"Star Trek" has been around longer than some of us have been alive. Despite multiple breaks and various spin-offs, movies, cartoons, and reboots, the multi-franchise show has never truly stopped being a fan favorite. One of the main contributors to the show's longevity and success are the many characters from different universes and cultures. By "going where no man has gone before," "Star Trek" introduced many characters for us to fall in love with. While these characters have been immortalized over the years, the actors playing them unfortunately came to the end of their very mortal lives. Here we honor the "Star Trek" actors you forgot passed away.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00With a history spanning nearly 55 years, Star Trek has become a television and film institution.
00:06As the decades have rolled by, many of the actors who brought these immortal characters
00:09to life have reached the end of their own lives, leaving behind an unforgettable legacy.
00:14Here are some Star Trek actors you forgot passed away.
00:17Okay, okay, you probably didn't forget this one.
00:20Despite possessing a humorless, cold, and logical demeanor, Spock is the heart of all
00:24things Trek, and much of the credit for that goes to Leonard Nimoy.
00:28When not acting, Nimoy was also a poet, an artist, a photographer, and a musician.
00:32And his relationship with the character of Spock could be complicated at times.
00:36His first autobiography, for example, was titled I Am Not Spock, whereas the 1995 follow-up
00:42was called I Am Spock.
00:43He later described himself as feeling a sort of mystical identification with the intellectual,
00:47pointy-eared alien, once writing that,
00:50"...in Spock I finally found the best of both worlds, to be widely accepted in public approval
00:54and yet to be able to continue to play the insulated alien through the Vulcan character."
00:59To the great sadness of the world sci-fi fans, Leonard Nimoy passed away in 2015 at the age
01:04of 83.
01:05His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, attributed his death to end-stage chronic pulmonary disease.
01:10During his twilight years, Nimoy had continued bringing Spock to life as the elderly Spock
01:14Prime version of the character in the rebooted Star Trek movies.
01:17Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?
01:19Our minds, one and together.
01:22To honor his legacy, the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond made a point to write the Vulcan's
01:27death into the script, and to show the impact of his demise upon the younger version of
01:31the character, then played by Zachary Quinto.
01:34The Deltan navigator Aylea never got the chance to become a recurring character in Star Trek,
01:38but she nonetheless played a key role in Star Trek The Motion Picture.
01:42At the time, Aylea's shaved head was a bold statement for cinema, and according to The
01:46Independent, she was the first bald heroine in film history.
01:49The daring actress who brought her to life was Persis Kambata, an international model
01:53from Mumbai who in 1965 had been awarded the title of Miss India.
01:57Kambata entered the acting world through an array of Hindi-language films before making
02:01her Hollywood debut in the 1975 flick The Willoughby Conspiracy, co-starring Sidney
02:05Poitier and Michael Caine.
02:07Playing Aylea in Star Trek proved to be her breakout performance, eventually leading to
02:11her becoming the first-ever Indian performer to present an award at the Oscars.
02:15However, when she was offered a role in the next James Bond movie, she rejected it out
02:19of a vow to her mother that she would return back home.
02:22Throughout her life and career, Kambata remained a private person who never sought out the
02:26spotlight.
02:27Sadly, in 1998, she suffered a fatal heart attack at just 49 years old.
02:31In Star Trek history, few deaths have been as tragic or shockingly sad as the accidental
02:36loss of Anton Yelchin, who portrayed the young genius Pavel Chekhov in the post-reboot Trek
02:41films.
02:42The Russian-born actor, known for the boyish charm and quick wit he displays in films like
02:45Todd Thomas and Charlie Barlett, seemed destined for a long and great career.
02:49Sadly, it all ended in 2016, when a freak car accident ended his life at the age of
02:5427.
02:55The circumstances involved Yelchin's 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee shifting backwards without
03:00warning down his driveway.
03:03Yelchin was out of the car, and the vehicle trapped his body between his mailbox and security
03:06fence, leaving him pinned until he died.
03:09The ensuing legal battle between Fiat-Chrysler, the makers of Jeep vehicles, and Yelchin's
03:13parents went on for years.
