Who Is Still Alive From ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’?
Star Trek premiered on Sept. 8, 1966, and made almost immediate stars of its main cast members like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Though the show was not an instant ratings smash and ended in 1969 after just three seasons and 79 episodes, syndication brought the USS Enterprise and its crew into homes around the world every day, growing the fame of the cast and weaving the show into popular culture.
Along the way, we’ve lost some cast members, including Leonard Nimoy, who passed in 2015, but would have celebrated his 94th birthday today. But many original Starfleet members are still with us, living long and prospering.
William Shatner (94)
Captain James Tiberius Kirk
Everett Collection; Victoria Sirakova/Getty Images
Though not always enthused about the intense and obsessive fandom the series brought him, Shatner did reprise the USS Enterprise leader Kirk’s cocky swagger in seven big-screen Star Trek films between 1979 and 1994. The actor also found more TV fame in the cop drama T.J. Hooker (1982-86) and with his Emmy-winning role as attorney Denny Crane in The Practice (1997-2004) and its spinoff, Boston Legal (2004-08) — as well as in countless commercials, voice-overs and cameos. Shatner has also had a music career, and his 2004 album Has Been was especially well received. He’s still making prominent appearances at fan conventions, and next year, he’ll be on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas for Star Trek: The Cruise in celebration of Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.
George Takei (87)
Hikaru Sulu
Everett Collection; Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images for Lambda Legal
In the decades following his role as Enterprise helmsman Sulu, Takei has appeared in a number of largely guest/supporting roles in film and on TV. His biggest projects came when he reprised Sulu in the first six Star Trek films.
The actor has also become known as an outspoken social activist, particularly for immigration policies and LGBTQ issues; he runs a number of incredibly popular social media accounts focused on the topics. Takei’s childhood experiences when he was forced with his family into a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II inspired the 2012 musical Allegiance, in which he starred, as well as Season 2 of the anthology TV series The Terror in 2019.
Walter Koenig (88)
Pavel Chekov
Everett Collection; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
The Chicago-born Koenig brought back Ensign Chekhov and his over-the-top Russian accent for the first seven Star Trek feature films and has voiced him in a number of Trek-inspired video games. The actor was also later well received by fans in another sci-fi series, Babylon 5, where he had the more antagonistic recurring role of Psi Cop Alfred Bester from 1994-98.
The many cast members who passed on also had long careers after they left the final frontier.
Leonard Nimoy (d. 2015)
Spock
Paramount/Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Although he will forever be linked with his iconic, Emmy-nominated role as the logical Vulcan Spock, Nimoy also went on to host the 1970s paranormal investigation series In Search Of… and costarred in the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He returned as Spock in the six initial Star Trek feature films and in the first two entries in the reboot of the big-screen franchise in 2009 and 2013. A talented director, Nimoy helmed 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as well as the hit 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby. He died in 2015 at the age of 83.
DeForest Kelley (d. 1999)
Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy
Everett Collection
Kelley reprised the often-grumpy Bones via voice-over (with much of the other original cast) in Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-74), and in live-action in the first six Star Trek movies as well as for a cameo in the 1987 series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). He died in 1999 at age 79, but, thanks to Kelley’s delivery, two of his character’s Bones-isms live on as among the most popular Star Trek catchphrases: “He’s dead, Jim,” and “I’m a doctor, not a ____” (sometimes misremembered as “Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor …”).
Nichelle Nichols (d. 2022)
Nyota Uhura
Paramount/Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Beyond sharing what is often cited as scripted U.S. television’s first interracial kiss with Shatner in a 1968 Trek episode, the fact that in 1966 an actress of color like Nichols was even cast on a major U.S. TV series — as a character who had as prominent a position as Uhura did as the Enterprise‘s bridge officer — was revolutionary in its own right and has continued to influence other African American TV characters and actors. Nichols reprised her groundbreaking role in the first six Star Trek films, and she and Uhura have also inspired many women and minorities to look to the stars for their life’s pursuits — starting in the late 1970s, she worked with NASA to help recruit a diverse field of astronauts. Nicols died in 2022 from heart failure.
James Doohan (d. 2005)
Montgomery “Scotty” Scott
Everett Collection
At conventions in the years after TOS, the Canadian-born Doohan learned to embrace the fandom that came from his role as the Enterprise‘s Scottish-accented chief engineer. He reprised the character in the first six Trek films and in a 1992 guest appearance on TNG. Doohan died in 2005 from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 85.
Majel Barrett (d. 2008)
Christine Chapel
Everett Collection
Remembered as Nurse Chapel, Barrett returned to the character in the first and fourth Trek films (with Chapel becoming a doctor, then commander). She later recurred as Lwaxana Troi on TNG and Deep Space Nine. Barrett was married to Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from 1969 until his death in 1991. She died in 2008 from leukemia at age 76.
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