Stars of Star Trek: Hollywood Actors Who Made it Great

Twinkle, twinkle little star....

Star Trek sings Twinkle, Twinkle Super Star... Besides distant stars the starship Enterprise visited on television and in movies, scores of Hollywood's biggest stars sought out new life and boldly went where no others had gone before.

Occasionally, for these household names, Star Trek was the first professional acting job they landed. Names like: Ben Vereen, Joel Grey, Ashley Judd and Joan Collins share space alongside Trek veterans like William Shatner and Patrick Stewart.

Let's remember some of Hollywood's major stars that warped, beamed and shot phasers alongside Vulcans, Klingons and Borg.

Star Trek

Joan Collins- City On The Edge Of Forever

Don't expect her to be bossing around Captain Kirk ala Alexis in Dynasty. In fact, her character Edith Keeler falls in love with him, after he and Spock travel back in time to save an insane Dr. McCoy from tampering with the dreaded timeline. Collins is in fantastic form along with the emotionally charged story makes it one of the most beloved of any Star Trek.

Ricardo Montalban- Space Seed & Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan

Khan!! Montalban created his unforgettable villain on television, and Harve Bennett, producer of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan loved the character so much he invited Ricardo to come back and reprise his role for the film. Khan easily ranks as the most popular original villain and one of the great film villains of all time period.

Frank Gorshin- Let This Be Your Last Battlefield

Master voice impersonator, stand-up comic and actor, Gorshin is best known to television watchers as Riddler in the 1960's Batman series starring Adam West. Here, Gorshin is a bi-racial alien to the extreme - half his face his white, half black. Racial and war metaphors play strong here and Gorshin's performance never falls into cartoon territory, but yet doesn't skimp on broad theatrics. Each time I see it, I notice something new.

Terri Garr - Assignment Earth