Principal Cast
The headline stars of Space: 1999 were American actors Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, who were married at the time and had previously appeared together in Mission: Impossible. In an effort to appeal to the American television market, perhaps to sell the series to one of the major networks, Landau and Bain were cast at the insistence of Lew Grade against the objections of Sylvia Anderson, who wanted British actors. Also appearing as regular cast members were Canadian-based British actor Barry Morse (as Professor Victor Bergman in the first season) and Hungarian-born, US-raised Catherine Schell (as the alien Maya in the second season). The programme also brought Australian actor Nick Tate to public attention. Roy Dotrice appeared in the first episode as Commissioner Simmons, and at the end of the episode it appeared that he would be a regular character; however by the second (transmitted) episode the character vanished, reappearing partway through the first season in the episode "Earthbound", his only other appearance on the show (in which the character is permanently written out).
| Actor | Role | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| Martin Landau | Commander John Koenig, leader of Moonbase Alpha (Year 1 & 2) | (47 episodes, 1975–1977) |
| Barbara Bain | Doctor Helena Russell, head of Medical Section (Year 1 & 2) | (48 episodes, 1975–1977) |
| Nick Tate | Alan Carter, third in command, chief pilot (Year 1 & 2) | (45 episodes, 1975–1977) |
| Zienia Merton | Sandra Benes, data analyst (Year 1 & 2) | (37 episodes, 1975–1977) |
| Catherine Schell | Maya, science officer (Year 2) | (24 episodes, 1976–1977) |
| Anton Phillips | Doctor Bob Mathias, Helena's deputy (Year 1 & 2) | (24 episodes, 1975–1976) |
| Barry Morse | Professor Victor Bergman, science adviser (Year 1) | (24 episodes, 1975–1976) |
| Prentis Hancock | Paul Morrow, second in command, Main Mission controller and base (Year 1) executive officer | (23 episodes, 1975–1976) |
| Clifton Jones | David Kano, computer operations officer (Year 1) | (23 episodes, 1975–1976) |
| Tony Anholt | Tony Verdeschi, second in command, head of Security and Command Center controller (Year 2) | (23 episodes, 1976–1977) |
| Suzanne Roquette | Tanya Alexander, base operations officer (Year 1) | (19 episodes, 1975–1976) |
| John Hug | Bill Fraser, Eagle pilot (Year 2) | (9 episodes, 1976–1977) |
| Jeffery Kissoon | Dr. Ben Vincent, deputy medical officer (Year 2) | (7 episodes, 1976–1977) |
Read more about this topic: Space: 1999
Famous quotes containing the words principal and/or cast:
“I note what you say of the late disturbances in your College. These dissensions are a great affliction on the American schools, and a principal impediment to education in this country.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets?—he must cast behind him their admiration, and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth, and become a byword and a hissing.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)