Star Trek: Discovery actor Kenneth Mitchell passes away at 49

Star Trek: Discovery actor, Kenneth Mitchell, and regular contributor to Star Trek: Discovery has passed away at 49 years old. The actor suffered from ASL, more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease. It affected his motor functions, and it eventually left him wheel-chair bound, until he lost the ability to speak. Despite his declining health, Discovery still kept him on as a recurring actor.

He first appeared on Star Trek: Discovery's second episode; "Battle of the Binary Stars' as the Klingon Kol. He'd appear in the role across four additional episodes before taking on another Klingon role. He played Kol's father, Kol-Sha but only for one episode. After that, he'd appear as Tenavik in one episode, bringing a close to the Klingons he played in the series.

He'd return in season three, now bound to a wheelchair as a brand new character; Aurellio, a human scientist who appears in two episodes of the season.

He also had a few roles on Star Trek: Lower Decks, where he played three characters in one episode. He played an unnamed Tweerk Captain, a Romulan guard, and a Black Ops operative (#2) in the episode Veritas.

Sadly, that was all he did with Star Trek before his health declined to the point he couldn't act anymore.

Beyond Star Trek, he had several other major roles. He had a small role in the first Captain Marvel film, playing Joseph Danvers, the father of the main character. He also played Ralph Cox in the 2004 film, "Miracle", based on the 1980 men's hockey team that beat the undefeated Soviet Union.

While he was on a variety of shows, from Grimm to Minority Report and Haven, his biggest role that most fans will recognize him from came from the 2006 cult-classic Jericho, where he played Eric Green, one of the main characters on the show.