- Stephen Collins, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1978. Paramount was dumb. It saw Star Wars take off and craved its own sf franchise, not understanding that it already had one. Except the suits always hated the series and snuffed it in 1969. From then on, they didn’t know which way to fly – series or movie. A Phase II series almost began, then churned into a film. An instant flop, aka The Slow-Motion Picture, with a cast that was a decade older and fatter, Robert Wise totally wrong as director and a new character, Willard Decker, created to take over the USS Enterprise, in case William Shatner/Kirk chased more money for any encore! In the Will mix were: Macht, Jordan Clarke, Frederic Forrest, Lance Henriksen, Art Hindle, Richard Kelton, Andrew Robinson, Tim Thomerson and Collins (whose career was overin 2014 after admitting sexual conduct with three under-age girls). “We didn’t feel that we were getting to play the characters that we enjoyed playing in the way that we knew how to play them,” exclaimed Leonard Nimoy/Spock, soon saving the franchise by directing two chapters.
- Nick Mancuso, Nightwing, 1979. “They were originally looking at me to play Nick’s role, but through the discussion… I came out as the more citified guy, more of the wheeler-dealer. Or, potentially, the bad guy. [Laugh]. I guess I’d a little more of the devil in me up front. And those were the days when there were no restrictions on Jewish guys playing Indians and I really identified with the Walker Chee part.” Macht was so good that Charlton Heston offered him Heavy Eagle in The Mountain Men, 1980. “A Jewish boy’s dream come true. To play cowboys and indians? And chase Charlton Heston’s ass all over Wyoming? Cm’on!”
- Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: The Next Generation, TV, 1987-1994. This time he was a favourite for Captain Jean-Luc Picard – boldly taking the all new Enterprise NCC 1701-D where no one has gone before in a different accent.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3