Walter koenig biography

He began acting professionally in the mids and quickly rose to prominence for his supporting role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series — In addition to his acting career, Koenig has made a career in writing as well and is known for working on Land of the Lost , Family , What Really Happened to the Class of '65?

Rambridge, played by Robert Vaughn.

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I was one of only two people who auditioned for the part, which is quite extraordinary. Considering that this has so materially affected the last 35 years of my life Koenig began playing Ensign Pavel Chekov, navigator on the USS Enterprise , in the original Star Trek television series in the second season, and continued in the role in all of the films featuring the original cast, [ 7 ] including Star Trek Generations.

Koenig was unfamiliar with science fiction before being cast on Star Trek. Show creator Gene Roddenberry hoped that Koenig would increase the show's appeal to young people.

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The studio's publicity department, however, falsely ascribed the inclusion of Chekov to an article in Pravda that complained about the lack of Russians in Star Trek. As the year-old's hair was already receding, costume designers fashioned a Davy Jones-style "moptop" hairpiece for him. In later episodes, his own hair grew out enough to accomplish the look with a comb-over.

Roddenberry asked him to "ham up" his Russian accent to add a note of comic relief to the series. Chekov's accent has been criticized as inauthentic, in particular Koenig's substituting the "w" sound in place of a "v" sound e. Most of Koenig's fan mail came from children, and his popularity with fans contributed to him soon receiving a contract as a regular Star Trek cast member; this surprised Koenig, who had initially been told that Chekov would only be a recurring role.

When Takei returned, the two actors had to share a dressing room and a single script per episode. This reportedly angered Takei to the point where he considered leaving the show, although Koenig observed in a interview that, while sharing a dressing room with Takei and James Doohan , the three finally recognised their status as supporting players and after that "didn't think twice about it".

The character of Chekov did not appear in the animated Star Trek series.