• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles

According to IMDb, William Smithers has the distinction of having been the top-billed guest on an episode of Hawaii 5-O that only aired once, on January 7, 1970. The plot of "Bored, She Hung Herself" dealt with a yoga technique that induced auto-asphyxiation via hanging...which reportedly was fatally imitated by a viewer and resulted in CBS being sued. The episode was never rerun in either the original run of the series or syndication, and has never been released on home video or streaming services. CBS All Access doesn't even account for it in its Season 2 numbering scheme.
That actually kinda sparks a dim memory. I may have seen that when it first ran. I'd have been 12 at the time.
 
That actually kinda sparks a dim memory. I may have seen that when it first ran. I'd have been 12 at the time.
There's a highly detailed synopsis on the episode's IMDb page, if you want to check if anything else rings a bell.
 
It's weird to think that that one episode was never re-shown, or even released in other countries or even on video after some fifty years! Understandable that they were scared of being sued so why do an episode like that in the first place! I did know a guy who killed himself that way with the bag and whatever too! He was suffering from mental troubles and the firm knew he was in difficulty but let him carry on!
JB
 
Ba
The Andy Griffith Show was at Desilu and plenty of TOS guests show up there.

Sheriff Taylor is Susan Oliver's "Keeper":
susan_oliver_tags_zps10179141.png


William Schallert, he was everywhere:
tags_schallert_zps11adfff3.jpg


Ken Lynch from "Devil in the Dark" in his usual role, a cop:
tags_ken_lynch_zps1b188b81.jpg


Balok in a sharing mood:
tags_clint_howard_zpsed4b80a9.jpg


Jahn of the Onlies is Barney's cousin Virgil:
tags_pollard_zpsfc059af9.jpg


Keith "ears for Vaal" Andes gets to know Miss Crump:
keith_andes_mayberry_zps8be7de4d.png


Scotty's girlfriend goes on a date with Goober...
shutan_mayberry_zps4e1765ff.png


...and Miss Lincoln avoids one.
garr_tags_zps021aaa83.png


I can't think of any two-for-ones, though.
Balok was one weird-looking dude.
 
Not so much a 'Guest Actor in a Surprising Role', but Record Store Day is offering a repressing of the 7 inch single 'The Lurch' by Ted Cassidy from 1965.
 
Another Susan Howard role I came upon recently: She was one of the original series leads in The Fantastic Journey, a short-lived 1977 show story-edited by Star Trek's D.C. Fontana. It capitalized on the then-current Bermuda Triangle craze, featuring a group lost in an alternate dimension and wandering between worlds. However, weirdly, the network ordered the producers to ditch the original lead actor and both the female leads, including Howard, so they shot new footage at the end of the pilot which abruptly and clumsily established that they'd been rescued and sent home off-camera. Although they kept the male lead's son, played by The Wrath of Khan's Ike Eisenmann, making it even clumsier in that they had to explain why the father would voluntarily go home and leave his son behind in constant peril. (Not that I can blame them for changing the cast -- the original three leads were much blander than their replacements. But the way it was done was hardly any better than the fate of Poochie in that Simpsons episode.)

Other Trek: TOS guests in The Fantastic Journey's 10-episode run include Marj Dusay in episode 3 (also with TNG's Frank Corsentino), Joan Collins and Julie Cobb in episode 8, and William O'Connell in episode 9.
 
Just watched the 1973 movie, Scorpio with Burt Lancaster. It co-starred both Klingon John Colicos and Romulan Joanne Linville. Unfortunately, they didn't appear in the same scene.
 
Speaking of appearing together, the aforementioned episode 8 of The Fantastic Journey had no fewer than three Batman villains -- series regular Roddy McDowall (the Bookworm), Joan Collins (the Siren), and Paul Mantee (a Catwoman henchman in season 2).

What a shame McDowall never did Trek. Wasn't he a candidate for Trelane? That would've been amazing.
 
It's no surprise if this has already been mentioned (I can't be arsed to search through 190 pages :biggrin: ) — but I just caught Leslie Parrish (Carolyn Palamas) on the Adam-12 episode "Gifts and Long Letters".
 
Ah ... my only previous attempts were board-wide and didn't go well. Missed the "This Thread Only" option. Thanks!

Using it now, that episode doesn't appear to have come up before.
 
Not so much a 'Guest Actor in a Surprising Role', but Record Store Day is offering a repressing of the 7 inch single 'The Lurch' by Ted Cassidy from 1965.
OMG, I had no idea there was Lurch song, so I Googled and found

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Ted Cassidy/Lurch dancing is just too awesome. He is surprisingly nimble.

This is right up there with Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo Baggins. Was it the same variety show?
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top