Lawrence Montaigne

"Every actor should have a Great Escape", wrote actor Lawrence Montaigne in his autobiography, "A Vulcan Odyssey". He was referring to The Great Escape (1963), in which he played a small role, as a Canadian prisoner (Haynes) who gets killed at the end of the film. Nonetheless, this was his self-declared favorite and career defining part. For most of us, Montaigne will be regarded as one of the most prolific science fiction actors of the era. We remember him as the robotic Mr. Glee in two seminal episodes of Batman (1966) versus "The Joker"; as Yellow Elk, a native American who finds himself in the base of The Time Tunnel (1966); as a Thrush agent on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), who manages to infiltrate U.N.C.L.E. headquarters; as a sinister alien assassin in The Invaders (1967); and on Star Trek (1966) as Spock's Vulcan "pon farr" rival, Stonn, and also as Decius, the first Romulan ever glimpsed on two episodes of the same series. A native New Yorker raised in Italy, Montaigne began his career in summer stock at the Belgrade Playhouse in Maine. He was multilingual, had trained as a classical dancer and first came to California as a member of the Hollywood Bowl Ballet Company. His introduction to the screen came both via dancing and stunt work in swashbucklers, the latter aided by his being an accomplished fencer. After his military service in the Marine Corps, he completed his training at the Dramatic Workshop in New York. His role in The Great Escape (1963) opened the doors to regular engagements in television in such series as Perry Mason (1957), The Fugitive (1963), The Rogues (1964), Hogan's Heroes (1965), and, of course, Star Trek (1966). He retired in the late 1980s. Based in Las Vegas, he continued to be much involved in the convention scene and while working as a translator of medical texts. Montaigne wrote a screenplay for Disney in 1978 and subsequently penned two novels: "The Guardian List" and "The Barrel of Death". He held a Masters Degree from North Texas State University where he lectured on film. Montaigne died on St. Patrick's Day 2017 in Henderson, Nevada, aged 86.