While watching old episodes of Trek, I’ve always thought that Majel Barrett (No. 1, Nurse Christine Chapel) could have been a twin, or at least a sister to the great comic actress Eve Arden. (Our Miss Brooks, Mildred Pierce, Grease). Both women had similar speech delivery and mannerisms. Check out any of Ms. Arden’s movies and you’ll see what I mean. With this in mind, I gathered up a bunch of other celebrity lookalikes in the Star Trek Universe. Let me know if you can think of any more!
Wasn’t Chekov’s look based on Davy Jones?
Gene Rodddenberry’s official story was that Chekov was hired as a Russian on the Enterprise because he wanted to show that in the future, we could all get along. In reality, Roddenberry was seeking out more viewership from a younger audience, (like the ones watching “The Monkees” on NBC) so they found Walter Koenig, to play a young ensign, who did bear a strong resemblance to Davy Jones. Roddenberry added the Russian name and accent to back up his story (total baloney about good Russian relations, he just wanted the teeny-boppers to watch!) Poor Walter had to wear an awful wig for his first few episodes until his hair grew in sufficiently! For years after Trek, people would mistake him for the real Davy Jones, poor guy!
I was 6 in 1967 when Chekov first appeared, but even then, I was more into Spock!
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