, apparently. I haven't seen it, but it doesn't look all that comedic.)

For that matter, Carmel played his share of non-comedic roles as well, including a heroic character in The Man from UNCLE's first season and a shrewd, canny villain in its second (in an episode coincidentally titled "The Ultimate Computer Affair").

Agreed. Both of them were quite versatile actors. in Von Ryan's Express, Vito has a very small role, but it's played straight.

 

[BK613]

Christopher George would have been great as a stand-up Starfleet officer (or as a rogue one.)

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I mentioned this in the 'Guest Actors' thread that Bruce Dern would have been good as a Starfleet officer who went to the Academy with Kirk.

 

[J.T.B.]

Remember, Scotti played a mobster in The Godfather, so it's not like all his roles were in comedies.

He played a baker who maintained good relations with Don Corleone, but no indication that he was involved in crime himself.

 

[Christopher]

He played a baker who maintained good relations with Don Corleone, but no indication that he was involved in crime himself.

I was going by the Godfather Wiki, which calls Nazorine a "racket boss." But it seems he was just a baker in the book, so I guess the wiki is in error.