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STAR TREK AUTOGRAPHS

The 1950s and 60s were decades when Americans were fascinated with all things involving space travel. With the advent of sending men into orbit this increased the interest. In 1966 Gene Roddenberry created the television Sci-Fi adventure Star Trek. It was not an overnight success by any means. Syndication actually put it on the map since it attracted younger non-prime time viewers. Early Star Trek "conventions" were underway almost from the beginning with dedicated fans (mostly younger) showing their support. After the series was cancelled a cartoon series Star Trek: The Animated Series was created with all the major cast except for Walter Koenig providing voices. The lack of Koenig was apparently apparently a cost saving measure. Star Trek became my favorite Sci-Fi show surpassing my previous favorite of Lost in Space. The series expanded to several movies with many of the original stars in the same roles.

Many Star Trek collectors concentrate on the seven or eight major actors/actresses that had recurring roles on the show. For my own collection I tend to expand that (as I tend to do with all my collections) to include some somewhat minor characters and also favorite guest stars. The ones included below are my idea of a good collection.

Unlike most on AML I tend to dislike multi-signed pieces this is due in part to the fact that I do not frame ans display. I prefer the notebook method. That is simply a matter of personal preference many friends have great framed "walls" of autographs. My list for "major" autographs are the first seven the remainder I like to have since they had identifiable roles on the show. The number after the name is the number of episodes according to imdb.

William Shatner (79) Capt. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy (80) Lcdr. Spock
DeForrest Kelley (76) Lcdr. Dr. McCoy
James Doohan (66) Lcdr. Scott (One is credit only)
Nichelle Nichols (70) Lt. Uhura
George Takei (52) Lt. Sulu
Walter Koenig (36) Lt. Chekov
Majal Barrett (36) Nurse Chapel/computer voice
Grace Lee Whitney (8) Yoeman Janice Rand
John Winston (11) Lt. Kyle
Eddie Paskey (60) Lt. Leslie/others
David L. Ross (9) Lt. Galloway/others
Sean Morgan (7) Lt. O'Neill/others
Paul Baxley (10) Security/others

As for guests I merely add ones that were personal favorites of mine. Spock's parents played by Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt are examples. John Fiedler, Elisha Cook, Jr.,William Schallert, Lee Bergere, William Campbell, Bruce Hyde, Stanley Adams, Roger Carmel, Ian Wolfe, Ken Lynch, Byron Morrow, James Gregory and many others are on my list.

As a collector I am more interested in the signature than the photograph it is on. While I like to have them on Star Trek items is not a necessity for me.

Tags: DeForrest, Doohan, George, James, Kelley, Koenig, Leonard, Nichelle, Nichols, Nimoy, More…

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on March 10, 2017 at 3:29pm

Thank you, Greg! Carmel is scarce but they are out there. There is a nice authentic vintage 8x10 on eBay right now but they want $299. Personally, I would not pay that high but it is an excellent example. I remember him on The Mother's In Law with Kaye Ballard and Eve Arden. He also did an episode of the Star Trek cartoon series again as Harry Mudd.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on March 10, 2017 at 3:37pm

Harry Mudd was originally scripted to be in a season one episode of The Next Generation, but Roger Carmel died before filming, and the episode was rewritten. It would have been a great cameo.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on March 10, 2017 at 5:11pm

Great bit of trivia Rich! I never heard about that one. It would have been an amazing episode, much like all the other later Treks which had episodes that paid homage to the original series.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on March 10, 2017 at 5:15pm

It would have been cool to see him in one more episode. Mudd was briefly referenced in Star Trek Into Darkness, so we might at least see the character pop up again in the movies sometime soon.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on March 10, 2017 at 5:40pm

When I was little I used to think how neat it would have been if Audrey Meadows had played Mudd's wife. It is easy to imagine her as some extreme over-the-top space-age Alice Kramden with the lines in that role yelled at Harcourt.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on March 11, 2017 at 8:17am

That would have been great casting. Carmel and Kaye Ballard were always so good together.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 10, 2017 at 3:56pm

Great thread. I have collected Star Trek over the years as well.

Here is one that probably isn't too common. Vic Perrin as Tharn.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on March 10, 2017 at 5:50pm

Thank you so much for posting this Steve. He was a great voice actor so probably did not get a lot of requests for autographs. He did a couple of Twilight Zone episodes also.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 10, 2017 at 5:55pm

I am a big fan of old time radio, and Perrin was an accomplished radio actor for decades. That is how I stumbled across this many years ago on eBay. Perrin died in 1989, so he is a tough one. It's unfortunate so many of the great character and voice actors of the 40s-60s have been forgotten.

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on March 10, 2017 at 6:55pm

When I was in Senior High School and College I used to listen to E. G. Marshall on the CBS Mystery Hour. I loved that show it had great voice actors and even big name actors like Fred Gwynne. They used to have conventions for radio actors Frank Nelson used to go those. I also love to listen to the old radio shows. Hard to get a lot of kids interested the concept of using your imagination to fill in what voice says is foreign to them.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 10, 2017 at 4:05pm

I have a number of Shatners in my collection. You used to be able to join his fanclub for like $20 and they'd send you a free signed photo. They all looked good to me, so I stocked up.

Here is a Shatner I got in person at a Creation show in Brooklyn back in the mid 90s. I got the photo myself and love it. Not a pose you see signed often.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on March 10, 2017 at 4:14pm

Shatner is the only autograph of the original cast I have, actually. He was charging $75 a few years ago at Wizard World, and I figured I should do it. He's had a reputation as not one of the warmer personalities, but he was polite and looked me in the eye and told me thank you for coming. It was short but cool.