Malachi Throne
Encyclopedia
Malachi Throne is an American
actor
, most noted for his roles on Star Trek
and It Takes a Thief.
Throne was born in New York City
. He first appeared on stage at the age of 10 in 1939 in the New York Parks Department production of Tom Sawyer
as Huckleberry Finn
.
, Ben Casey
, The Untouchables
, The Fugitive
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
("The Four-Step Affair" from 1965), Mannix
(portraying Inspector Frank Kyler in "Run Sheep Run" - 1967), Hogan's Heroes
and also co-starring, with Robert Wagner
, in the ABC
TV show It Takes a Thief. Throne also appeared in the 1965 season of Lost in Space
as the Thief in the episode "The Thief of Outer Space."
He made two appearances in the CBS
TV series Mission: Impossible
, in seasons 1 and 4, in the late 1960s. He also appeared twice in the Irwin Allen
series The Time Tunnel
, most notably in the episode "The Death Merchant", as Machiavelli
, lost in time at the Battle of Gettysburg
as well as co-starring in the episode "Night Of The Long Knives."
s first pilot episode, "The Cage
", which did not air in its original form until 1988, though most of the episode was included within the two-part episode "The Menagerie" when it aired in 1966. Throne was hired to play another role in "The Menagerie," which was technically a dual role: a commodore
in Starfleet named José I. Mendez, the officer in charge of the starbase where the story begins, and a replica of him created by Talosian illusion, who presides at Spock's court martial. Because his voice was recognizably the same as that of the Keeper, the Keeper's voice was electronically altered in pitch. Earlier in The Outer Limits
series he had guested in the "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (1964) episode with William Shatner
.
For the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation
he played Pardek, a Romulan
senator, in the two-part episode "Unification
".
In 2004, Throne appeared in the second episode of the Star Trek Fan Series New Voyages, "In Harms Way", playing a Klingon
.
(1966) series. The character, who used a variety of disguise
s to effect his nefarious schemes, wore a semi-transparent mask
when not in the midst of his crimes. The mask rendered Throne's real face unrecognizable on screen. Playing off this effect, but against Throne's wishes, the show's producers wrote the on-screen credit as "? as False Face", which denied Throne his credit. However, at the end credits of the episode, "Holy Rat Race," his full name was finally given full credit. His portrayal was a substitution for Clint Eastwood
's proposed version of Two-Face
.
Later, he appeared in animation as the voice of Two-Face's superego "Judge
" on The New Batman Adventures
(1998), and as the voice of Fingers the Gorilla on the Batman Beyond episode "Speak No Evil" (2000).
, Throne became known to a new generation of TV science fiction
viewers as "Prime Minister Malachi", a high official of the Centauri
government in the Hugo Award
winning episode "The Coming of Shadows
". (The surprising eponymous character name was not revealed until a later episode.) The Prime Minister's assassination ensured that the Centauri pursued a costly war, with tragic repercussions that drove one of the many plot lines in the series' five year story arc
.
and does local theatre work there. Throne is a member of the Theatre West company in Hollywood, where he is scheduled to appear in Mornings at Seven. He has also won critical acclaim for several performances with The Fountain Theatre
, based in Los Angeles
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, most noted for his roles on Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
and It Takes a Thief.
Throne was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He first appeared on stage at the age of 10 in 1939 in the New York Parks Department production of Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer
Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom...
as Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn (character)
Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain, who first appeared in the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He is 12 or 13 years old during the former and a year older at the time of the latter...
.
Television career
Throne was a popular guest star on many television shows of the 1960s and 1970s including The Defenders, Naked CityNaked City (TV series)
Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic "semi-documentary" format....
, Ben Casey
Ben Casey
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
("The Four-Step Affair" from 1965), Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
(portraying Inspector Frank Kyler in "Run Sheep Run" - 1967), Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
and also co-starring, with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
, in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
TV show It Takes a Thief. Throne also appeared in the 1965 season of Lost in Space
Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
as the Thief in the episode "The Thief of Outer Space."
