# Star Trek TOS: Who played Isis the Cat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889 "2004-03-23T13:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/1 "2004-03-23T13:06:08Z")
I’m looking at today’s calendar page from the Star Trek desk calendar. It is a picture of Gary Seven’s cat Isis in woman form. Who is this actress? The Star Trek website doesn’t list her. Nor soes IMDB. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/2 "2004-03-23T13:11:24Z")
I don’t know, but last night I rented “Wink of an Eye” and Kathie Brown’s costume as “Deela” was downright _scandulous!_ :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/3 "2004-03-23T13:15:49Z")
The only thing I could find said that Barbara Babcock was the voice for the cat. Perhaps she was also the woman? I don’t recall it looking much like her… ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/4 "2004-03-23T14:00:04Z")
Seems she was uncredited in hte original cast list. I’m trying to find more detail. Some Trekkie must know someehere. Here’s a picture of her. .[http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/isis.htm](http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/isis.htm) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/5 "2004-03-23T14:16:43Z")
Is that Karen Valentine? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/6 "2004-03-23T18:43:23Z")
I’m pretty sure I’ve read older threads on this topic and so far, no one has been able to say for certain who she was. It truly is one of the mysteries of TOS. (Oh, and god bless William Theiss. Mm… panda.) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/7 "2004-03-23T19:01:41Z")
Wow, I find it mid-boggling that after nearly 40 years of Trekdom that no one knows this. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/8 "2004-03-23T21:42:25Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Is that Karen Valentine? Not likely. > **[8-Karen Valentine by Roy](https://www.pbase.com/roy/karen)** ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/9 "2004-03-24T03:25:00Z")
An [earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=36018) on this subject. I found an cite included therein; however, it has never been corroborated. In a similar subject, when Isis the cat first meows, I still maintain that it sounds just like Teri Garr. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/10 "2004-03-24T03:31:46Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Not likely. > > [www.pbase.com/roy/karen](http://www.pbase.com/roy/karen) Yeah, I know. I checked it out after I posted that. I think it was the cleft chin that made me think it. Unfortunately, the Isis actress’s eyes are blue, and Valentine’s are brown, and while I still think there’s a more-than-vague resemblance and contacts could have changed the color (even back then), it’s probably not her. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/11 "2004-03-24T14:01:14Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, I know. I checked it out after I posted that. I think it was the cleft chin that made me think it. Unfortunately, the Isis actress’s eyes are blue, and Valentine’s are brown, and while I still think there’s a more-than-vague resemblance and contacts could have changed the color (even back then), it’s probably not her. I have no idea who Karen Valentine is (other than the pics on the link provided by kunilou), but [this picture](http://www.pbase.com/image/1076622) sure looks a lot like [patr100s link](http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/isis.htm)…chin, shape of the mouth, shape of the nose…the eye colour is the only big difference. I have no idea on the history of contact lenses…were coloured lenses available in the '60s? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/12 "2004-03-24T16:43:49Z")
> [@cantara](#): > > I have no idea who Karen Valentine is (other than the pics on the link provided by kunilou), but [this picture](http://www.pbase.com/image/1076622) sure looks a lot like [patr100s link](http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/isis.htm)…chin, shape of the mouth, shape of the nose…the eye colour is the only big difference. I have no idea on the history of contact lenses…were coloured lenses available in the '60s? I know they were available because ST:TOS used them several times (for the silver eyes of the affected crewmembers in the 2nd pilot). Whether they were subtle enough at the time to change eye colors so they looked natural, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/13 "2004-03-24T16:47:45Z")
OP here. I can attest to the fact that our Isis is not Karen Valentine. Karen was a teen fantasy of mine and I know her face too well. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/14 "2004-03-24T18:15:07Z")
[Karen Valentine](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0884259/), and I agree, that’s not her as Isis. Karen was more an ingenue than sultry. To answer another question, yes colored contact lenses were available as early as the 1950s. (But that’s still not Karen Valentine.) ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/15 "2004-03-24T18:21:03Z")
I don’t think it is her either. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/16 "2004-03-24T18:47:25Z")
Hey, wait a minute. Maybe she _is_ [Barbara Babcock](http://www.warp9cards.com/Warp9-inserts/sttosA74black.jpg), who also supplied the voice of Isis. Open those two photos in separate windows and place them side by side. Allowing for different wigs and makeup, the faces look very similar, especially the intense gaze and the nose and chin. She appeared in two _Star Trek_ episodes, and did voice-overs in three others. I vote for Barbara Babcock being the human Isis. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/17 "2004-03-24T19:08:50Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I vote for Barbara Babcock being the human Isis. It would make sense, since she was given credit for the voice of the cat. Barbara Babcock is still around. Does she have a fan club? ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/18 "2004-03-24T19:26:22Z")
Wow, and I was the first to call it. Go me! If it’s true of course… ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-who-played-isis-the-cat/235889/19 "2004-03-24T19:30:16Z")
I have to disagree. I just compared the linked picture of Barbara Babcock with the calendar picture. The human Isis has a distinct cleft in her chin. Barbara does not. Also Isis’ face is rounder.