03:15The family maintained that the SUV's gear shift mechanism had been to blame for their
03:18son's death.
03:20As it happened, this mechanism had caused a number of other incidents over the years.
03:23The two parties reached a settlement in 2018.
03:27The Ferengi were some of the funniest characters ever featured on Star Trek Deep Space Nine,
03:31known for being the greediest capitalists in a galaxy that had mostly abandoned the
03:35concept of money.
03:36But the character of young Nog, as played by Aaron Eisenberg, proved that you can never
03:40paint all people of a certain culture with the same brush.
03:43Contrary to his manipulative Uncle Quark, Nog was a boy who formed a genuine friendship
03:47with an Earthling, Jake Sisko, and even went on to become the first Ferengi to join Starfleet.
03:52Sadly, while actor Aaron Eisenberg did snag a few other roles over the years, he also
03:56suffered through a number of severe health traumas in the decades following his Trek
04:00days.
04:01Eisenberg endured two separate kidney transplant operations, with the second occurring in 2015.
04:06Tragically, in late 2019, his wife Melissa Longo shared on Facebook that Eisenberg had
04:11passed away at age 50, saying of her late husband,
04:14"...he was an intelligent, humble, funny, emphatic soul.
04:17He sought to live his life with integrity and truth."
04:21Always ready, always effective, and always looking out for the little guy, many doctors
04:24today have credited Leonard H. Bones McCoy with having inspired them to take the leap
04:29and attend medical school.
04:30Amusingly enough, while it's now impossible to imagine Bones played by anyone other than
04:34DeForest Kelly, Gene Roddenberry initially offered the actor a choice between playing
04:39either McCoy or Spock.
04:40"...I'm not a magician, Spock, just an old country doctor."
04:45In retrospect, Kelly definitely made the right decision.
04:48Even after the original series and after the first wave of movies, Kelly went on to serve
04:51as the bridge between the 60s crew and the then-newcomers featured in Star Trek The Next
04:56Generation.
04:57The last few years of Kelly's life were plagued by health problems, with his final months
05:01spent in a convalescent home in Woodland Hills, California.
05:04In 1999, he died at the age of 79 of complications arising from stomach cancer, which he had
05:09suffered from for 18 months.
05:12As any Star Trek diehard will tell you, the show's original pilot episode, The Cage, was
05:16a little different from the series that eventually came around.
05:19For one, the commander of the Enterprise was not James Kirk, but rather Christopher Pike.
05:24Pike's first officer was a woman named Number One, played by actress Majel Barrett, who
05:28was cold, distant, and logical back when Spock was still relatively cheery.
05:32However, Number One's high-ranking position on the Enterprise, as well as her calculated
05:36demeanor, chafed with NBC producers, so the character was promptly kicked off the bridge.
05:41Since then, both Pike and Number One have become fan-favorite characters, courtesy of
05:45their revival on Star Trek Discovery, with the latter now portrayed by Rebecca Romijn.
05:50Back in the show's early days, Barrett went on to become a major part of Trek history,
05:54not just as the wife of creator Gene Roddenberry, but also as the ship's nurse, Christine Chappell.
05:59Barrett Roddenberry continued to play Chappell in the movies, and later cut loose as Laxwana
06:03Troy on both Star Trek The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
06:07Throughout all of this, she also played the familiar voice of the Enterprise computer
06:10throughout various different shows in the franchise.
06:13Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away in late 2008 at the age of 76 after a long battle
06:18with leukemia.
06:20Brock Peters was a legendary actor, most recognized for playing the wrongly accused man Tom Robinson
06:25in the classic adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.
06:28He had many roles over the years, but among Star Trek fans, he is remembered for the two
06:31unrelated parts he brought to life.
06:33First, he portrayed Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home and Star Trek
06:37VI, The Undiscovered Country.
06:39Second, he entered the world of Deep Space Nine as Creole master chef Joseph Sisko.
06:44Though Peters' Deep Space Nine appearances were infrequent, his character's energy, positivity,
06:49and loving dedication to family were clear influences on his son, Captain Sisko, a character
06:54who has since been ranked by many diehard Trekkers as their favorite Star Trek captain
06:58of all time.
