Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine another member of the Star Trek Family Passes

acclaimed actor Brock Peters passed away yesterday at age 78. he had a povitatal roll
in " to kill a mocking bird" one of my all time favourite movies
those of you that now he played Admiral Cartwright in ST:IV & VI and he played Capt. Sisco's Father on DS 9. besides his ST work he did the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars radio broadcasts.
his body of work is long and endearing.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/23/obit.brock.peters.ap/index.html

Aww... I loved this actor. He will be missed.

Brock Peters caught my attention as the prosecuting attourney on the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA episode "Murder On The Rising Star". He later played an Admiral in both STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME and the same character in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (my pick for the best ST movie ever made). He also played Ben Sisko's father on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE.

But Brock's SCARIEST role was that of DARTH VADER-- in the STAR WARS radio shows. Being an audio format, he got a LOT more dialogue than James Earl Jones ever did, and as a result managed to come across FAR scarier that the guy in the movies!!!


(copied from an earlier post elsewhere)

My condolences to Mr. Peters' family.

I totally agree with you about STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. Awesome movie!

And I never knew that he was Darth Vader on the Star Wars radio show. I wasn't living in the States at the time, I missed it. The way you describe it makes it sound so good, I wish they'd release selected episodes on CD.

STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ran on PBS in Philly back when. I don't believe they ever ran RETURN OF THE JEDI. But a few years ago, I found out all 3 serials had been released on CD! (I still haven't heard the 3rd one, though.)

Among other things, the shows were all recorded in STEREO, and when I say that, I mean if you have your system set up properly, you may experience effects you never have in your own home before. There's scenes where I could clearly hear people standing in parts of the room where there weren't any speakers, and at one point, I heard a space ship fly by RIGHT over my head-- and there aren't any speakers up there, either! "Old time radio" this WASN'T.

you know i totaly forgot about his role on Battlestar Galactica in "Murder on the Risisng Star".

Truly sad...
I remember the Star Wars Radio saga. That was awsome. I saw the cd set at Barnes and Nobles and it has a good price tag. Christmas is on the way..hmmmm

Omg, they are available? This is great. Thanks for telling us about the radio show, profh001.

One role of Brock Peters' I had forgotten: he was the voice of General Newcastle on Challenge of the Go-Bots. I know a lot of people don't like that show, but I enjoyed it back in the day. I haven't watched an episode for about ten years, ever since Blockbuster drove the last few little independent video stores out of business. It probably wouldn't hold up as well as Transformers, but considering how good Transformers has held up (yes, I have all 98 Transfomers episodes on DVD,) I would probably still like it.

Oh man I love those Star Wars adaptations. The first one was the best though. I remember listening to them about 10 years ago on the NPR station across the border from my University town.

It was very hard to explain to my friends why I possibly could not go out for a sunday night dinner with them for 13 weeks straight.

Brock Peters also played the Police Chief on the Young and the Restless back in the 80's. He was a terific actor and I loved him in To Kill a Mockingbird. One of my all time favorites.

The Trek community lost another today, this one from behind the scenes. Robert Wise, the man who directed the first Trek film passed away at the age of 91. He was also responsible for directing the classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and two of the most beloved musicals ever, "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music".

A very well versed director if there ever was. Rest in peace.

Yeah I remember him. He was cool. Sad news.

Robert Wise got his baptism of fire in Hollywood with one of his early jobs: as film editor on "Citizen Kane." He was one of many that Orson Welles acknowledged as helping him look good. (Brash kids. They were both about 25.)

Damn, I wish I'd made a point of straining to go to ComicCon 2003, to see Wise in person. Now I never will.

I think I'll put on his Director's Cut, re-FXed and more crisply edited, of that underrated "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." And toast a great film creator.

Greybird lives!

All this reminds me how much I loved DS9. How I wish there could be a slightly more satisfying end to all those characters I loved...I'll always remember him in his New Orleans restaurant.

Oh man. Robert Wise has done some of my all-time favorite films... (and a few I didn't care much for that were cool anyway)

THE BODY SNATCHER
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP
WEST SIDE STORY
THE HAUNTING
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
STAR TREK: THE MOTION SICKNESS (sorry, couldn't help that one)

I often thought ST:TMP was his worst film. THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN had a similar design sense, and almost total lack of "action", but the characterizations in that were top-notch, almost every actor in it had one of the best roles of their careers, and the suspense near the end was amazing ("No one will be seated in the last 10 minutes"-- that means they didn't want anyone walking in on the end of the picture.)

I just saw RUN SILENT RUN DEEP a couple months ago, and was quite surprised how the main sub-plot, about a captain who'd trained for a year with his crew was suddenly reduced to first officer by a superior officer who wanted to use the sub for a "personal vendetta" was SO CLOSE to the Decker-Kirk situation in ST:TMP. But it was DONE BETTER in RUN SILENT!

THE SOUND OF MUSIC was my Dad's FAVORITE musical. We saw it in theatres on 3 different re-issues (remember those?), which makes it so baffling that he somehow NEVER saw it until 10 years after it first came out.

"I think I'll put on his Director's Cut, re-FXed and more crisply edited, of that underrated "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." And toast a great film creator."

What? You mean there's yet ANOTHER verson of that? Sheesh.

You might try renting it before you show revulsion at it. Netflix has it.

It's not the same movie. Release pressures got it butchered initially, and TV executives' stupidity did it a second time. For once, a Director's Cut really does fix the worst flaws.

Not that a dislike for the film's basic plot or the characterizations would be remedied by this, but Wise did make a valiant effort at making his vision clearer. He cared deeply about this.

I know when the network aired it, they put back about 15 minutes (the 15 minutes that "made the film make sense", as someone said in a letter printed in TV GUIDE), but they also aired an inferior print that was dark & murky. This "full-length" version was then released on video, BUT, from a much clearer print.

Do I take it Robert Wise's "director's cut" is NOT this "full-length" version? I could see further improvements being made... one shot that comes to mind is when the camera pans all around the bridge in one long shot without any dialogue. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the theatrical butcher job, but it doesn't do any favors having it in there either!

I know a lot of people felt that when they added back in all the missing "plot" scenes, they should have also cut about 75% of the V'Ger effects. I always felt the film seemed more a tribute to 2001 than STAR TREK!