INTERVIEW: Walter Koenig on his life before and beyond ‘Star Trek’
Photo: Walter Koenig has recently updated and released his memoir. Photo courtesy of Jacobs/Brown Press / Provided by publisher with permission.
Walter Koenig has many stories to tell, so many that he recently had to put out an updated version of his thoughtful autobiography, appropriately called Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek. The book, from Jacobs/Brown Press, goes into Koenig’s early life growing up in the Inwood section of Manhattan and then heading for Hollywood where he would have many adventures, including acting in the pilot episode of a little show called General Hospital and landing the role of Chekov on Star Trek: The Original Series.
Koenig would revisit his role of Chekov in several movie versions over the years, and he continues to act and lend his voice to many different projects. At 83 years old, he’s a frequent presence at conventions and has no plans to retire.
“Well, I was actually invited by the publisher,” Koenig said about his decision to update his memoir. “I had no strong thoughts about it, but he made a good case that 20 years had gone by, and perhaps I could add to this adventure, and perhaps during these two decades have found something else to discuss that has influenced my life and where I am at this particular juncture.”
Koenig has received a lot of feedback on the book, including many glowing reviews from critics. He remembers one person telling him it sounded like Koenig was talking to a therapist, which he took as a great compliment.
“I had no reluctance to discuss the things that I discussed, and in some cases they are a bit embarrassing, but nothing that really shames me or makes me feel humiliated,” he said. “I am by nature a candid soul, and I look back on things that might have been a little more revealing than others choose to deal with. I can see the humor in them. As a consequence, I didn’t feel threatened. I felt like it’d be fun to talk about.”
The actor wanted to share with his fans — of which there are many — the different places where he tripped up and lost his footing, and also the many triumphs he has enjoyed as well.
“They are part of life, and as old as I’ve gotten, I can see them perhaps with a different perspective that makes it easier for me to deal with them,” he said. “What you’ll find as you grow older is that you dwell more in the past than you had ever conceived, ever thought. In my 80s now, I reflect back a lot on what transpired when I was a teenager and a young man, and some of which I look back with a degree of warmth and some with a degree of regret. I did not have a particularly wonderful childhood. It wasn’t bad. I didn’t have alcoholic parents. Nobody took a belt to my backside, but I was lonely. From the age of 13 right on through high school, I didn’t have any strong friendships, and I spent a lot of time by myself. So there are things to mull about and to consider that I wish had been different, but on the other hand in the long run I think when you weigh everything out, I’m fairly happy with how things evolved.”
When Koenig decided to go the actor route, he wasn’t terribly self-motivating, mostly because he had no idea where he was headed professionally. He actually chose an academic career in pre-medicine, thinking he would become a psychiatrist. Then he realized he didn’t have much of an aptitude for physical science, so he had to let go of that career goal.
“I did finish with a degree in psychology at UCLA and took one drama course at the school simply as a diversion,” Koenig said. “As it turned out, I had a professor who was very enthusiastic about what he thought I might be able to contribute as an actor. It was really with his support and enthusiasm that … I went back to drama school as opposed to going to grad school, and when I did that, I sort of sealed my fate. I didn’t know that would be the case, but being in a school which was exclusively devoted to the arts was the best time I’ve ever had in an academic environment. Once I started on that path it was pretty much determined, sink or swim, that’s what was going to happen in my life.”
Still, even with the acting chops, the ability to be a successful actor seemed like a faraway dream. When he thought of Hollywood, he thought of Robert Redford and Rock Hudson, and the idea of reaching those heights was, in his mind, an insurmountable goal.
“On the other hand, I had nowhere else to go as far as I was concerned,” he said, “so I guess by process of elimination I decided to become an actor.”
His earliest foray into television was on the pilot episode of General Hospital. Historically this has proved to be an important show, and he was right there at the beginning as a guest actor. At the time, he simply thought it was another soap opera, a means of getting his name out there. He didn’t have any grand illusions that soap operas would be his calling in life.
