R.I.P. Gary Graham, Star Trek: Enterprise and Alien Nation actor
Graham starred in multiple Star Trek titles as well as a slew of Alien Nation spinoffs. He was 73.
Gary Graham, best known for his roles in multiple Star Trek titles as well as a starring role in Fox’s Alien Nation, has died. According to his wife, Becky Graham, Graham died of cardiac arrest in a hospital in Spokane, Washington (via The Hollywood Reporter). Becky was by Graham’s side when he died, as confirmed in a Facebook message posted early Tuesday morning by his ex-wife Susan Lavelle. “Gary was funny, sarcastic sense of humor but kind, fought for what he believed in, a devout Christian and was so proud of his daughter, Haylee,” Lavella wrote. Graham was 73.
Graham played a number of different roles in the Star Trek franchise over the years. He first showed up in one episode of Star Trek: Voyager (1995) as Tanis, an unusually old Ocampan leader. He went on to play a recurring character named Soval, a Vulcan ambassador, on Star Trek: Enterprise from 2001-2005. He was also cast later as First Officer Ragnar, who he played in Star Trek: Of Gods And Men (2007) and Star Trek: Renegades (2015-2017).
Graham also had a starring role in Fox’s one-season wonder Alien Nation (1989-1990), in which he played a detective named Matthew Sikes in an alternate reality where alien “newcomers” are accepted as immigrants to the United States. The series was a remake of the 1988 film starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin. Graham returned for a number of spin-off TV movies, including Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994), Alien Nation: Body and Soul (1995), Alien Nation: Millennium (1996), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996) and Alien Nation: The Udara Legacy (1997).
Graham also acted in a handful of well-known films, including playing a porn dealer in Paul Schrader’s Hardcore (1979) and Tom Cruise’s character’s older brother in All the Right Moves (1983). He also currently has four posthumous credits listed on IMDb: two shorts called The Sons Of Kirk and The Sons Of Kirk 2: Video 2, an appearance in a TV show called Manhattan Transfer, and a thriller called Recollection.