Holy Star Trek crossover actors, Batman!
Welcome back to Redshirts Always Die's crossover coverage of Star Trek & Batman actors fans forgot starred in both shows. Trekkies won't soon forget iconic names like Frank Gorshin, Julie Newmar, and Yvonne Craig from both beloved series, but the following names may have flown under the radar for many television enthusiasts. With that in mind, dive into part two below.
Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr. was an incredible character actor who starred in a variety of movie and television dramas over his illustrious career. The talented thespian co-starred alongside some of Hollywood's biggest legends, including Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon and Vincent Price in William Castle's House on Haunted Hill. And his one and only appearance on Star Trek was unforgettable as he portrayed Samuel T. Cogley, attorney-at-law.
The book-obsessed Cogley, who spits in the face of 23rd century techology, takes on James T. Kirk (William Shatner) as a client after the USS Enterprise's captain is put on trial for the supposed murder of Ben Finney in the TOS season 1 must-see episode "Court Martial." SPOILER ALERT: Cogley wins the case thanks to some help from Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy).
Meanwhile, Cook Jr. appeared in two episodes of Batman, which included guest starring in season 2's "Ice Spy" and "The Duo Defy." Cook Jr. portrayed Professor Isaacson, who was abducted by Mr. Freeze. By the way, both of these episodes feature another Star Trek/Batman crossover performer: the lovely Leslie Parrish.
Leslie Parrish
Leslie Parrish only appeared once in Star Trek: The Original Series, but her role was integral to the plot of the season 2 episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?” Lt. Carolyn Palamas (Parrish) was ordered to betray Apollo (Michael Forest) by Captain Kirk so that the USS Enterprise and its crew would not be enslaved by the Greco-Roman god. Making the sacrifice wasn’t easy for Carolyn because she truly had feelings for Apollo, and her actions led to his destruction.
Meanwhile, in the Batman television series, Parrish was given the opportunity to play a pair of characters. First, in the season 1 episode “The Penguin’s a Jinx,” movie actress Dawn Robbins (Parrish) must be saved by the Caped Crusader (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) after she is abducted by the Penguin (Burgess Meredith).
However, in the aforementioned “Ice Spy” and “The Duo Defy,” Parrish portrayed the chilling Glacia Glaze, aka Emma Strunk, a villain who worked with Mr. Freeze. In this case, the Batman villain Mr. Freeze was portrayed by the incomparable Eli Wallach of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) fame, which he starred in just the year before.
Stanley Adams
Trekkies remember Stanley Adams fondly because he was the superb actor who unleashed the Tribbles on Deep Space Station K-7 in The Original Series season 2 episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Adams’ character, Cyrano Jones, was similar to Harry Mudd, so it’s easy to pigeonhole him as an unscrupulous businessman, too. Adams would return to voice Jones in Star Trek: The Animated Series.
On the other hand, Adams’ character in the Batman television series had the audacity to actually arrest the Caped Crusader (West)! Captain Courageous (Adams) was a police officer, who transferred to Gotham City. As it happened, someone looking exactly like Batman robbed a supermarket, so Captain Courageous took the real Dark Knight detective into custody as he sipped on a soda — two straws — with Catwoman (Julie Newmar) no less.
I love it when Courageous reveals he’s originally from California, and Robin (Ward) replies as only the Boy Wonder can, “Holy Hollywood — an out-of-towner!” Adams played the kooky Courageous only twice on Batman. He appeared in the back-to-back season 2 episodes “Catwoman Goes to College” and “Batman Displays His Knowledge.”
Lawrence Montaigne
Lawrence Montaigne has the distinction of guest starring in two of the most popular episodes of The Original Series. First, Montaigne portrayed the power-hungry and manipulative Decius, who served under the Romulan Commander (Mark Lenard) during season 1’s “Balance of Terror.”
Montaigne would later return as a completely different character in season 2 playing the Vulcan Stonn, who T’Pring (Arlene Martel) chose over Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in “Amok Time.”
Meanwhile, Montaigne appeared in season 2 of Batman as the duplicitous Mr. Glee. Montaigne got to portray a villain alongside the Clown Prince of Crime (Cesar Romero) while also matching wits with Batman (West) and Robin (Ward) in the back-to-back episodes “The Joker’s Last Laugh” and “The Joker’s Epitaph.”
Gene Dynarski
Gene Dynarski was another in a long line of guest stars who appeared more than once during The Original Series’ run from 1966 to 1969. The character first showed up as the miner Ben Childress in season 1’s “Mudd’s Women,” and he had the opportunity to share plenty of screen time with both William Shatner’s Captain Kirk and Roger C. Carmel’s Harry Mudd.
During season 3, Dynarski portrayed Krodak in a much smaller role during the episode “The Mark of Gideon.” However, he would also show up in Star Trek: The Next Generation as another character years later.
As wonderful as it must have been to work with Shatner and Carmel, Dynarski’s character Benedict was rubbing elbows with none other than horror movie maestro Vincent Price in the back-to-back Batman episodes “An Egg Grows in Gotham” and “The Yegg Foes in Gotham.” Price became a sensation starring as Egghead on the West-led television series, and Dynarski served as one of the villain’s “Egg-pert” underlings.
Fred Carson
Poor Fred Carson's single appearance on Star Trek isn't a very memorable one as he is credited as being the "First Denevan" in the TOS season 1 episode "Operation – Annihilate!" When Kirk and the landing party beam down to discover why contact can't be reestablished with those on the planet, including his own brother, Sam Kirk, Carson's character shows up clad in an orange jumpsuit along with three other weapon-wielding Denevans — who are all promptly stunned by a barrage of phaser fire.
Carson made several appearances on the Batman TV series, but he went down in history as being the final actor to portray the Joker on the show, not Cesar Romero! In the next-to-last episode of Batman's television run, "The Entrancing Dr. Cassandra," six of Gotham's most well-known and dangerous villains are broken out of jail, including the Clown Prince of Crime, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, Egghead, and even King Tut.
Unfortunately, everyone of these iconic Batman baddies was being portrayed by stand-in actors rather than the big names which brought them to life over the course of three seasons. Sadly, Carson will be forever linked to this infamous honor and episode, which could have been the television event of the '60s had Romero, Julie Newmar/Eartha Kitt, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin/John Astin, Vincent Price, and Victor Buono been cast to reprise their beloved roles. In fairness to ABC, the budget would have been astronomical to bring them all back. Holy bankruptcy, Batman!
Look for a new entry in our Star Trek/Batman crossover content "same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!" Translation: every Tuesday this month. Next is the third article in our Star Trek & Batman actors fans forgot starred in both shows coverage, which drops on Nov. 25. And if you missed our other entries, please be sure to check them out below:
Star Trek & Batman’s iconic crossover actors (ranked)
Star Trek & Batman actors fans forgot starred in both shows (Part 1)
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Live long and prosper, Trekkies! And you, too, Batmaniacs!