With the original Star Trek, the crew of the starship Enterprise and the actors who brought them to life became pop culture icons, but where did those people come from? What were the backgrounds and experiences of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig that they brought to the show before they came together to become one of the most famous ensembles in television history? This look at the cast of Star Trek young provides the answers.
It also offers some interesting details, including the fact that Shatner and Nimoy actually worked together before they started playing, respectively, Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock; Doohan had an extensive career in Canadian radio and as a child, George Takei and his family were held in an American Japanese internment camp during World War II — all of which is just the beginning.
Anyone who’s seen the original Star Trek is well aware that Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, has a reputation with the ladies that stretches from one end of the galaxy to the other, and that Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, has had a few romantic liaisons of his own, but what about the […]
William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk)
BORN: March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
BEFORE STAR TREK: His earliest acting success was as part of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, and after his move to America, he appeared on Broadway in The World of Suzie Wong and A Shot in the Dark; films like The Brothers Karamazov (1958) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961); a wide variety of television guest star appearances, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone and starred in the 1965 series For the People.
AFTER STAR TREK: What hasn’t he done? Innumerable guest starring roles, dozens of movies, starred in the TV shows Barbary Coast (1975 to 1976), T.J. Hooker (1982 to 1986), Rescue 911 (1989 to 1996), TekWar (1994 to 1996), Boston Legal (2004 to 2008) and $#*! My Dad Says (2010 to 2011); video games, recorded albums, authored memoirs and novels and even went into space! An amazing life and he’s still going strong at 93.
James Doohan and William Shatner, six years before Star Trek, appear in the episode “The Well,” which was part of the Canadian anthology series Encounter in 1960.
Publicity shot from the classic Twilight Zone episode ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.’
1965
Frank Edwards/Fotos International/Getty Images
William Shatner, wearing a tuxedo, talks to his date, Nancy, while standing under a tent at a formal event in 1965.
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William Shatner in a still from the TV series For the People.
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Shatner tests gym equipment in a New York department store. He later installed some equipment in his TV studio dressing room so that he could get some exercise when he had the time.
1966
Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
William Shatner signs his autograph for fans before an event in Los Angeles,CA, 1966.
Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock)
BORN: March 26, 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts
BEFORE STAR TREK: Leonard Nimoy decided early on that he would find work as a character actor, seeing it as an opportunity to hone his craft and find fairly consistent work. In the years before Star Trek, he appeared in 10 films and about 50 television shows, including The Twilight Zone (1961’s “A Quality of Mercy”) and Clint Eastwood’s Rawhide (1961’s “Incident Before Black Pass”). In 1964, he acted with William Shatner for the first time, both of them guest-starring on the “The Project Strigas Affair” episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
AFTER STAR TREK: Like William Shatner, he enjoyed a varied career. On television he played “The Great Paris” on Mission: Impossible (1969 to 1971) and hosted/narrated 145 episodes of In Search of … (1976 to 1982), a role he would do on several other shows as well. His final TV part was as the recurring Dr. William Bell in 11 episodes of Fringe (2009 to 2012). On the big screen, besides the Star Trek films, he made a few big screen appearances, but also served as the director of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Three Men and a Baby (1987), The Good Mother (1988), Funny About Love (1990) and Holy Matrimony (1994). His final film role was in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness.
He took to the stage a number of times, most notably with Fiddler on the Roof (1971), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1974), Sherlock Holmes (1975), Equus (1977) and the one-man show about Vincent Van Gogh he wrote called Vincent (1981). On top of all of that, he wrote memoirs, books of poetry and was an avid photographer.
The year before they co-starred in the second Star Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appeared in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Would you believe Leonard Nimoy guest starred on the 1966 episode of Get Smart titled ‘The Dead Spy Scrawls,’ playing a character named Stryker?
DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy)
BORN: January 20, 1920 in Atlanta, Georgia
BEFORE STAR TREK: While in the Army he acted in military films, which led to Paramount Pictures signing him up. He would end up starring in about two dozen films between 1947’s Fear in the Night and 1966’s Waco, usually playing villains (which may be hard for some people to believe). On television, there would be 130 television guest appearances prior to Star Trek. In 1960 he starred in a TV pilot written by Gene Roddenberry, 333 Montgomery, which had him playing defense attorney Jake Brittin. It didn’t go to series, but, thankfully, Star Trek did.
AFTER STAR TREK: Beyond the 1972 movie Night of the Lepus (about giant killer rabbits), Kelley’s acting was pretty much limited to Star Trek films and the premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 1991, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
PERSONAL: He was married to Carolyn Dowling from 1945 until the time of his death.
In 1957, DeForest Kelley appeared in an episode of The Adventures of Jim Bowie. The series was a Desilu Production, the company that would eventually give the green light to the original Star Trek.
DeForest Kelley and cast members from 1959’s Warlock.
1960
In 1960, DeForest Kelley starred in the legal drama 333 Montgomery, a pilot for a potential series that aired as part of the anthology series Alcoa Theatre. It should be noted that the episode was written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
Right until Star Trek began, DeForest Kelley found himself cast in a variety of Westerns, usually as a bad guy. Here he’s in a scene from the 1965 film Apache Uprising.
James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott)
BORN: March 3, 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
BEFORE STAR TREK: After serving in the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II, James Doohan began his career on CBC Radio, performing in a number of dramas and would end up doing the same in New York. As an actor, he would make frequent television appearances in both Canada and America, appearing on many of the popular shows of the time, including The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Bewitched and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. He first portrayed Scotty in the second Star Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
AFTER STAR TREK: Like the rest of the cast, by the time the show was over, Doohan had to deal with the stigma of typecasting. He did feature prominently on the Saturday morning live-action series Jason of Star Command, and made appearances in severalf TV shows and movies, but much of his post-series career was limited to various Star Trek projects, including the seven feature films and an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (“Relics”).
PERSONAL: He was married three times and was the father of 7.
DIED: James Doohan died on July 20, 2005 at age 85.
Having made its television debut in 1964, viewers have been laughing at the seven stranded castaways of Gilligan’s Island for the past 60 years, and for many of them their knowledge of Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr, Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells pretty much start and stop with the show. And […]
1938 to 1945
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James Doohan was a part of the Royal Canadian Army during World War II, serving between 1938 and 1945.
In 1963, James Doohan appeared on Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, in the episode ‘Valley of the Shadow.’
The actor’s guest appearance in 1963’s Hazel, though the video itself is labeled 1962.
1965
James Doohan was a guest star on the 1965 episode of Bewitched, “A Strange Little Visitor.”
George Takei (Lt. Hikaru Sulu)
BORN: April 20, 1937 in Los Angeles, California
BEFORE STAR TREK: George Takei’s career began with his providing voiceover work, providing English dubs for such Japanese films as Rodan (1956), and Godzilla Raids Again (1955). His movie credits include Ice Palace (1958), Hell to Eternity (1960), PT-109 (1963) and Walk, Don’t Run (1966). His television debut was in a 1959 episode of Perry Mason, which would be followed by spots on such shows as The Twilight Zone (1964), My Three Sons (1964), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1965) and I Spy (1966).
AFTER STAR TREK: Following Star Trek, there were many guest star appearances and a lot of voice work. He co-write the graphic novel They Called Us Enemy, which was about his family being placed in a Japanese internment camp during World War II (it’s a subject he would explore in the 2012 musical Allegiance as well); he appeared on reality shows like I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and The Apprentice. He also wrote 1994’s To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei as well as two more non-fiction books. Coming out as gay in 2005, he has participated in numerous campaigns demanding equal rights for moments of the LGBT community.
