What actor would you have liked to see?

[AtoZ]

Ho Ho Homeier suggested Ed Asner as a Klingon. Simply brilliant visionary casting right there! Absolutely brilliant, Ho Ho!!!

I submit the mostly forgotten but terrific Glenn Ford as a Starfleet senior, Admiral or authority figure. He had subtle presence.

How about Janet Leigh as a starship captain, a pre-cursor to Janeway.

How about Henry Silva as a Vulcan or Romulan?

The 50's - 70's had so many talented character actors. More will come to mind, no doubt.

 

[Redfern]

Boris Karloff.

Cox is probably thinking of the anecdote I'm about to repeat. David Gerrold stated in his book "The Making of the Trouble with Tribbles" he imagined a few different ideas about Cyrano Jones. One of of them was depicting Jones (originally called Smith) as a kindly old, doddering gentleman just wanting to make people happy, rather than trying to make a quick buck. Gerrold thought Karloff's dulcet voice would have been perfect for that take. And yes, Boris was still alive and performing when "...Tribbles" was produced, so it was at least within the faint realm of possibility (if not "likely") Karloff could have played Jones.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Warped9]

Boris Karloff.

yes, given an interesting role.

Would never have happened, but how about Elizabeth Montgomery?

Greg Morris, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau could each have been interesting in the right roles even though they were already busy concurrently on Mission: Impossible.

 

[urbandefault]

Burl Ives as Gorgon.

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas ... now kill your parents!!!"

Oooh, scary stuff.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Boris Karloff.

yes, given an interesting role.

Would never have happened, but how about Elizabeth Montgomery?

Greg Morris, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau could each have been interesting in the right roles even though they were already busy concurrently on Mission: Impossible.

peter graves would've made a decent Commodore

 

[Khan 2.0]

Gene Hackman as a Tracey like starship captain or Klingon commander

Harrison Ford as a Redshirt

 

[GNDN18]

Boris Karloff.

yes, given an interesting role.

Would never have happened, but how about Elizabeth Montgomery?

Karloff was in an episode of I Spy that aired in 1967. So appearing in another show filmed by Desilu was not completely out of the question. In fact, it would have been a Thriller.

 

[Greg Cox]

Boris Karloff.

yes, given an interesting role.

Would never have happened, but how about Elizabeth Montgomery?

Karloff was in an episode of I Spy that aired in 1967. So appearing in another show filmed by Desilu was not completely out of the question. In fact, it would have been a Thriller.

I believe he did at least one "Man from UNCLE" as well.

Bewitched ran from 1964 to 1972, so she was busy starring in her own show during Trek's entire run, but, yeah, she would have been great.

(I recently stumbled onto her in an old "Thriller" episode, in fact, hosted by Boris Karloff!)

 

[Melakon]

One of Boris' last appearances was the Halloween episode of The Jonathan Winters Show in 1968, which I watched regularly. The following February, Boris died.

I believe he did at least one "Man from UNCLE" as well.

That was "The Mother Muffin Affair" on "Girl from UNCLE". Boris was in drag.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't Lloyd Bridges up for the role of Kirk at one point? I wouldn't half mind seeing that. He was great as Commander Cain in BSG, so...well, you do the math.

As for Leslie Nielsen: I'd like to see that too...

"There'd been a recent wave of gorgeous Orion slave girls found naked and unconscious in laundromats on Risa. Unfortunately, I was assigned to investigate holdups at the Central Bank of Bolarus IX. I was across the quadrant doing my laundry when the call came in over subspace. My Admiral was already on the scene..."

 

[EnriqueH]

Oooooh, some good suggestions here since I last checked this thread:

Love the idea of:

Leslie Nielsen
Boris Karloff
Greg Morris

 

[Melakon]

Wasn't Lloyd Bridges up for the role of Kirk at one point? I wouldn't half mind seeing that. He was great as Commander Cain in BSG, so...well, you do the math.

I think it's reported in The Making of Star Trek, but Roddenberry approached Bridges, who turned him down with "I've seen science fiction and it doesn't work." Bridges had been in the 1950 quickie Rocketship X-M, which capitalized on advance publicity for Destination Moon and managed to beat it to the screens.

While Bridges was a contract player at Columbia, he had a small bit part as an angry man trying make a telephone call in The Three Stooges' short They Stooge to Conga. He's only on screen for about 3 seconds, but you can recognize him.

