William Campbell, actor who played Trouble With Tribbles Klingon, dies at 87

William Campbell plays a evil Liberace-style fop in this fan remix with, shall we say, a heightened gay sensibility.

Actor William Campbell

Daily Variety reports that Actor William Campbell, 87, passed away of natural causes at the Motion Picture and Television Fund hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif.
     Campbell is well known to Trekkies for his two memorable roles in the original televised Star Trek series.
     In the 1950s Campbell was married to Judith Campbell Exner, later a mistress to JFK, Frank Sinatra and mob boss Sam Giancana.

     In the "Star Trek" episode "The Squire of Gothos," he played an immature and rather effeminate alien who has studied Earth from afar, grown fond of the music and décor and seeks out the Enterprise crew - but alas, he has mistakenly assumed that the baroque trappings of the 17th century still hold sway. Disappointment leads to violence. The part in some ways parodied Liberace, whom Campbell resembled.

Judith Campbell Exner

     In the other, even more famous episode, Campbell played the Klingon captain beset by adorable furballs who hate Klingons in "The Trouble With Tribbles." He reprised the latter role in a 1994 episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."