Film and Television Actor William O'Connell Is Dead at 94
Image: Paramount Global / Access Entertainment News / Memory Alpha
He was the son of newspaper journalists, journeyed from Orion to the high plains, and became a librarian at his wife’s urging. Film and television actor William O’Connell has died at the age of 94, as reported by Deadline.
O’Connell was born in Los Angeles to editors at the Los Angeles Examiner and the Los Angeles Times and attended a British drama school. His first role was in the television series, Highway Patrol, in 1959.
Star Trek fans know him as Thelev, the Orion posing as an Andorian sent to destroy the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series’ second season episode, “Journey to Babel.”
O’Connell made many television guest appearances in shows ranging from The Twilight Zone and Mission: Impossible to Batman and Gunsmoke. His film appearances included multiple Clint Eastwood productions, such as High Plains Drifter and Every Which Way But Loose.
In a 2019 interview, O’Connell noted the irony of going “to a British drama school to learn to speak received speech, and then you’re put into westerns…. But in Hollywood, you play as cast, you perform as directed. I have no complaints.”
Please join us in offering our condolences to the friends and family of William O’Connell.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
