Post by jdv on Feb 5, 2024 14:04:07 GMT -5
"Actor William O’Connell, who played a “Star Trek” villain and a Clint Eastwood nemesis, is dead at the age of 94.
O’Connell was a friend of Eastwood and appeared in a number of Eastwood’s films, including “Paint Your Wagon,” “High Plains Drifter,” “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” “Every Which Way but Loose” and “Any Which Way You Can.”
O’Connell also appeared in multiple TV shows in the 1960s, including “Highway Patrol,” “Peter Gunn,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Dennis the Menace,” “Bonanza,” “Batman” and “The Lucy Show.”
O’Connell was born on May 12, 1929, in Los Angeles."
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He was also a vet of the Korean war, where he earned a Bronze Star and other medals in the 45th Infantry.
He was another of those guys you'd see constantly on TV but never know their name. In was in over 50 TV shows at one point or another. TWILIGHT ZONE, STAR TREK, OUTER LIMITS, BONANZA, BATMAN, MUNSTERS - just some of the shows we've all seen that Bill was in.
Obviously most of that generation of working-class actors is gone now, but without the Bill O'Connell's of the world, the cinema & TV would have been a lot more boring.
He was good enough for Clint, and I think that really says it all.
RIP
