जीवनी

1 दिसंबर 1928 · न्यूयॉर्क शहर, न्यूयॉर्क, संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका

13 मार्च 2013 · Brentwood, कैलिफोर्निया, संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका (फेफड़ों का कैंसर)

5′ 8″ (1.73 मी)

Deep baritone voice

My first agent told me to change my name or I'd only play Jewish parts or Indians. Of course I refused to change it. Shortly thereafter she came up to me and told me I had to keep it, because her numerologist said it was very, very good.

Gene Roddenberry called me in for Star Trek (1966) and asked me what part I wanted. I told him Spock, but he said he already had Leonard Nimoy for that. I thought, "Well, back to the unemployment line," but then he offered me the part of Dr. McCoy. I was tempted, but I turned it down. There's an old saying among actors: "Never be the third man through the door," and I felt I would always be the third man in that role.

[on his acting in the original Star Trek (1966) pilot] What most people don't know is that I not only played Commodore Mendez in "The Menagerie", but I also did the voices of the Talosian women. And I did them without special effects.

I was playing the villain False-Face on Batman (1966), and I got wind that they were going to pay a young starlet $25,000 to be in the same episode. Well, I wasn't getting anywhere near that amount of money, so I refused to let them put my name in the credits. With all the make-up I had on nobody could tell who I was, and since the show had a reputation of attracting big-name actors, everyone wanted to know who played False-Face. It was a two-part episode, so after the first week the papers were a buzz. Eventually, I cooled down and let them put my name at the end of the second episode. It was the best press I ever got in my life.

[on being fired from It Takes a Thief (1968)] They had this idea of shooting the whole season in Italy, but they wanted me to stay behind and give [Robert] Wagner's character, Alexander Mundy, orders over the phone. I told them if I didn't go I'd quit, and I did. The show didn't last another half a season.