Star Trek star William O’Connell at 95 age
William O’Connell, best known for playing Thelev the Orion on Star Trek: The Original Series, died on Monday, January 15 at his home in Sherman Oaks, CA. He was often presented as a bad guy in movies. O’Connell’s cause of death is currently unknown.
O’Connell collected a long roster of TV episodic credits in the 1960s and became a busy character actor of the time. He had small roles in Highway Patrol, often playing unnamed characters identified only by their job title – Flagman, Cabbie, Field Representative, Dennis the Menace, Peter Gunn and The Twilight Zone, My Three Sons, The Even in Outer Limits, Bonanza, Batman and The Lucy Show, The Munsters. Also, read – Netflix “CANCELED” ‘Cobra Kai’ creators “OBLITERATED” Series
His most loved TV role of that era came is Thelev, a fake Orion agent disguised as an Andorian ambassador, in the Star Trek season 2 episode “Journey to Babel”. His mission to destroy the Enterprise was unsuccessful, but he managed to wound William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk with a poisoned knife.
William O’Connell was born on 12th May 1929. He remains active as an actor throughout the 1960s and 70s era. He also had a military career during which he served in the Korean War in the 45th Infantry.