Changes: John Crawford

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John Crawford (13 September 1920 – 21 September 2010; age 90), born "Cleve Allen Richardson", was a film and television actor. He played Galactic High Commissioner Ferris in the first season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series entitled "The Galileo Seven". He filmed his scenes on Thursday 22 September 1966, Friday 23 September 1966 and Monday 26 September 1966 at Desilu Stage 9.

Thirty years after his performance in the Original Series, he revealed, still riled, that his experience on the series was less than a pleasant one, and he especially had issues with William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the episode, "William Shatner, the star of the series, was having an ego problem, and every time I walked on the set, I could just see it. I was not allowed to move around the set during the entire scene. He kept saying "No! No! No! No! This is the bridge of the ship and we can't be moving around." Well, that's a lot of bullshit. He always worried about people that were taller than him [note: Crawford was 6'0½" (1,84 m) tall]. He didn't want you to tower over him. Well, I needed this like a hole in my head. I had a personal tragedy, my baby had recently passed away. This was in 1966 and then I had trouble with Shatner." Crawford was also disappointed by the way how the director, a close personal friend, handled the situation, "My friend Bob Gist was directing it. Now sometimes Bob can be fun, and sometimes he can be a pain. I think he was playing it safe, didn't want to make an enemy of the star, because after all, he might want to do one of these again. Since I was a friend, he could say, "Well, John, why don't you take this line right here and hold the whole scene right here." It wasn't free and easy like all the things I did in Lost in Space, where I could do any damned thing I wanted. The first job, I think, of any director is to free the actor so that he can act with his head and to give him monumental confidence - hell, you can do anything." (Starlog, issue 223, p. 67)

Neither Crawford nor Gist ever worked for Star Trek again.

Career outside Star Trek

Crawford has made well over 200 film and television appearances. He is probably best known for portraying Sheriff Ep Bridges on the family drama The Waltons (1972-81) and for playing Major (and later Colonel) Harry Thompson in the 1979 mini-series Template:IMDb-name and its subsequent series, which lasted for only one season in 1980. Both co-starred regular Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actress Salome Jens, while the mini-series also featured another DS9 actor, Andrew Robinson.

Besides his role on Star Trek, he has also guest-starred on such classic TV shows (some of which like Star Trek Desilu Studios productions) as The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Batman, Mission: Impossible, Lost in Space, Bonanza, The Bob Newhart Show, and Dallas. He also made several appearances on The Time Tunnel, a science fiction series which starred James Darren, Lee Meriwether, and Whit Bissell, and had a recurring role on Dynasty, starring Joan Collins and Lee Bergere. Crawford's latest TV appearance was in a 1986 episode of Hardcastle and McCormick, starring Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly.

His many feature film credits include Mystery Street (1950, starring Ricardo Montalban and featuring Frank Overton), Template:IMDb-name (1950, also starring Ricardo Montalban and featuring Kenneth Tobey), Template:IMDb-name (1952, with Leonard Nimoy), Template:IMDb-name (1952, with Richard Hale), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952, with Lawrence Tierney), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956, with DeForest Kelley), The Longest Day (1962, with Richard Beymer and Jeffrey Hunter), Jason and the Argonauts (1963, with Nancy Kovack), The Americanization of Emily (1964, with William Windom), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965, with Nehemiah Persoff, John Abbott, Michael Ansara, Mark Lenard, and Celia Lovsky), Template:IMDb-name (1966, with John Hoyt), The Poseidon Adventure (1972, with Elizabeth Rogers), Trouble Man (1972, starring Robert Hooks and Paul Winfield), The Towering Inferno (1974, with Paul Comi and George D. Wallace), Night Moves (1975, with Harris Yulin and Kenneth Mars), and Template:IMDb-name (1979, with Kenneth Mars, Robert Pine, Rex Holman, Nick Ramus, John Arndt, and Vince Deadrick).

Crawford died of a stroke in Newbury Park, California, on 21 September 2010. He was 90 years old.[1]

Star Trek interview

"Merchant of Menace", Joel Eisner, Starlog, issue 223, February 1995, pp. 64-68

External link

Template:IMDb-link

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 | Characters        = [[Commissioner|Galactic High Commissioner]] [[Ferris (Commissioner)|Ferris]]
 }}
-'''John Crawford''' {{born|13|September|1920|died|21|September|2010}}, born "Cleve Allen Richardson", was a film and television actor. He played [[Commissioner|Galactic High Commissioner]] [[Ferris (Commissioner)|Ferris]] in the [[TOS Season 1|first season]] episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' entitled {{e|The Galileo Seven}}. He filmed his scenes on Thursday {{d|22|September|1966}}, Friday {{d|23|September|1966}} and Monday {{d|26|September|1966}} at [[Paramount Stage 31|Desilu Stage 9]].
+'''John Crawford''' {{born|13|September|1920|died|21|September|2010}}, born "Cleve Allen Richardson", was a film and television actor. He played [[Commissioner|Galactic High Commissioner]] {{dis|Ferris|Commissioner}} in the [[TOS Season 1|first season]] episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' entitled {{e|The Galileo Seven}}. He filmed his scenes on Thursday {{d|22|September|1966}}, Friday {{d|23|September|1966}} and Monday {{d|26|September|1966}} at [[Paramount Stage 31|Desilu Stage 9]].
 Thirty years after his performance in the ''Original Series'', he revealed, still riled, that his experience on the series was less than a pleasant one, and he especially had issues with [[William Shatner]], who played [[Captain]] [[James T. Kirk]] in the episode, "''William Shatner, the star of the series, was having an ego problem, and every time I walked on the set, I could just see it. I was not allowed to move around the set during the entire scene. He kept saying "No! No! No! No! This is the [[bridge]] of the ship and we can't be moving around." Well, that's a lot of bullshit. He always worried about people that were taller than him ''[note: Crawford was 6'0½" (1,84 m) tall]''. He didn't want you to tower over him. Well, I needed this like a hole in my head. I had a personal tragedy, my baby had recently passed away. This was in 1966 and then I had trouble with Shatner.''" Crawford was also disappointed by the way how the director, a close personal friend, handled the situation, "''My friend [[Robert Gist|Bob Gist]] was directing it. Now sometimes Bob can be fun, and sometimes he can be a pain. I think he was playing it safe, didn't want to make an enemy of the star, because after all, he might want to do one of these again. Since I was a friend, he could say, "Well, John, why don't you take this line right here and hold the whole scene right here." It wasn't free and easy like all the things I did in ''{{w|Lost in Space}}'', where I could do any damned thing I wanted. The first job, I think, of any director is to ''free'' the actor so that he can act with his head and to give him monumental confidence - hell, you can do anything.''" (''[[Starlog (magazine)|Starlog]]'', issue 223, p. 67)