06:59In his old age, Peters came down with pancreatic cancer.
07:02It finally took his life in 2005 at the age of 78, when he died at his home in Los Angeles.
07:08Arguably the most iconic and powerful single antagonist in all of Star Trek lore is Khan
07:12Noonien Singh, a character who first premiered in the original series before his titular
07:16comeback in Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan.
07:19"...Surely I have made my meaning plain.
07:22I mean to avenge myself upon you, Admiral."
07:26While Khan's story is interesting enough, and surprisingly sympathetic, the secret ingredient
07:31behind the character's enduring popularity was the masterful acting ability of Ricardo
07:35Montalbán.
07:36Montalbán was one of the pioneering Mexican-born actors in Hollywood who worked hard to overcome
07:41the prejudices of his time.
07:43When Montalbán achieved his own degree of success, he funneled it into his non-profit,
07:46the Nos Ostros Foundation, in an effort to create new opportunities in the motion picture
07:50business for fellow Latino professionals.
07:53He wasn't afraid to call out executives for only casting him in Brazilian, Cuban, and
07:57Argentinian roles, but never as a Mexican character, pointing out how the industry continued
08:01to portray Mexican people in a stereotypical and negative manner.
08:05Between his passionate activism and his talent, Ricardo Montalbán left behind an incredible
08:09legacy when he died in his L.A. home in 2009 at the age of 88.
08:14It's hard to imagine the original Star Trek series working without James Doohan's endearing
08:19character Scotty manning the Enterprise's transporters.
08:22Doohan, who actually hailed from British Columbia, Canada, continued playing Scotty all the way
08:26from the original series to Star Trek The Next Generation, where he befriended the new
08:30crew in heartwarming fashion.
08:32Doohan's lovable persona, tireless enthusiasm, and ability to fix any malady the ship experienced
08:37clearly inspired the performances of every Star Trek chief engineer since.
08:41From Miles O'Brien to Charles Tripp Tucker III, though Doohan lived a long life, his
08:46later years were tragically plagued by the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
08:50In 2005, he experienced a bout with pneumonia, and passed away at the age of 85.
08:55From his role as Father Mulcahy in the original film version of M.A.S.H. to an unforgettable
08:59performance as the villainous chef in Disney's The Little Mermaid, René Aubergineau carved
09:04his name into countless different pop culture smash hits over his long career.
09:08Perhaps none of his roles, though, were as well-loved as Odo, the malleable chief security
09:12officer of Deep Space Nine whom he portrayed for seven seasons.
09:16While Odo's gruff demeanor immediately positioned him as one of the space station's more offbeat
09:20characters, the more that Deep Space Nine peeled back Odo's layers, the more endearing
09:24he became.
09:25Post-Trek, Aubergineau never stopped acting, just recently starring in the 2019 comedy
09:30film Raising Buchanan, where he portrayed the 15th U.S. president.
09:34Unfortunately, as with so many Star Trek stars, his life was finally claimed by cancer, in
09:39his case, cancer of the lungs.
09:41To the sadness of fans all over the world, Aubergineau died in 2019 at the age of 79.
09:47Alexander Roshenko, the son of Worf, was a boy who went through a great number of changes
09:52and actors as he aged from child to adult.
09:54The first actor to portray Alexander in Star Trek The Next Generation was a boy named John
09:59Paul Stewart, who allegedly nabbed the role because he was the only young man capable
10:03of sitting still for three hours while all the Klingon makeup and prosthetic pieces were
10:06applied.
10:07Even although Stewart did take a few more roles over the years, he soon decided that
10:11acting wasn't his thing and instead became a successful restaurateur.
10:15And more prominently, a musician in the band Problems, where he went by the name Johnny
10:18Jewels.
10:19Sadly, on January 5th, 2018, Stewart was pronounced dead at the age of 33.
10:25The first reports did not reveal the cause of his passing, but later that year, People
10:29magazine announced that Stewart's death had been ruled a suicide.
10:33If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
10:37Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK or 8255.