SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 - She was no badmiral, and when she spoke, people listened.

Actor and educator Fran Bennett has died at 84, on Sunday, September 12th. Bennett appeared as Admiral Shanthi in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season five episode, “Redemption II.” She also appears in a deleted scene as a Vulcan midwife in Star Trek (2009) along with fellow TNG guest actor Jill Lover.

According to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, Bennett was a veteran actor and faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts, who announced her death in a statement. Bennett was head of acting and director of performance at the Institute from 1996 to 2003. CalArts’ Dean Travis Preston said of Bennett that her “voice was unmistakable. She never shied away from using it. And she taught so many throughout the years to find and free their own. Before there were diversity committees and personnel at CalArts, there was Fran. She unceasingly championed students, artists and innovators of all backgrounds and demanded that leaders do more to serve the left out and kept out.”

Bennett’s appearances include stage, television, and film. Her onscreen debut was in Guiding Light, in 1965. She appeared in shows such as Roots: The Next Generations and St. Elsewhere and in films, most recently Jessabelle and the upcoming The Manor. Bennett was also a founding member of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company and an Ovation Award and NAACP Theatre Award winner.

For more on Fran Bennett, visit HollywoodReporter.com, and please join us in offering our condolences to her friends and family.