Michael Pataki
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
(written from a Production point of view)
| Michael Pataki | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 16 January 1938 |
| Place of birth: | Youngstown, Ohio |
| Character(s): | Korax; Karnas |
| ...as Karnas (1988) | |
Michael Pataki (born 16 January 1938; age 71) is an actor best known to Star Trek fans for playing Korax in the classic TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Footage of his role was later used in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". He also played Karnas in the TNG episode "Too Short a Season".
A graduate of the University of Southern California, Pataki has had a career in film and on television which spans nearly five decades. He made his debut with an uncredited role in the classic 1958 war film The Young Lions, starring Marlon Brando and also featuring fellow Trek alumni Parley Baer, Hal Baylor, Paul Comi, and Robert Ellenstein. Later that same year, he appeared in the Gary Cooper film Ten North Frederick and made his first TV appearance in an episode of M Squad which also guest-starred fellow TNG alum Bill Erwin.
Pataki and fellow TOS guest actors Stewart Moss and Paul Carr frequently worked in films and made-for-TV movies from director Jerry Jameson. These included the films Brute Corps (1972, sans Moss), The Dirt Gang (1972, also with Michael Forest), The Bat People (1974), Airport '77 (1977, with Robert Foxworth and Robert Hooks but not Carr or Moss), and Raise the Titanic (1980, also with Mark L. Taylor and Michael Ensign). Pataki alone appeared in Pataki's TV movies The Call of the Wild (1976, with John McLiam), Superdome (1978, with Jane Wyatt), and The Cowboy and the Ballerina (1984, with Antoinette Bower and Christopher Lloyd).
Throughout the 1960s, Pataki acted predominantly on television, appearing on such series as The Twilight Zone (in a 1961 episode starring TOS actor Leonard Nimoy and Star Trek: Enterprise guest actor Dean Stockwell), Rawhide (with Paul Comi and John McLiam), My Favorite Martian (starring Ray Walston), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (with Arch Whiting and Jason Wingreen), and Mission: Impossible. It was not until 1969 that Pataki returned to feature films, appearing as one of the mimes in the classic biker film Easy Rider, which also featured fellow TOS guest performers Sabrina Scharf and Robert Walker, Jr.
Pataki also appeared in two 1966 "King Tut" episodes of Batman, both co-starring Sid Haig and Marianna Hill. Pataki and Hill would later co-star together in the 1973 horror movie The Baby and the 1974 comedy The Last Porno Flick.
Also throughout the 1960s, Pataki appeared in multiple episodes of the hit sitcom The Flying Nun, playing three different characters over the show's three seasons. Among those he worked with on this series were TOS actresses Susan Howard, Sandra Smith, Tanya Lemani and Louise Sorel. Pataki also co-starred with Sorel in the 1978 TV movie When Every Day Was the Fourth of July, also featuring Michael Durrell, Bruce French, and Harris Yulin.
In 1971, Pataki appeared in the B-movie The Return of Count Yorga. That same year, he also appeared in the classic science fiction film The Andromeda Strain, directed by Robert Wise, who went on to direct Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Both of these films featured performers from the TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays": Mariette Hartley appeared in the former, Kermit Murdock in the latter. (Bart LaRue and Garry Walberg also appeared in The Andromeda Strain.) The following year, Pataki appeared in an episode of the popular Western series Bonanza; a year later, he appeared on All in the Family (and would do so again in 1977), as well as Cannon with Stewart Moss and Arch Whiting and on the series Shaft with Michael Ansara and Ron Soble.
In 1974, Pataki appeared in the TV movie Indict and Conflict with William Shatner. Pataki would later co-star with Shatner in the 1979 TV movie Disaster on the Coastliner and in a 1982 episode of T.J. Hooker, with Jonathan Banks, James Darren, and Richard Herd.
Also in 1974, he made the first of three appearances on the series McCloud, on which Ken Lynch was a regular. His first episode also featured Teri Garr, Eugene Roche, and Gregory Sierra. When he next appeared on the program in February 1976, Diana Muldaur had become a regular. Pataki and Muldaur were also seen in an episode of Ellery Queen, which aired earlier that month. Pataki's third episode of McCloud also featured Vince Howard. Pataki and Muldaur would later appear together in the 1982 Fitz and Bones TV movie Terror at Alcatraz, along with Roger C. Carmel, Elisha Cook, Jr. and Marc Lawrence.
In 1975, Pataki played the lead in the 1975 sexploitation film Carnal Madness. Two years later, he began playing one of his more well-known roles, as Captain Barbera in the 1977 TV movie The Amazing Spider-Man. This movie spawned a made-for-TV sequel called Spider-Man Strikes Back the following year, for which Pataki returned, and led to a short-lived cult TV series later in 1978. Pataki played Captain Barbera through both seasons of The Amazing Spider-Man, which aired from 1978 through 1979.
