Victor Lundin (8 December 1929 – 2 July 2013; age 83) was a former opera singer and actor who appeared as a Klingon lieutenant in the Star Trek: The Original Series first season episode "Errand of Mercy".
He filmed his scenes on Tuesday 31 January 1967 at Desilu Stage 9, Wednesday 1 February 1967 and Thursday 2 February 1967 at Stage 10. "That was a bone, thrown to me by Paramount," Lundin said. "It was a very small role as a Klingon and I didn't want to do it. Casting director Joe D'Agosta asked me to do it for him as a favor, so I did." He also recalled that he was a serious contender for the role of Spock, stating, "Paramount called me in when they were casting Star Trek and they set up the pretense that the Spock role was between me, Leonard Nimoy and another actor as a distant third. Byron Haskin had been brought in to work on Star Trek and he tried to get me cast as Spock, but there was a bond between producer Gene Roddenberry and Nimoy that couldn't be broken." (Starlog #224, March 1996, p. 57) Lundin later mused that, "[i]f you look at my ears you can see why," he should have been cast as Spock. "I would've saved them millions in makeup." Lundin later explained that he did not exactly fit the mold they were looking for in the character, whereas Nimoy did, stating, "I was very buff in those days." [1]
Lundin appeared in several movies and television series during the late 1950s through the early 1960s, where he appeared in numerous Westerns, often cast as an Indian. One of his most notable roles being the character of Friday in the cult film Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). For many of his roles he was credited as Vic Lundin.
During the mid-60s, Lundin appeared almost exclusively on a number of popular television programs of the time, including his appearance on Star Trek, he made an appearance in The Time Tunnel and Get Smart, four appearances on Batman, two appearances on Hondo, one on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., two on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and one on Mannix.
After a hiatus of on-screen acting of nearly a decade, Lundin had a featured part in the 1976 family comedy Super Seal on which he also worked as producer. He then guest starred on an episode of Babylon 5 (1997, written and created by J. Michael Straczynski and with Patricia Tallman, Andreas Katsulas, and Walter Koenig) and appeared in Jeff Rector's television movie Fatal Kiss (2002, with Carel Struycken).
More recent projects include the horror film Scarred (2005; credited as Raymond Moses), the short film Veterans Day (2006), the drama The Theory of Everything (2006, with Andrew Koenig and Jeff Rector), and Jeff Rector's horror film Revamped (2007, with Fred Williamson, Carel Struycken, Spice Williams, Clynell Jackson III, Ron Althoff, Tiny Ron, Edward Conna, and Ian Eyre).
Beginning around 2001, Lundin began making personal appearances, touting himself as "the first Star Trek Klingon." (Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2001, p. 57) Between 2007 and 2013, Lundin was a frequent guest at conventions.
He died following an undisclosed illness. [2]