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