He made two appearances in the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
TV series Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, in seasons 1 and 4, in the late 1960s. He also appeared twice in the Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
series The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
, most notably in the episode "The Death Merchant", as Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
, lost in time at the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
as well as co-starring in the episode "Night Of The Long Knives."
Roles in Star Trek
Throne provided the voice of "the Keeper" in the Star TrekStar Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
s first pilot episode, "The Cage
The Cage (TOS episode)
"The Cage" is the first pilot episode of the Star Trek: The Original Series science fiction series. It was completed in early 1965 , but not broadcast on television in its complete form until the autumn of 1988. The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Butler...
", which did not air in its original form until 1988, though most of the episode was included within the two-part episode "The Menagerie" when it aired in 1966. Throne was hired to play another role in "The Menagerie," which was technically a dual role: a commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
in Starfleet named José I. Mendez, the officer in charge of the starbase where the story begins, and a replica of him created by Talosian illusion, who presides at Spock's court martial. Because his voice was recognizably the same as that of the Keeper, the Keeper's voice was electronically altered in pitch. Earlier in The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
series he had guested in the "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (1964) episode with William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
.
For the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
he played Pardek, a Romulan
Romulan
The Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
senator, in the two-part episode "Unification
Unification (TNG episode)
"Unification" is the title of a two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, from the fifth season, which features Leonard Nimoy as Spock. It earned a 15.4 household Nielsen rating, drawing over 25 million viewers, making it one of the most watched episodes in all seven seasons of The Next...
".
In 2004, Throne appeared in the second episode of the Star Trek Fan Series New Voyages, "In Harms Way", playing a Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
.
Roles in Batman
One of his strangest roles was as the villain "False Face" in the ABC BatmanBatman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
(1966) series. The character, who used a variety of disguise
Disguise
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, costume or other ways. Camouflage is one type of disguise for people, animals and objects...
s to effect his nefarious schemes, wore a semi-transparent mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
when not in the midst of his crimes. The mask rendered Throne's real face unrecognizable on screen. Playing off this effect, but against Throne's wishes, the show's producers wrote the on-screen credit as "? as False Face", which denied Throne his credit. However, at the end credits of the episode, "Holy Rat Race," his full name was finally given full credit. His portrayal was a substitution for Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
's proposed version of Two-Face
Two-Face
Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger....
.
Later, he appeared in animation as the voice of Two-Face's superego "Judge
Two-Face
Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger....
" on The New Batman Adventures
The New Batman Adventures
The New Batman Adventures is the successor to Batman: The Animated Series produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Although bearing different character designs and animation styles, both shows take place in the same continuity, with TNBA set two years after BTAS. The series aired on The WB from...
(1998), and as the voice of Fingers the Gorilla on the Batman Beyond episode "Speak No Evil" (2000).
Role in Babylon 5
In the 1990s in the US TV series Babylon 5Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
, Throne became known to a new generation of TV science fiction
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
viewers as "Prime Minister Malachi", a high official of the Centauri
Centauri (Babylon 5)
The Centauri are a humanoid species in the fictional universe of the Babylon 5 television series. They were the first alien species to make open contact with the human race. Their homeworld is Centauri Prime, a small Earth-like planet consisting of two large continents and several smaller islands...
government in the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
winning episode "The Coming of Shadows
The Coming of Shadows
"The Coming of Shadows" is a key episode from the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5. It won the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.-Synopsis:...
". (The surprising eponymous character name was not revealed until a later episode.) The Prime Minister's assassination ensured that the Centauri pursued a costly war, with tragic repercussions that drove one of the many plot lines in the series' five year story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
.
Theatre career
, Malachi Throne lives in southern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and does local theatre work there. Throne is a member of the Theatre West company in Hollywood, where he is scheduled to appear in Mornings at Seven. He has also won critical acclaim for several performances with The Fountain Theatre
The Fountain Theatre
The Fountain Theatre is one of the premier intimate theatres in Los Angeles. Along with its programming of live theatre, it's also the foremost producer of Flamenco on the West Coast.-History:...
, based in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.