Star Trek has a long history of pulling talent from unexpected places, but one of its creepiest villains came courtesy of an actor most fans first knew as an entirely different kind of TV icon. In the must-see Star Trek: The Original Series season 1 episode "Arena," Ted Cassidy provided the eerie voice of the alien Gorn captain. By that time, though, Cassidy was best known to ’60s audiences as Lurch, the playfully taciturn butler from The Addams Family (1964–1966).
1. The legendary voice of the Gorn captain
While other actors wore the now-iconic reptilian Gorn suit, Cassidy gave the alien captain its voice — and much of its intimidation factor — helping overcome the fact that the character moved slowly and the costume looked like rubber, as Captain Kirk (William Shatner) was forced into single combat under the watchful eyes of godlike beings known as the Metrons. The episode remains one of the most discussed installments of The Original Series, and much of the credit is due to the unforgettable and incredibly menacing voice performance of Cassidy.
Born Theodore Crawford Cassidy on July 31, 1932, Cassidy’s imposing height (listed at 6 feet 9 inches) and rich, resonant voice made him a natural fit for roles that needed size, presence, or menace. On The Addams Family, he turned a near-silent character into a memorable presence with a single improvised line, “You rang?” That moment helped define Lurch and cemented Cassidy’s place in TV history.
In the first season of The Original Series, several unsettling adversaries were brought to life not through startling visuals alone, but through the unmistakable voice of Cassidy. In fact, even though the Gorn is his most memorable contribution to Star Trek, Cassidy’s voice work and on-screen presence helped shape a total of three distinct alien encounters from TOS season 1.