Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles

[The Old Mixer]

Looks like Ironside was quite the haven for former TOS actors in the early 70s...there's Walter.

(Worf's dad is also in the episode, FWIW.)

 

[EnsignHarper]

I dunno, are those first two in the right order? My impression is that Billy Mumy was basically the go-to child actor in the '60s. I guess Howard had a higher profile from Andy Griffith, but I think Mumy was more prolific. I mean, he did three Twilight Zone episodes (plus the movie and the second TV revival) while Howard only did one.

The thing is that Howard was a child STAR from being on TAGS - when TAGS went on hiatus, he was doing high profile movies - the original movie version of The Courtship of Eddie's Father, for example. Mumy was essentially a solid working featured player, a level above being a bit player like, say, John Megna.

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, well... Ronnie Howard didn't have his own robot.

 

[The Old Mixer]

And more Shat on Ironside...also guest-starring Roger C. Carmel!

Does Ironside get bonus points for being set in San Francisco?

 

[Forbin]

I learned long ago when working for a video company, that "Matsushita" (who made VCRs) was pronounced something like "Mah-TSU-shta."

I'm not sure that's right. For one thing, the letter U tends to be very underpronounced in Japanese. For another, Japanese doesn't really use stressed syllables the way English does. If anything, I think it'd be more like "Mahts-shta" to our ears.

I have no idea what the Japanese pronunciation is, but one thing I can tell you is that my partner worked for Panasonic in the US in around 1980 and he says that in the office they prounounced Matsushita as Forbin has it.

Hm, I also got my pronunciation from a friend at Panasonic.

 

[J.T.B.]

There was also an IndyCar driver named Hiro Matsushita in the early '90s; despite his poor results he always had sponsorship from Panasonic, his grandpa's company. At some point, the TV announcers must have got some kind of memo and they all switched from "Mat-soo-shee-ta" to "Mot-soosh-ta."

 

[Melakon]

"Mot-soosh-ta."

That was the style of pronunciation I read in an 80's era magazine comparison of VCRs.

Seems game show announcers adopted that style around that time too, someone might have been saying it like "Matsushitta" or something.

 

[Christopher]

Of course, one thing to keep in mind is that native speakers tend to speak in a much faster and more casual manner while foreign speakers tend to be more careful with pronunciation. A lot of the Japanese pronunciations I hear in movie or anime dialogue are thus probably fairly slurred compared to the "proper" pronunciations, to the point that it takes careful listening to recognize a name sometimes. In that Godzilla movie, for instance, it took me quite a while to realize that character's name was Kobayashi, because it was spoken so quickly.

 

[Forbin]

It Takes a Thief, the two-part episode "A Matter of Gray Matter". It didn't look like there was going to be any Trek alumni in this ep, apart from regular Malachai Throne. The guest star was the insanely sexy variety show starlet Joey Heatherton (who even managed to fluster Dean Martin on his show). I was enjoying her unabashed 60s sex kittten act, when suddenly, toward the end of the first part:

Anthony Caruso as the casino owner!

Michael Forrest as a really tall (and polite) tough guy:

And of course Malachai, sampling the whiskey while Al gets nabbed:

And what the heck, just because she was so damn sexy I still can't stand it:

She'd have made one hell of a yoeman!

 

[J.T.B.]

I caught Nimoy on a '65 Death Valley Days last night, playing a Native American with a similar look to when he was "John Walking Fox" on Gunsmoke. It must have been made around the time of "The Cage." No other Trek people, but it also had Wayne Rogers, Robert Wilke and of course was introduced by Ronald Reagan himself.

 

[J.T.B.]

Takei on Death Valley Days night before last opposite Tom Skerritt, and De Kelley the next night with Jim Davis. Then Madlyn Rhue on a '59 Cheyenne, the earliest thing I've seen her in. I've got to get something set up to take screen caps from the DVR...

 

[Forbin]

I Spy: Return to Glory. The very lovely Antoinette Bower plays a stodgy CIA accountant bugging the boys over a $5 expense.

Kelly makes some progress in softening her up:

She likes the story they're flashing back to and settles in:

Kelly's charms have won the day, and Scotty knows when three's a crowd...

 

[BeatleJWOL]

What timing to post those screencaps

 

[Elder Knight]

Yep. The man was only beginning his pharmaceutical career.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Back to Mannix season 7 for the always lovely Barbara Luna, pretty in pink.

The episode also featured familiar non-Trek faces Frank Langella, John Hillerman, and Del Monroe.

I just put H&I on in the background and the random Mannix episode playing happens to be this one.

 

[Push The Button]

Back to Mannix season 7 for the always lovely Barbara Luna, pretty in pink.

The episode also featured familiar non-Trek faces Frank Langella, John Hillerman, and Del Monroe.

I just put H&I on in the background and the random Mannix episode playing happens to be this one.

That thing that Mannix is wearing, what exactly is that supposed to be? A shirt? A jacket? A uniform?

Oh, and John Hillerman is, was, and forever will be awesome, one of my favorite TV actors of all time.

 

[Christopher]

That thing that Mannix is wearing, what exactly is that supposed to be? A shirt? A jacket? A uniform?

Seventies fashion. Just be glad it isn't pink.

 

[Myko]

It's a unishacket.

 

[Forbin]

You wanna see fashion, watch McGarret's casual wear on 5-0's early 70s episodes. Yikes!

 

[The Old Mixer]

H&I is now running episodes of a 1960s Tarzan TV series that I never knew existed. This morning's two-parter from 1966 includes a very familiar face among its guest actors: Nichelle Nichols.