FINAL FRONTIER

‘Star Trek’ Legend Dies at 90

His longtime friend and co-star George Takei remembered him as a “thoughtful man, and a loyal friend.”

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Walter Koenig, who helped bring the USS Enterprise to life as Russian crewman Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series, died Sunday. He was 90. The Chicago-born actor reprised the role in seven films between 1979 and 1994, earning Saturn Award nominations for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He later appeared in the sci-fi series Babylon 5. Koenig recalled learning he had landed the Star Trek role when, after hours of waiting following his audition, staff ushered him into a wardrobe room to be fitted for his costume. “And that’s the auspicious way I learned I was on Star Trek and it was going to change my life,” Koenig said in a 2013 interview. He also wrote a memoir and television scripts, and wrote, produced, and starred in the 2010 sci-fi film InAlienable. Koenig’s death leaves just two surviving members of the original Star Trek series’ principal cast: William Shatner, 95, and George Takei, 89. “Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades,” Takei wrote on Instagram, remembering Koenig—who served as best man at Takei’s 2008 wedding—as a “thoughtful man, and a loyal friend.”