Zoneboy
05-03-2012, 11:24 PM
Link (http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings-20120504,0,3498750.story)
George Murdock, 81, a veteran character actor who had a recurring role as Lt. Scanlon on the television sitcom "Barney Miller" and played God in the 1989 film "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," died Monday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said his close friend and fellow actor Jennifer Rhodes. He had cancer.
Murdock's craggy facial features and booming bass voice helped him land a steady stream of "heavy" parts in theater, film and television productions. When asked if he ever objected to being typecast, the actor told a Times reporter in 1982: "Getting the job is important. Who cares where it comes from."
A Kansas native, Murdock was an original cast member at the Melrose Theatre in Los Angeles, starring in "Lester Sims Retires Tomorrow" there and during its off-Broadway run in the early 1980s. He appeared in many productions at South Coast Repertory, the Los Angeles Theater Center and the Odyssey Theatre, where he originated the role of Judge Julius Hoffman in "The Chicago Conspiracy Trial" in 1979.
Murdock had dozens of roles on episodic TV series, beginning in the early 1960s with "Twilight Zone" and "The Untouchables" and continuing through the decades with "It Takes a Thief," "Bonanza," "The Name of the Game," "Ironside," "Battlestar Galactica," "Night Court," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "The X-Files," "Law & Order" and other shows. Besides his "Barney Miller" part, he was also a regular on the mid-1980s show "What a Country!"
In the fifth installment of the "Star Trek" movie series, Murdock's character strikes down Kirk with a lightning bolt when the captain asks: "What does God need with a starship?"
George Murdock, 81, a veteran character actor who had a recurring role as Lt. Scanlon on the television sitcom "Barney Miller" and played God in the 1989 film "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," died Monday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, said his close friend and fellow actor Jennifer Rhodes. He had cancer.
Murdock's craggy facial features and booming bass voice helped him land a steady stream of "heavy" parts in theater, film and television productions. When asked if he ever objected to being typecast, the actor told a Times reporter in 1982: "Getting the job is important. Who cares where it comes from."
A Kansas native, Murdock was an original cast member at the Melrose Theatre in Los Angeles, starring in "Lester Sims Retires Tomorrow" there and during its off-Broadway run in the early 1980s. He appeared in many productions at South Coast Repertory, the Los Angeles Theater Center and the Odyssey Theatre, where he originated the role of Judge Julius Hoffman in "The Chicago Conspiracy Trial" in 1979.
Murdock had dozens of roles on episodic TV series, beginning in the early 1960s with "Twilight Zone" and "The Untouchables" and continuing through the decades with "It Takes a Thief," "Bonanza," "The Name of the Game," "Ironside," "Battlestar Galactica," "Night Court," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "The X-Files," "Law & Order" and other shows. Besides his "Barney Miller" part, he was also a regular on the mid-1980s show "What a Country!"
In the fifth installment of the "Star Trek" movie series, Murdock's character strikes down Kirk with a lightning bolt when the captain asks: "What does God need with a starship?"