# Spotting Star Trek actors in other programs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [August 29, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982 "2017-08-29T00:49:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 85
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1681 "2025-06-10T01:59:06Z")
Check out the Kirk Douglas vehicle _ **For Love or Money** _ (1962): Julie Newmar Leslie Parrish William Windom Theodore Marcuse John Harmon ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1682 "2025-06-13T00:08:42Z")
Arlene Martel is a clerk in a posh jewelry shop in the _ **Columbo** _ episode “A Friend in Need,” where she _didn’t_ end up on the cutting-room floor! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1683 "2025-06-13T02:41:19Z")
Harris Yulin, a very talented character actor with a long and distinguished career, just died. May he rest in peace. He was quite good in his single _ST_ appearance: > **[Harris Yulin](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Harris_Yulin)** > > Harris Yulin (5 November 1937–10 June 2025; age 87) was the Emmy Award-nominated actor who played Aamin Marritza in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine first season episode "Duet" and appeared as Gul Darhe'el on a computer monitor in the same episode. In... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1684 "2025-08-05T16:47:09Z")
Leonard Nimoy, mishandling nuclear material in an episode of Highway Patrol, S03, E08 barely younger than I. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1685 "2025-08-10T03:15:59Z")
Just saw William Schallert as the mayor of a Southern hick town in _In the Heat of the Night_. > **[William Schallert](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/William_Schallert)** > > William Schallert (6 July 1922–8 May 2016; age 93) was an actor who played Nilz Baris in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and Varani in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine second season episode... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1686 "2025-08-30T02:47:47Z")
Three _ST_ actors appeared in the 1976 WWII epic _Midway_, which I just saw. Glenn Corbett plays a doomed US Navy pilot. > **[Glenn Corbett](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Glenn_Corbett)** > > Glenn Corbett (17 August 1933–16 January 1993; age 59), born Glenn Edwin Rothenburg, was an actor who played Zefram Cochrane in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Metamorphosis". He filmed his scenes on Thursday 11 May 1967 and... Robert Ito and Clyde Kusatsu both play young Japanese Navy officers, and appear in several scenes together. > **[Robert Ito](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Ito)** > > Robert Ito (born 2 July 1931; age 94) is an actor who played Chang in the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode "Coming of Age" and John Kim in the Star Trek: Voyager seventh season episode "Author, Author". He is best known for his... > **[Clyde Kusatsu](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Clyde_Kusatsu)** > > Clyde Kusatsu (born 13 September 1948; age 76) is an actor who played Vice Admiral Nakamura in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "The Measure Of A Man", and the seventh season episodes "Phantasms" and "All Good Things...".... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1687 "2025-08-30T02:56:55Z")
You can see Doug the Vulcan on an episode of _Parks and Recreation_ talking about _Star Wars_! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1688 "2025-08-30T21:30:39Z")
Checked this thread because I just recently rewatched The Sting. In addition to these two, there was also Ray “Boothby” Walston, AKA My Favorite Martian. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1689 "2025-08-31T01:41:37Z")
Ah, right you are, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1690 "2025-10-03T02:56:58Z")
Just saw a bit of the Cold War sea adventure _The Hunt for Red October_ on TV. She plays Jack Ryan’s wife in an opening scene. > **[Gates McFadden](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gates_McFadden)** > > Gates McFadden (born 2 March 1949; age 76) has portrayed Beverly Crusher in most episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the four Next Generation Star Trek films, and the third season of Star Trek: Picard. McFadden also directed the Next... He plays a young US Navy submarine officer. > **[Christopher Hobson](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Christopher_Hobson)** > > Lieutenant Commander Christopher Hobson was a Human Starfleet officer who served as Data's first officer aboard the USS Sutherland during Captain Jean-Luc Picard's blockade of the Klingon-Romulan border in 2368. His first official act in that... ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1691 "2025-10-06T22:05:09Z")
I searched the thread for “encounter” so maybe this hasn’t been covered. I discovered there was a “banned” Twilight Zone: “The Encounter” A WWII veteran who likes a beer or five (“church key” can openers!) and a young Japanese guy (George Takei!) and a persistent katana that won’t let the door open. I recall having heard that even before Star Trek’s “The Naked Time” where Sulu is all about with a katana, that there was a twilight zone episode with him using it. I can kinda see why it didn’t stay in rotation, yet there was no way I would not see a Twilight Zone. Found it on Pluto TV. A bigot a few degrees south of Archie Bunker and a nice-enough, well-played Takei, called “boy” about four times and of course the other guy says he didn’t lose his job because of a “few lousy beers” but because of Mexicans, Chinese and Japanese (he does not use the slur-considered versions of these peoples - that might have kept it in the Bannination Zone). Good performances, and supernatural stuff. At the end the un-openable door creeks open while Serling is doing his voice-over outro. Spooky! ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1692 "2025-10-06T22:47:41Z")