Pataki is also well-remembered for his role as Count Mallachi in a three-part episode of the sitcom Happy Days in 1976. Cult movie fans will also remember him for playing Count Dracula in the 1978 B-movie classic Dracula's Dog, co-starring Jan Shutan.
Pataki was one of the many Trek performers to appear in the acclaimed 1979 drama The Onion Field. Among his co-stars in this film were John Savage, Ronny Cox, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Herd (who also appeared with Pataki in TV's Marciano that same year), K Callan, Phillip R. Allen, and John de Lancie. He also appeared in the popular horror comedy Love at First Bite with Robert Ellenstein that same year.
Pataki's career showed no sign of stopping by the time the 1980s arrived. Not only did he make appearances in such hit TV series as Charlie's Angels, WKRP in Cincinatti (with Sam Anderson and Robert Hooks), Laverne & Shirley (with David L. Lander and Michael McKean), The Jeffersons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King (including one episode with Stephen Macht), and Cagney & Lacey (with Janet MacLachlan and Natalia Nogulich), and St. Elsewhere (with Ed Begley, Jr., Ronny Cox, Norman Lloyd, France Nuyen, Jennifer Savidge, Alfre Woodard, Jane Wyatt, and Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Picardo), he also appeared in such major feature films as Dead & Buried (1981, with Ed Bakey, Glenn Morshower, and Bill Quinn), Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985, with future Voyager star Kate Mulgrew as well as George Coe, Patrick Kilpatrick and Jeff Allin), Rocky IV (1985), and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988).
In addition, Pataki made numerous appearances on the series The Fall Guy, co-starring with Gary Lockwood. He and Lockwood also appeared in a 1988 episode of The Highwayman, which was a series starring a pre-Voyager Tim Russ. By the 1990s, Pataki began to take it easy, and the majority of his work became voice-over roles on such animated shows as Batman, Ren & Stimpy, and Extreme Ghostbusters.
[edit] Other Trek connections
- Letter to Loretta episode "Vengeance Is Thine" (1959) with Clegg Hoyt
- Ripcord episode "The Condemned" (1961) with Paul Comi
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater episode "A Slow Fade to Black" (1964) with Sally Kellerman
- Slattery's People episode "Question: What Did You Do All Day, Mr. Slattery?" (1965) with Whit Bissell and Don Keefer
- Ben Casey episode "Did Yuor Mother Come from Ireland, Ben Casey?" (1965) with Bill Mumy
- Dream No Evil (1970 film) with Marc Lawrence
- Dan August episode "Trackdown" (1971) with Stewart Moss
- They Call It Murder (1971 TV movie) with Vic Tayback
- Search episode "The Packagers" (1973) with Keith Andes
- A Man for Hanging (1973 TV movie) with Brooke Bundy, Paul Carr, and Walter Edmiston
- Kung Fu episodes "The Cenotaph" Parts 1 and 2 (1974) with Keye Luke
- Amy Prentiss episode "The Desperate World of Jane Doe" (1974) with Andrew Prine
- Harry O episode "Mister Five and Dime" (1976) with Anthony Zerbe
- Benny and Barney: Las Vegas Undercover (1977 TV movie) with Ted Cassidy
- The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries episode "The Mystery of the Solid Gold Kicker" (1977) with Marc Alaimo
- Airport '77 (1977) with Monte Markham
- Barney Miller episode "Rape" (1978) with Ron Glass and James Gregory
- Ruby and Oswald (1978) with Bruce French
- Alice episode "Mel's in a Family Way" (1978) with Vic Tayback
- The Pirate (1978 TV movie) with Jeff Corey
- The White Shadow episode "Little Orphan Abner" (1979) with Joan Pringle
- Samurai (1979 TV movie; with Don Keefer, Walt Davis, Johnny Haymer, Bob Minor, Tom Lupo and Gregory J. Barnett)
- Survival of Dana (1979 TV movie) with Barbara Babcock
- Eischied episode "The Dancer" (1979) with Alan Oppenheimer
- A Man Called Sloane episode "Architect of Evil" (1979) with Eric Server
- The Glove (1979 film) with Joanna Cassidy
- B.J. and the Bear episode "The Girls of Hollywood High" (1980) with Ed Lauter
- The Last Word (1980 film) with Dennis Christopher and Alex Henteloff
- Nero Wolfe episode "Sweet Revenge" (1981) with Ed Lauter and Kenneth Tigar
- Insight episode "God's Guerrillas" (1981) with Bibi Besch
- Maggie episode "Marriage Encounter" (1981) with Miriam Flynn
- Father Murphy episodes "Father Murphy" (1981) and "Will's Surprise" (1982) with Charles Cooper and Warren Munson; the former with Roy Jenson
- One More Chance (1983 film) with Kirstie Alley
- Automan episode "The Great Pretender" (1983) with Richard Derr and Robert Lansing
- The Underachievers (1987 film) with Lee Arenberg and Vic Tayback
- Hollywood Hot Tubs 2: Educating Crystal (1990 film) with Spice Williams
