Template:Realworld
Richard Herd as L'Kor
.jpg){kind=link}
Richard Herd as Admiral Owen Paris
Richard Herd (born 26 September 1932; age 91) is an American veteran film and television actor known to Star Trek fans for his appearances as Admiral Owen Paris on Star Trek: Voyager. He had previously appeared as the Klingon L'Kor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Birthright, Part I" and "Birthright, Part II".
Herd is perhaps best known for his role in the science fiction mini-series V and V: The Final Battle. He is also known for starring opposite William Shatner in the 1980s police drama T.J. Hooker, for playing Admiral Noyce on the series SeaQuest DSV, and for his recurring role as Mr. Wilhelm on the hit sitcom Seinfeld. At one point, Herd was the 3rd National Vice-President of the Screen Actors Guild.
He is a member of the Enterprise Blues Band, a musical group that writes and performs songs about Star Trek. The other members are Vaughn Armstrong, Casey Biggs, Steve Rankin, William Jones and Ronald B. Moore. Herd plays the gut box bass, kazoo, and sings some of the back-up vocals.
Early life
Herd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He began acting in high school and participated in a two-year apprenticeship-acting program with the Boston Summer Stock Theater. After graduating from high school, Herd enlisted in the Army, serving for less than a year in 1953 and receiving a discharge as a private.
Early career
He made his film debut playing an athletics coach in the cult 1970 fantasy comedy Hercules in New York, which also marked the film debut of Arnold Schwarzenegger. His breakthrough role came in the 1976 Academy award-winning film All the President's Men. Stephen Collins, Nicolas Coster, Paul Lambert, and F. Murray Abraham also had roles in this film. Incidentally, Herd previously appeared with Abraham in an episode of Kojak the previous year.
Herd's subsequent film credits include Norman Jewison's 1978 drama F.I.S.T. (with Kevin Conway), the Academy Award-nominated 1979 suspense thriller The China Syndrome, and the 1979 crime drama The Onion Field. Many other Star Trek alumni appeared in the latter film, including John Savage in the lead role and Phillip R. Allen, K Callan, Ronny Cox, John de Lancie, Christopher Lloyd, and Michael Pataki playing supporting roles. The Onion Field was edited by John W. Wheeler.
Herd and the aforementioned Christopher Lloyd again worked together in the 1980 horror film Schizoid, which also starred Marianna Hill and Craig Wasson. That same year, Herd was seen as Brigadier General Foley in the hit comedy film Private Benjamin. Lilyan Chauvin, Alan Oppenheimer, and Keone Young had roles in this film, as well.
Between 1975 and 1982, Herd guest-starred on such television series as The Streets of San Francisco (with Andrew Robinson), Eight Is Enough (with James Cromwell), and M*A*S*H (with David Ogden Stiers). He also had a recurring role on the primetime soap opera Dallas, during which time he worked with Michael Bell, Joanna Cassidy, Susan Howard, Leigh J. McCloskey, William Windom, and Morgan Woodward.
Herd played General of the Army Omar Bradley in the 1979 TV miniseries Ike, a role previously played by Karl Malden (an actor for whom Herd is often mistaken) in the film Patton. (Jonathan Banks, Whit Bissell, William Boyett, K Callan, Laurence Luckinbill, and William Schallert also had roles in Ike.) Herd played another historical general, Leslie Groves, in the 1980 TV movie Enola Gay: The Men, the Mission, the Atomic Bomb, which also featured Kim Darby, Stephen Macht, and Robert Pine.
One of Herd's best-known roles is that of Police Captain Dennis Sheridan, whom he played for three seasons on the television series T.J. Hooker, which starred William Shatner in the title role. James Darren was a regular on this series, as well. Some of the directors Herd worked with on this series included Corey Allen, Cliff Bole, Winrich Kolbe, Leonard Nimoy, and even Shatner himself.
V and other science fiction works
Outside of Star Trek, Herd is also well known for his role in NBC's 1983 science fiction mini-series V, in which he played John, the Visitors' Supreme Commander. He reprised this role in the 1984 sequel, V: The Final Battle. Both of these projects starred DS9 guest actors Michael Durrell and Andrew Prine. V: The Final Battle starred TNG and VOY guest star Mark L. Taylor and TNG/DS9 guest star Dick Miller.
Since his role on V, Herd has made appearances on several well-known science fiction shows, including Quantum Leap with Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell. He made several appearances as Admiral Noyce on the sci-fi series seaQuest DSV alongside other Trek guest stars such as Stephanie Beacham, Rosalind Ingledew, and Marco Sanchez. Herd even reunited with his T.J. Hooker co-star William Shatner in the "Hide and Seek" episode of seaQuest DSV. Some of Herd's other genre roles include guest spots on Beauty and the Beast (starring Ron Perlman) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with Willie Garson).
Herd also played Chairman in the popular 1985 science fiction film Trancers. In 1996, Herd co-starred with LeVar Burton and Malcolm McDowell in the HBO sci-fi movie Yesterday's Target. In the 1998 TV movie I Married a Monster, Herd worked with Vaughn Armstrong and Tim de Zarn. Most recently, Herd had a supporting role in the science fiction film InAlienable, written by and co-starring Walter Koenig. This film's cast also included Erick Avari, Gary Graham, J.G. Hertzler, Andrew Koenig, Judy Levitt, Lisa LoCicero, Courtney Peldon, Jeff Rector, Alan Ruck, and TNG regular Marina Sirtis.
Other works
In addition to the above, Herd had supporting roles in such films as the 1983 crime comedy Deal of the Century (with Graham Jarvis, Richard Libertini, Tony Plana, and Wallace Shawn), the 1985 romantic comedy Summer Rental (starring Karen Austen and John Larroquette), the 1987 buddy comedy Planes, Trains & Automobiles (with Bill Erwin, Larry Hankin, Michael McKean, and William Windom), and the 1987 thriller Gleaming the Cube (with Art Chudabala, Ed Lauter, and starring Christian Slater). Some of his more recent films include 1996's Sgt. Bilko (with Pamela Segall), 1997's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (with Bob Gunton, Anne Haney, and Leon Rippy), and 2005's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (with Tim Russ and Time Winters).
Herd is well-known for his recurring role as Wilhelm on the hit sitcom Seinfeld, starring fellow Voyager guest actor Jason Alexander. Other TV appearances include a guest-starring role in The A-Team, which included his Voyager co-star Dwight Schultz in the main cast, and two appearances on Hardcastle and McCormick, starring Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly in the title roles.
Appearances
- TNG: "Birthright, Part I", "Birthright, Part II", as L'Kor
As Admiral Owen Paris
- VOY:
- "Pathfinder"
- "Inside Man"
- "Author, Author"
- "Endgame"
External links
- RichardHerd.com - official web site
- Richard Herd at Wikipedia
- Template:IMDb-link