Not exactly “spotted in another program” but a belated discovery. We caught ST:TNG’s “Identity Crisis” the other night, the one where Geordi and guest role Lt. Cmdr. Leijten are being transformed into scaredy-cat three-toed aliens. The actress playing Leijten is just fantastic, ennobling the episode. Turns out Maryann Plunkett has serious Broadway chops, starring in _Agnes of God_ (replacing Dianne Wiest) and any number of other big shows. No wonder she was pretty good in Star Trek! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1693 "2025-11-03T02:57:29Z")
Andrea Martin appeared in a recent episode of _The Gilded Age_ as a Russian medium. > **[Andrea Martin](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Andrea_Martin)** > > Andrea Martin (born 15 January 1947; age 78) is the Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning actress, comedienne, voice actress and writer who originated the role of Ishka in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third season episode "Family Business". She is... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1694 "2025-11-14T21:15:57Z")
Just saw the 1989 dark romcom _The War of the Roses_ with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Robert Harper plays a lawyer. > **[Robert Harper](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Robert_Harper)** > > Robert Harper (19 May 1951–23 January 2020; age 68) was an actor who played Lathal Bine in the Star Trek: The Next Generation fourth season episode "The Host". Harper filmed his scenes on Wednesday 13 March 1991 on Paramount Stage 8 but received no... Roy Brocksmith plays a dinner guest. > **[Roy Brocksmith](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Roy_Brocksmith)** > > Roy Brocksmith (15 September 1945–16 December 2001; age 56) was the actor who portrayed Sirna Kolrami in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "Peak Performance" and Razka Karn in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fourth season... I was pretty sure I spotted Earl Boen as an auctioneer, but if so, it was an uncredited role. > **[Earl Boen](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Earl_Boen)** > > Earl Boen (8 August 1941–5 January 2023; age 81) was an actor who played Nagilum in the Star Trek: The Next Generation second season episode "Where Silence Has Lease". He also provided voices to characters in Star Trek computer games, including Star... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1695 "2026-01-01T05:10:44Z")
Just watched a PBS documentary on the career of Dick Van Dyke, and he and James Cromwell both appeared in a brief clip from a 1994 episode of _Diagnosis: Murder_. > **[James Cromwell](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Cromwell)** > > James Cromwell (born 27 January 1940; age 85) is a veteran actor who has made several appearances in the Star Trek franchise, and is best known to Trek fans for his portrayal of Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact. He would go on to make an... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1696 "2026-01-01T16:12:47Z")
I mentioned in another thread that I recently re-watched a low-budget indie movie called _Future '38_. Ethan Phillips has a small role. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1697 "2026-01-05T16:18:25Z")
Jeanne (Nancy Crater) Bal and Yvonne (Marta) Craig as hot USN nurses in different episodes of McHale’s Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1698 "2026-01-12T20:47:35Z")
One of my favorite scenes from the cheesefest that is ST:TNG _The Royale_. I just realized the desk clerk is Bernard from _Lost_: “What do you call this place?” “Earth. What do you call it?” The deadpan, it burns! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g81t_z3a9jU/maxresdefault.jpg "Star Trek TNG - Snarky Frontdesk Man - Data, Worf, Riker - The Royale") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g81t_z3a9jU&t=97) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1699 "2026-03-25T03:32:07Z")
Michael McKean and Will Wheaton both appeared onstage in the Oscars’ salute to Rob and Michele Reiner. At 1:07 here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5M-b7fKz8E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5M-b7fKz8E) [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael\_McKean](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_McKean) [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Wil\_Wheaton](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Wil_Wheaton) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982/1700 "2026-04-20T13:40:54Z")
Willard Sage, the Vian “Thann” in “The Empath,” as “Dan Myers” in _ **Perry** _ _ **Mason** _’s “The Case of the Glittering Goldfish” (1959) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982.md?page=84) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-star-trek-actors-in-other-programs/794982.md?page=86)