Another Legend Lost

[killjoy]

Greetings Callisto Crew,

This isn’t one of my normal rants and raves about the new BSG. In fact this is perhaps one of the toughest commentaries I have ever done because the person it’s about was a hero of mine long before BSG came about in ’78.

James Doohan (Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott of Star Trek Fame) died at 5:30 a.m. this morning at his Redmond, Wash., home. The cause of death was complications brought on by a bout with pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

James Montgomery Doohan was born March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, B.C., youngest of four children of William Doohan, a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist, and his wife Sarah.

At 19, Doohan joined the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled in a recent interview. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

On D-Day plus 1 The Canadians were crossing a minefield when a German machine gun opened fire on them. Doohan fell after taking 6 hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on the screen), four in his leg and one in the chest.

After the war Doohan on a whim enrolled in a drama class in Toronto. He showed promise and won a two-year scholarship to New York's famed Neighborhood Playhouse, where fellow students included Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone.

I’m sure the crew of the Callisto will join me in saying that today we have lost another of Sci-fi’s greatest.

[Brie]

This is indeed sad news. Sci-fi has lost one of its greats.

[warstarcerberus]

the guy in to kill a mocking bird that played the lawer in murder on the rising star died too BROCK STEVENS

[Col. Charybdis]

Brock Peters? Did he die recently? I just saw him in an episode of JAG earlier this year....

[Brie]

Here's one obituary that I found:

Brock Peters, born George Fisher in New York City on July 2nd, 1927, was an accomplished veteran actor of stage, film, and television. He played Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and later portrayed Captain Benjamin Sisko's father, Joseph, a restauranteur in New Orleans, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Of African and West Indian parentage, Peters began acting at the young age of ten. Beyond the realm of Star Trek, Peters is probably best known for his heartbreaking performance as Tom Robinson, the black man unjustly accused and convicted of raping a white girl, in the classic 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. On the set of that film, he struck up a lifelong friendship with star Gregory Peck, and delivered the eulogy at Peck's funeral in 2003.

Prior to his role in To Kill a Mockingbird, Peters made his film debut in 1954's Carmen Jones, having dropped his birth name the previous year. He went on to have a supporting role in the 1959 film Porgy and Bess. TOS actress Nichelle Nichols had a bit part in this film. In 1973, Peters and TOS guest actor Whit Bissell both had roles in the science fiction film Soylent Green.

That same year, Peters was nominated for a Tony Award for his lead performance in the stage musical Lost in the Stars. He would reprise his role from that play in the film version in 1974.

In 1979, Peters was a part of the ensemble cast of the epic mini-series Roots: The Next Generations. Also included in the cast were fellow Star Trek alumni Bernie Casey, Percy Rodriguez, John Rubinstein, Bruce French, Paul Winfield, and Bill Quinn. Afterwards, Peters became a regular on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1982 through 1989.

His rich, baritone voice was also used on such animated shows as Challenge of the GoBots, The Pirates of Dark Water, and Batman: The Animated Series. He even supplied the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars radio series. He also lent his voice to a character in the 2002 film The Wild Thornberrys Movie, in which Alfre Woodard and Ethan Phillips also supplied their voices.

Peters had a role in the 1996 drama Ghosts of Mississippi. This film also featured the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Susanna Thompson, Bill Smitrovich, Terry O'Quinn, Richard Riehle, Bill Cobbs, and Thomas Kopache.

Peters' other film roles include The L-Shaped Room (1962), The Pawnbroker (1964), Major Dundee (1965), and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973). In 1991, the Screen Actors Guild awarded Peters a Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of outstanding performances.

Brock Peters died of pancreatic cancer on August 23rd, 2005. He was 78 years old. His last television appearance was in a made-for-TV movie called The Locket, which also featured his Ghosts of Mississippi co-star and fellow Trek guest actor Terry O'Quinn.
He was honored and remembered at the 2005 Emmy Awards among dearly departed entertainers and other people in Television of 2005, along with James Doohan.

[Amy81]

I know this has nothing to do with BSG, but we've also lost Gilligan and Maxwell Smart in the last month or so. First Bob Denver, then Don Adams this past weekend. I loved Gilligan's Island and Get Smart, and I always will. It's sad to see all these great performers pass away.