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I just saw that William Campbell died a couple days ago (kinda freaky because on another thread I wrote about being excited to get Dementia 13 on blu ray, which he is in).
I met William Campbell in the late 80's at a convention where he came with John De Lancie (no doubt booked together because of the similarities between the Trelaine and Q characters).
Both guys were really cool and it was particularly amusing to see how John De Lancie was shell shocked by the instant adoration of what in his mind must have been another guest star job. I mean, the guy has been working as a dependable character actor for years in TV shows of the mid to late 70's and Q was just another job... or was it?
Someone in the audience Q and A asked him if he realized he had already gone down in "Trek fan history" and that he will probably talking about this character for years to come. This was just after he did the pilot and he didn't even know if he was going to get invited back to TNG so he sort of poo pooed it and just said something like " even if the show is a hit, I'm just another guest star". Then the guy said "but look at William Campbell, he's here from only 2 guest star shots from the old show". "Yeah, but the old show is a proven classic" John said. It was fun to have seen John De Lancie before he knew what exactly he had gotten into.
Then came William Campbell. Who not only had great stories about Star Trek but great stories about being in movies with some great legends like Bette Davis, Mickey Rooney, Rock Hudson and more. The guy obviously loved movies and loved working with some of his icons.
About Star Trek, this is where I heard, first hand that Trelaine was written for Roddy McDowwell but the powers that be didn't want him because McDowwel's build plus the foppish manner of the character would spell G-A-Y. So, he got the part because he was a huskier build.
He also talked about that Captain Koloth was supposed to be a re-occurring foil for Captain Kirk but it never panned out.
He also talked about working with Gene Roddenberry again in Pretty Maids All In A Row. He talked about how fun it was making that movie and how the director (Roger Vadim) was pretty much pre-occupied with pointing the camera at anything in a short skirt.
When John and William talked together that day (along with a guy from DC comics connected to the Star Trek adaptions, can't remember who it was exactly), they talked about the similarities between Trelaine and Q and (probably the first time ever because Q was so new) said they could be father and son.
Somewhere along the way, John talked about an idea he had for a Q story and the DC guy was interested and that became:
Star Trek: The Next Generation annuals from DC Comics 1990-1996
but also both John and William were wondering if he'd ever be cack to TNG and if they could make Trelaine his dad (I kept hoping for this to happen throughout TNG's run)
Anyway, hearing about William Campbell passing made me remember that day. A great time, two great actors to see and now, only one still around.
I met William Campbell in the late 80's at a convention where he came with John De Lancie (no doubt booked together because of the similarities between the Trelaine and Q characters).
Both guys were really cool and it was particularly amusing to see how John De Lancie was shell shocked by the instant adoration of what in his mind must have been another guest star job. I mean, the guy has been working as a dependable character actor for years in TV shows of the mid to late 70's and Q was just another job... or was it?
Someone in the audience Q and A asked him if he realized he had already gone down in "Trek fan history" and that he will probably talking about this character for years to come. This was just after he did the pilot and he didn't even know if he was going to get invited back to TNG so he sort of poo pooed it and just said something like " even if the show is a hit, I'm just another guest star". Then the guy said "but look at William Campbell, he's here from only 2 guest star shots from the old show". "Yeah, but the old show is a proven classic" John said. It was fun to have seen John De Lancie before he knew what exactly he had gotten into.
Then came William Campbell. Who not only had great stories about Star Trek but great stories about being in movies with some great legends like Bette Davis, Mickey Rooney, Rock Hudson and more. The guy obviously loved movies and loved working with some of his icons.
About Star Trek, this is where I heard, first hand that Trelaine was written for Roddy McDowwell but the powers that be didn't want him because McDowwel's build plus the foppish manner of the character would spell G-A-Y. So, he got the part because he was a huskier build.
He also talked about that Captain Koloth was supposed to be a re-occurring foil for Captain Kirk but it never panned out.
He also talked about working with Gene Roddenberry again in Pretty Maids All In A Row. He talked about how fun it was making that movie and how the director (Roger Vadim) was pretty much pre-occupied with pointing the camera at anything in a short skirt.
When John and William talked together that day (along with a guy from DC comics connected to the Star Trek adaptions, can't remember who it was exactly), they talked about the similarities between Trelaine and Q and (probably the first time ever because Q was so new) said they could be father and son.
Somewhere along the way, John talked about an idea he had for a Q story and the DC guy was interested and that became:
Star Trek: The Next Generation annuals from DC Comics 1990-1996
but also both John and William were wondering if he'd ever be cack to TNG and if they could make Trelaine his dad (I kept hoping for this to happen throughout TNG's run)
Anyway, hearing about William Campbell passing made me remember that day. A great time, two great actors to see and now, only one still around.
-Tallahassee 
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