The original Star Trek television series was on the air from 1966-1969, which was a long time ago. No one knew it back then, but those first 80 episodes would spawn TV shows and movies for the next 55 years and beyond. Believe it or not, there are still some famous actors that appeared in TOS that are alive today. Let’s see who is still around.

Fred Williamson

Fred Williamson is famous for all kinds of reasons. Back in the day, he played in the NFL for the Steelers before switching to the Raiders and Chiefs in the AFL. Among many television and film roles, he played Anka in the 1969 episode “The Cloud Miners”.

Fred was born in Gary, Indiana in 1938 and is 83 years old today.

Phil Morris

He may be the least-famous actor on this list, but Phil Morris was on Star Trek a lot over the decades. Originally in the first series as an uncredited child, he played “boy in army helmet” in the 1966 episode “Miri”. Morris would later appear in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, as a Klingon and Jem’Hadar on Deep Space Nine, and as Lieutenant John Kelly on Voyager.

Since he was only a child in the 60’s, Phil Morris easily makes this list. He was born in Iowa City, Iowa in 1959 and is currently 62 years old.

Julie Newmar

Lee Merriwether, Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, and Anne Hathaway have all portrayed Catwoman, and Julie Newmar played the role in 13 episodes of the Batman TV series in the 60’s. Newmar was also in the original Star Trek as Eleen in “Friday’s Child” back in 1967.

Born Julia Chalene Newmeyer in Los Angeles in either 1932 or 1933, today she would be either 88 or 89 years of age.

I just learned that she is 5’11’…wow.

Clint Howard

It’s no wonder Clint Howard makes this list (he’s also the youngest here) as he was only 7 years old when he appeared as Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver”. His brother, and later famous director, Ron Howard was shooting The Andy Griffith Show at the same time.

Clint would continue his Star Trek credits as Grady in DS9’s “Past Tense, Part II” in 1995, and the Ferengi Muk in “Acquisition” on Enterprise in 2002. Fast-forward to 2018, and he would appear as an Orion in the Discovery episode “Will You Take My Hand?”.

To my knowledge, Clint Howard is the only actor to play roles in both The Original Series and Discovery. He was born in Burbank, California in 1959 and is 62 years old now.

Joan Collins

Joan Collins just won’t quit. I’ve seen her acting as recently as the 8th season of American Horror Story. Collins played Captain Kirk’s ill-fated love interest Edith Keeler in 1967’s “The City on the Edge of Forever”.

She was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth in 2015. Born in London in 1933, Joan Collins is 88 years old today.

Walter Koenig

Walter Koenig portrayed Pavel Chekov in 36 episodes from 1967-1969 as well as seven feature films (including the crossover Generations) and several video games.

Born in Chicago (no, he is not Russian) in 1936, Koenig is 85 years old today. It may be hard to believe, but Chekov wasn’t the youngest of the original cast.

George Takei

The title of “Youngest Original Cast Member” goes to George Takei. He played Hikaru Sulu on 52 episodes from 1966-1969, six feature films, many video games, 22 episodes of The Animated Series in the 70’s, and Voyager‘s 1996 episode “Flashback”.

Born Hosato Takei in Los Angeles in 1937, he lived in interment camps during WWII – which sucks. 84 years old today, George Takei is a proponent of LGBT rights and Japanese-American relations.

Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols has been credited as Nyota Uhura as recently as Star Trek First Frontier in 2020. She’s played that role in 69 episodes from 1966-1969, 22 episodes of The Animated Series, six feature films and several video games.

Back in the 60’s, it was almost unheard of for a black woman to have a prominent role on a television series. She is also credited with the first interracial television kiss with Captain Kirk in the 1968 episode “Plato’s Stepchildren”.

Born in Robbins, Illinois as Grace Dell Nichols in 1932, she is now 89.

UPDATE: Nichelle Nichols passed away on July 30th, 2022.

William Shatner

Yes, Captain Kirk is still around. In fact he recently got back from a trip on Blue Origin in October 2021, becoming the oldest human to go to space.

William Shatner boldly went were no man one had gone before as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in 79 episodes from 1966-1969, replacing Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Christopher Pike in the pilot. He was also Captain Kirk in 22 episodes of The Animated Series, seven feature films and numerous video games.

Like Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols, Shatner never made a cameo appearance in any of the later ‘Trek series or movies. His career was very prolific after Star Trek, with major roles in T.J. Hooker, The Practice and Boston Legal, as well as countless television and film roles.

William Shatner was born in 1931 in Montreal (yeah, he’s Canadian) and is 90 years old today.