The death Wednesday of actor Walter Koenig at 90 marked a sad passage for the many fans of the original Star Trek series. He was cherished as Ensign Pavel Chekov, joining the series in its second season and reprising the role in six original cast Star Trek feature films.
His death leaves just two members of the original cast: William Shatner (Captain Kirk) 95, and George Takei (Sulu), 89.
Koenig was born in Chicago the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. Prior to Star Trek, he played a role as a Marine Corps Sgt. on Gene Roddenberry’s previous NBC series, The Lieutenant.
Post Star Trek, Koenig found work as a writer of films and TV shows, penning scripts for Star Trek: The Animated Series, Family and The Powers of Matthew Star among other projects. He also wrote several books including the autobiography, “Warped Factors: A Neurotic’s Guide to the Universe” as well as a graphic novel, and also directed several plays. He also kept acting, including a role on two episodes of the Canadian sci-fi series Starlost in the mid-’70s.
Koenig’s role on Star Trek came at the sugestion that the series needed a younger crew member — and, sure, with a Beatles haircut — to draw better demos. There was also the rumour — one fanned by NBC’s public relations team — that the role of Chekov was created in response to criticism in the Soviet Union’s Communist Daily newspaper Pravda. The apparent, space age-era complaint: No Russian on an American soap-opera? What gives comrades?
I boldly dug into this debate in my now prohibitedly over-priced book, “Truth and Rumors: The Reality Behind TV’s Most Famous Myths” (2007). There is reason to believe that Roddenberry did react to an outside suggestion that he diversify his flight deck. After all, the series, set in the 23rd century, already boasted an African-American female communications officer (Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nicols), an Asian flight control officer (Sulu), Scotty (James Doohan), and a Vulcan (first officer Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy).
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And, yes, not one but TWO Canadians: Doohan and Shatner.
Notes from Roddenberry indicate he was already looking for a “young, irreverent, English-accented, ‘Beatle type'” as early as September, 22, 1966, which was shortly after the series launched. He even had an actor in mind: Davy Jones, just breaking big that same Fall of ’66 in another NBC rookie series, The Monkees.
Trouble was, Jones had a job. When Koenig joined Star Trek in the fall of ’67 he wore a wig for a few episodes until his own hair looked like more of a Monkee mop top.
Gone, however, was any hint of a British accent with Chekov clearly the Russian on board the Enterprise.
NBC put out releases at the time with quotes attributed to Roddenberry suggesting omitting a Russian on Star Trek, “was a major error on our part.” Desilu vice president Herb Solow even claimed at one point that Roddenberry wrote a letter to the minister of cultural affairs in Russia apologizing for the error.
Trouble is, no one has even found any Star Trek screed in the pages of Pravda. Beaming up an American TV show was not so easy in the Sovet Union in 1966. Would this have been reported? One can imagine Spock chiming in, “Highly illogical.”
Shatner, of course, eventually shared his two cents, dismissing the Pravda rumour as “the product of an overzealous public relations department” in his 1993 book, “Star Trek Memories.”
I never had a chance to interview Koenig. In 2007, however, when he was appearing on NBC’s sci-fi hit Heroes, I asked George Takei about this nagging bit of Star Trek lore. What I got was a “shields up” kind of response.
“I’ll tell you what the truth of this is,” Takei said to me. He lobbied hard in Season One for Roddenberry and the writers to beef up his part. The excutive producer agreed, and the plan was for Sulu to say more starting with Season Two.
Takei, however, got bogged down between seasons shooting “The Green Berets” with John Wayne. When that shoot dragged on into the start of the Star Trek production schedule, Roddenberry, according to Takei, was forced to hire another actor — Koenig — and give that character the lines intended for Takei.
“I had those lines memorized!” insisted Takei. “After all my hard lobbying, all my hard work, this guy comes in from nowhere and takes my scenes!Those were the words Chekov was muttering. I hated Walter before I even met him!”
Not only that, Takei had to share his dressing room with Koenig. “That made me hate him even more!”
Takei quicky got over it. He even began to pity “the poor young actor who had to wear that wig.” They became such good friends that Koenig was Takei’s Best Man at his 2008 wedding to Brad Altman.
Not that you would have read about that in Pravda.
