Many actors were already stars when they made guest appearances on Star Trek: The Original Series (NBC, 1966-1969). For example, both Jane Wyatt and Elinor Donahue first found fame on Father Knows Best before their separate guest spots on Star Trek. However, certain other actors delivered one-time performances on the beloved first small screen Trek before becoming stars in their own right. Here’s a look at that particular category, in alphabetical order.
Pre-Star, Guest-Star-Treks
Before Joan Collins found stardom as Alexis Carrington in TV’s Dynasty, she played Edith Collins in the Star Trek fan-favorite episode “City on the Edge of Forever.”
Before Teri Garr appeared on the big screen in feature films like Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Tootsie (for which she received an Oscar nomination), she played Roberta Lincoln in Star Trek’s “Assignment: Earth” (a failed pilot for a new sci-fi series).
Before James Gregory played Inspector Frank Luger on TV’s Barney Miller, he was Tantalus director Tristan Adams in the first season Trek segment “Dagger of the Mind,” which first aired November 3, 1966.
Before she became the original Hot Lips the big-screen M*A*S*H movie, Sally Kellerman was Psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot for Star Trek.
Before Gary Lockwood played Frank Poole in the trailblazing Stanley Kubrick sci-fi feature film 2001: A Space Odyssey, he appeared with Kellerman in the second Star Trek pilot as Commander Gary Mitchell.
Before his roles as Dan Erikson on Land of the Giants and Keith Wilson in the iconic Bewitched episode, “Sisters at Heart,” Don Marshall portrayed quasar analyst Lt. Boma in the first-season Trek adventure “The Galileo Seven.”
Before taking the lead in Blacula on the big screen, William Marshall (no relation to Don) appeared as computer genius Dr. Richard Daystrom in The Original Series episode “The Ultimate Computer.”
Before his super-benchmark performance as the mysterious Mr. Roark on the original Fantasy Island TV series, Ricardo Montalbán made his acclaimed initial Trek universe appearance in “Space Seed,” playing Khan Noonien Singh (a role he reprised in the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn).
Before her television weekly roles on The Time Tunnel and Barnaby Jones, Lee Meriwether portrayed the spooky Losira in the “That Which Survives” episode of Trek.
Before he was cast as Detective Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson on Starsky & Hutch, David Soul was Makora in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode “The Apple.”
Before he was slinging hash as Mel Sharples on TV’s Alice restaurant-com, Vic Tayback played gangster Jojo Krako in the Star Trek comedic-geared period-piece, “A Piece of the Action.”
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This article originally appeared on Newsbreak.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org
Featured Image Credit: IMDb.
