And The Name Is William Schallert!

Schallert is definitely one of those actors that people recognize by both face and voice ...
... older television viewers may remember him as Patty Duke's father on "The Patty Duke Show"...
... but Trekkies ("Like yourself?" you ask. "Hey, I'm not the only one!" I respond defensively) will remember him as "Nilz Baris" in the "...Trouble With Tribbles" episode of Star Trek (The Classic Series- natch) .

By now you're probably saying, "Oh yeah, that guy." And it's Schallert that was one of the main inspirations for this blog. An actor of decency and intelligence this is one of those guys who frickin' works, man, and you can see that by looking at the bazillion* entries in his IMDB listing here.

Let see what those storytellers at Wikipedia have to say...

William Schallert (born July 6, 1922 in Los Angeles, California), is an actor who has appeared in many movies and television series such as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, and Get Smart.

He is best known as patriarch Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show and as teacher Leander Pomfritt on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Coincidentally, on both shows, he worked opposite the late actress Jean Byron.

He is also very well known for playing the role of Nilz Baris on the Star Trek episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles". He also appeared in the archive footage of that episode which was used in the popular Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". Schallert appeared in DS9 himself, in the second season episode "Sanctuary", in which he played Varani, a Bajoran musician.

Schallert starred in an innovative 1964 TV pilot for ABC called Philbert, which combined live action camera work and animation. Created by Friz Freleng and directed by Richard Donner, ABC backed out of the series shortly before full production was to begin, though the completed pilot was released in theatres as a short subject.

He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1979 to 1981 (his former co-star and TV daughter, Patty Duke would succeed him between from 1985 to 1988).

He continues to work steadily, appearing most recently in a 2007 episode of How I Met Your Mother, and his distinctive voice continues to bring him work for commercial and animation voiceovers.

Speaking of voiceovers, Schallert was also the voice of "Milton The Toaster" the cartoon spokes-appliance for Poptarts.

I met him at the Stars Of The Twilight Zone convention in 2002 in Los Angeles. You can see pictures of that event here, and maybe see me and the missus in one of the photos. Probably not, but I can dream, can't I?

We were there to drum up support for and shoot some footage for a documentary pilot idea I had with the same name as this blog. While there, I talked to quite a number of my character actor heroes, and one of them was Schallert. As you will find in reading through some of the links I have provided, he is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and we talked a for a long, long time.

At his autograph-signing table. While others were waiting. To get his autograph. And finally, after about twenty minutes, he very politely said "Would you mind? I don't want these other folks to go away empty handed."

I'm a big jerk. And Mr. Schallert, if you're reading this, (as I said at the time) I'm very sorry.

William Schallert. Actor. Former SAG president. Genuinely nice guy.

*"Bazillion", yet another Stephen Hawkins numerical designation. Or an order of ordained priests who follow in the footsteps of St. Basil.