Andrew Prine, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Legate Turrel, has passed away

Andrew Prine, the man who played Legate Turrel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has passed away.

Star Trek lost one of its own this week when Andrew Prine, the man who played Legate Turrel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine passed away. Prine played two characters on Star Trek, Turrel of course on Deep Space Nine, and an alien named Suna on The Next Generation.

Both characters were antagonists of sorts, with Suna torturing William Riker for information, while Turrel was a Cardassian and for that reason alone was someone that people didn’t like or trust.

While Suna was largely irredeemable, Turrel was actually a character that did good for not just Cardassian but Bajor, as he was the one that ultimately signed the Bajoran-Cardassian Treaty, and seemingly ended hostilities between the two planets, at least at a government level.

Beyond Star Trek, Prine also appeared in the 1980s sci-fi series V and its sequel, while also appearing in the coming-of-age sci-fi-comedy television series Weird Science (based on the film of the same name).

Andrew Prine was involved in a murder investigation

Sadly, not every Star Trek actor comes without baggage. Despite playing some really enjoyable characters on Star Trek, Prine does have a sort of dark cloud that hung over his legacy. In 1963, Prine became a suspect in the death of Karyn Kupcinet. Kupcinet had begun stalking Prine after the two broke up but on Nov. 30, she would be found dead.

Her death was ruled a homicide and the LA Sheriff’s Department investigated Prine. There was little to point to Prine in Kupcinet’s death, and even her father, Irv Kupcinet, didn’t believe that Prine killed her. Instead, her father believed another man, who didn’t know Prine at all, was the one who took his child from him.

The investigation was never anything more than that and Prine was never truly viewed as a suspect, and he was able to continue on with his acting career.