PERSONAL: When he came out, he also made public the fact he’d been in a relationship with Brad Altman for 18 years, who he married three years later inn 2008 (being the first same-sex married couple in West Hollywood)
Of all the fantasy sitcoms of the 1960s, there’s no question that Bewitched was the most successful of them all, but equally true is the fact that I Dream of Jeannie, created by Sidney Sheldon, was a close second. And while there are a lot of people who would claim that the latter is a […]
Hell to Eternity (1960). Interestingly, this photo features George Takei and Jeffrey Hunter, who would play Captain Christopher Pike in the first Star Trek pilot, 1964’s “The Cage.”
1964
Like many of his Star Trek co-stars, George Takei also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, in this case the 1964 episode “The Encounter” (a clip from which is above).
Between 1964 and 1965, George Takei made three appearances on the sitcom My Three Sons. This photo is from the first, 1964’s “My Fair Chinese Lady.”
Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Nyota Uhura)
BORN: December 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois
BEFORE STAR TREK: Nichelle Nichols made her movie debut as an uncredited dancer in 1959’s Porgy and Bess, which was followed in 1966 by small parts in Tarzan’s Deadly Silence, Made in Paris and Mister Buddwing. On television, she appeared in Gene Roddenberry’s the Lieutenant in 1964 and, two years later, on the prime-time soap opera Peyton Place.
AFTER STAR TREK: The actress had made such an impact as Uhura that NASA brought her aboard to help recruit minority and female potential astronauts. In later years, she provided her voice to a number of TV animated characters, including playing herself on Futurama and The Simpsons; there was a recurring role the soap opera The Young and the Restless and Heroes; and film parts in later years included American Nightmares and The White Orchid (both 2018) and Unbelievable!!!!! (2020). Additionally, she recorded three albums, write an autobiography (Beyond Uhura) and a pair of sci-fi novels, Saturn’s Child and Saturna’s Quest.
PERSONAL: Married twice, she had one son.
DIED: Nichelle Nichols died of heart failure on July 30, 2022 at age 89.
If you were to look back at 1960s sitcoms, you’d see that they were filled with fantasy sitcoms like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, but one of the standouts — despite the fact that it only lasted two seasons — was The Munsters, which was born out of Universal Television’s idea of combining its classic movie monsters with […]
1964
Two years before Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols made a guest appearance (with the credits announcing the show was introducing her) on Gene Roddenberry’s series The Lieutenant. This is a clip from that episode, “To Set It Right.”
Nichelle Nichols and Ron Ely in Tarzan’s Deadly Silence, a 1970 movie taken from a pair of episodes from the 1966 to 1968 Tarzan TV series. Nichelle appeared in the show’s first season.
Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov)
BORN: September 14, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois
BEFORE STAR TREK: In 1962, Walter Koenig made his movie debut in The Norman Vincent Peale Story, but after that, beginning the following year, he began appearing in television, making appearances on shows like Mr. Novak, The Lieutenant, Ben Casey, Gidget, I Spy and Jericho. He joined Star Trek in its second season.
AFTER STAR TREK: Over the years he would appear in about a dozen non-Trek films, and numerous TV guest appearances. He co-starred in the Gene Roddenberry television pilot, The Questor Tapes; had a recurring role on the sci-fi series Babylon 5. Additionally, he served as an acting teacher, directed plays, wrote novels and penned the scripts for such primetime television fare as Family and What Really Happened to the Class of ’65?. On top of that, there are the screenplays for I Wish I May, You’re Never Alone When You’re a Schizophenic and several one-act plays. He’s written three memoirs, the sci-fi novel Buck Alice and the Actor-Rabbit as well as the comics Walter Koenig’s Things to Come and Raver.
PERSONAL: He married Judy Levitt in 1955 and they were together until her death in 2022. They have 2 children.
Two years before he joined Star Trek, Walter Koenig made an appearance on the 1965 Sally Field sitcom Gidget, in the episode “Gidget’s Foreign Policy.”
NOTE: The entire cast appeared in the first six Star Trek films, concluding with 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, while the only original cast members were Shatner, Doohan and Koenig appeared in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations. Everyone but Koenig provided their voices for Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 to 1974). None of the actors appeared in the later series Star Trek: Discovery and they won’t be part of the forthcoming Starfleet Academy.
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