Mark Lenard - Biography

Biography

Lenard was born Leonard Rosenson in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a Russian Jewish immigrant, Abraham, and his wife, Bessie. He joined the United States Army in 1943 and trained to be a paratrooper during World War II but did not see actual combat and was discharged in 1946 as a technical sergeant.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Lenard got his start on stage. His first notable role was that of Conrad in the John Gielgud production of Much Ado About Nothing. Lenard was best known as the actor who played Spock's father Sarek in Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series and later in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was one of the first actors to appear in more than one Star Trek series as the same character and to play more than one character. He played the first Romulan seen on the show and the first Klingon with a ridged forehead. Lenard wanted to appear in Star Trek: The Motion Picture but Sarek was not a character in the film so he was cast as the Klingon commander in the beginning of the film. Lenard did eventually appear as Sarek in supporting roles in three Star Trek feature films: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984); Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986); and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

Lenard was also known for roles outside the Star Trek series. He played the prosecutor in Fort Grant in the 1968 Clint Eastwood movie, Hang 'Em High. He also played the character Aaron Stempel in the television series Here Come the Brides, and the hostile gorilla Urko in the television series Planet of the Apes. He also made a guest appearance on Little House on the Prairie in the episode "Journey in the Spring, Part I" playing Peter Ingalls, older brother of Charles Ingalls. He had roles in Gunsmoke several times, including the episode "No Where to Run" (1968). He also guest starred in several episodes of the original Mission: Impossible, including one with Leonard Nimoy, and a two-part episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Lenard also played a lead role in the movie Noon Sunday filmed on Guam with costars Keye Luke, TV series star John Russell from Lawman, and character actor Stacy Harris. In 1993, he and fellow Star Trek actor Walter Koenig toured in a production of The Boys in Autumn. Lenard played a late middle aged Huck Finn who reencounters his childhood friend Tom Sawyer after a lifetime apart. Koenig was Sawyer.

Lenard died of multiple myeloma in New York City, New York in 1996 at the age of 72.