 

[Bixby]

This topic has already been tackled a couple of times in the past, but Damn I love imaginary retro-casting...Here are a couple of related threads and below my personal choices for 60s TOS casting (I still like' em):

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=149386
http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=226171


Re: What Famous Guest Star Should Have Been On ST, But Wasn't?
Checking what was on TV during that time period, it would have been awesome to have as guest-stars:
1) Kurt Russell (at 11, he'd co-starred with Elvis in 1962, doing the odd TV guest spot until Disney featured him in 1969)
2) Dennis hopper (he was persona non grata in Hollywood in the early 60's, but had a small part in Cool Hand Luke in '67)
3) David Hedison of Voyage to the bottom of the Sea (was on that show until '68, but he'd've been cool)
4) Bill Bixby or Ray Walston (but both were on CBS for My Favorite Martian)
5) Ed Asner (he appeared on Mission Impossible, but not ST)
6) Harry dean stanton (also did Cool Hand Luke at that time)
7) Lloyd Bochner (awesome character actor)
8) Telly Savalas (did The Dirty dozen in '67, but was doing TV guest-starring roles just before, notably Combat)
9) Burgess Meredith (joining Frank Gorshin and Julie Newmar, but he was the best actor of all the Bat-villains)
10) Lee Majors (doing the Big valley for ABC, but if Shatner could guest-star on Valley, why not Lee? can you imagine the cockfight between those two? )
11) Ron Howard (was finishing up the Andy Griffith Show at the time. He was about 13, I guess he'd have been on the awful Melvin Belli episode)
12) Guy Williams (was on Lost in space for CBS, but I'd have loved my favorite Zorro to be on, especially since Guy had so little to do the second season onward)
13) Leslie nielsen (still in serious mode, but had just finished Peyton Place and other guest spots)
14) James B. Sikking (he did TV back then, so why not 20 years before ST 3 ?)

and certainly NOT least
15)Diana Rigg (unfortunately doing TV's Avengers until 1968, just a year or two before she did Bond), ooooh, that catsuit!!

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm actually kinda amazed that Burgess Meredith never appeared on Star Trek. Lord knows he had no aversion to SF, having done umpteen Twilight Zones.

And I recently spotted a young Kurt Russell on an old "Man from UNCLE."

Here's an idea. How about Vincent Price? He did BATMAN and F TROOP around the same time. Just imagine him as Kodos the Executioner!

 

[Mojochi]

I'm actually kinda amazed that Burgess Meredith never appeared on Star Trek. Lord knows he had no aversion to SF, having done umpteen Twilight Zones.

That one is odd to me as well. Another one that could easily have been on Star Trek at that time is John Astin. It almost defies belief that those guys weren't on a Trek episode, given how many Twilight Zone, Batman, Addams Family, Star Trek crossovers there were

Others on my list
Barbara Eden
Ray Walston
Fred Gwynne

 

[Melakon]

Here's an idea. How about Vincent Price? He did BATMAN and F TROOP around the same time. Just imagine him as Kodos the Executioner!

I would have cast Vinnie as Korob in "Catspaw". A Halloween episode for Vincent Price would be a natural, and he would have gloriously hammed it all the way.

 

[Greg Cox]

Here's an idea. How about Vincent Price? He did BATMAN and F TROOP around the same time. Just imagine him as Kodos the Executioner!

I would have cast Vinnie as Korob in "Catspaw". A Halloween episode for Vincent Price would be a natural, and he would have gloriously hammed it all the way.

Oh, god, that would've been perfect! Talk about a lost opportunity!

And Lara Parker as Sylvia? Or Yvonne De Carlo?

 

[Melakon]

Or Barbara Steele.

 

[Greg Cox]

Or Barbara Steele.

You know, I originally typed that, but went with Lara Parker instead!

Heck, can we switch Julie Newmar to "Catspaw" instead? She would have deliciously sinister and sexy as Sylvia.

Come to think of it, why not let Newmar do "Friday's Child" and "Catspaw"? It's not like TOS was averse to recycling guest actors.

 

[johnnybear]

Or Barbara Steele.

You know, I originally typed that, but went with Lara Parker instead!

Heck, can we switch Julie Newmar to "Catspaw" instead? She would have deliciously sinister and sexy as Sylvia.

Come to think of it, why not let Newmar do "Friday's Child" and "Catspaw"? It's not like TOS was averse to recycling guest actors.

But not in the same season!
JB