Henry Darrow, who played both a “badmiral” and Chakotay’s father in Star Trek, has passed away at 87

Henry Darrow as Admiral Savar in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Kolopak in Star Trek: Voyager

MARCH 22, 2021 - Emmy-winning actor Henry Darrow has passed away. According to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, Darrow’s former publicist, Michael B. Druxman, announced last week that the actor died at home of natural causes last Sunday, March 14th. He was 87.

Star Trek fans will know Darrow for his two guest roles. In the Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episode “Conspiracy”, he played the Vulcan Admiral Savar, one of the high-ranking officials infected with the parasitic bluegills. Then in Star Trek: Voyager, he played the part of Kolopak, Chakotay’s father.

The great Henry Darrow has died. How thrilled I was to act with him. He was a gentleman and an artist of the highest rank. His intellectual curiosity, his generous spirit, his joyfulness, were his great attributes. All young actors should study Henry (as I did) and learn. Rest H.

— Robert Beltran (@robertbeltran74) March 15, 2021

But Star Trek was just one of Darrow’s numerous credits. He’s perhaps best known for playing Manolito Montoya in the NBC western The High Chaparral in the late 1960s. He also held series regular roles in the soap operas The Bold and the Beautiful and Santa Barbara (for which he won a Daytime Emmy in 1984). Overall, Darrow was an accomplished film and television actor who won accolades from both audiences and industry colleagues.

Born Enrique Tomás Delgado Jr. in New York, to Puerto Rican parents, Darrow was a child of both Manhattan and Puerto Rico. When he was 13, his family moved back to the Caribbean island, where he completed his schooling in political science before moving to California to be an actor.

In addition to his successful career, Darrow also advocated for underrepresented minorities. In 1972, he co-founded the Screen Actors Guild Ethnic Minorities Committee with fellow actors Edith Diaz, Carmen Zapata and (a name familiar to Trek fans) Ricardo Montalban. It would be 40 years later, in 2012, that Darrow was awarded the Ricardo Montalban Lifetime Achievement Award at the ALMA (or American Latino Media Arts) Awards.

Darrow is survived by his second wife Lauren, daughter Denise and brother Dennis. Please join me in sending condolences to Darrow’s family.