“I didn’t know it would last 50 years or however long it’s been on the air,” Koenig said. “Again it was a pilot, but it was not a guarantee. I did one episode, and that would be it, unless they called me back. As it turned out, I actually did two episodes, and that was the end of it. I wasn’t crushed. It didn’t seem to me that doing a soap opera was the ultimate expression of my craft, so I just took it as a day’s work and went looking for the next job. The curious thing, and it really points up to the capriciousness of this whole business of acting, is that things do not happen in an orderly fashion. They did for some people. They’d get a small part, someone respects their work, they’re offered another one, etc. The parts build in size. They end up doing guest shots on television or invited to participate in movies, and their lives are so destined. As an actor, the chances are, however, you’ve got to get lucky, and that’s pretty much what happened with me. I got lucky.”
Koenig said his statement about luck is not meant to be taken as false humility, simply a statement of fact. He believes that there are hundreds of actors who could have played Chekov in the late-1960s. He simply was lucky to catch the attention of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
“I had a measurable degree of talent, and I was in the right place at the right time,” the actor said. “A role came along that I could do, and I got cast. There was only one other actor who actually auditioned for the part, so it was not a grueling experience that I had to sweat through. I found out the same day that I had gotten the role, but even then it was just a day’s work. I had no idea that it could become 60 years worth of work in one form or another. That’s life, you know, and I look back at it all at my advanced age now — I’m 83 — and I’m both surprised and delighted that I did as well as I have.”
The role of Chekov, according to Star Trek lore, was meant to symbolize the Soviet Union at a time when the United States was still in a Cold War with the superpower. Koenig confirmed this commonly held belief amongst Trekkies, even adding that a story was made up to better sell the inclusion of Chekov on the series.
“They made up a story that Pravda, the Soviet Union official newspaper, complained that there wasn’t a Russian aboard the Enterprise when, in fact, cosmonauts were the first people into space,” he said. “That was a fabrication. That was a publicity stunt by the network. The fact was, very pragmatically, they were looking for somebody who would appeal to the youngest generation of viewers, those from 8 to 14, as had Davy Jones with the Monkees. That was their prototype. I was cast for that reason, that and the fact that I could do a funny accent, so it was a very practical reasoning.”
Koenig admitted that Chekov’s presence did fulfill Roddenberry’s philosophical vision that everyone, no matter culture, race, gender or ethnicity, would live in harmony in the future, and that’s why it was important to have a Russian character on the Enterprise, alongside Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Sulu and Bones.
“We could all work together and become great comrades and achieve a world order that made it possible for us to live in harmony,” Koenig said. “Having a Russian at a time during the Cold War was just part of that, and I had played a Russian on another show.”
Although Koenig said he had many nice memories with his fellow Star Trek costars — many of the tales making their way into his updated book — there were also less-than-stellar memories on the set. Also, he admitted that the cast members over the years have largely grown apart. They may appear at conventions, but there’s not much dialogue anymore.
“We’re not close anymore, but we did get along,” Koenig said of his relationship with George Takei, who played Sulu. “We were in pretty much the same place. We were subordinate performers with very little to do; mostly we promoted the story rather than promote the characters. There wasn’t much dimension to our function as characters. We were there to help make the plot move forward, so we had that to commiserate about. We [had a similar] socio-political perspective, so that was helpful. We’ve grown apart as time has gone by. I don’t really have a strong relationship with any of the folks that are still with us.”
Koenig did say he loves Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura. As far as William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, the actor stayed mostly silent and said there was no point in belaboring any old stories.
“As a matter of fact, over the course of time, I’ve done so many conventions and met so many cast members from the other series, Deep Space Nine, Next Generation, etc.,” he said, “that I’ve grown fond of many of those folks, and I even acknowledge some of them in my book.”
These conventions are an important part of the Star Trek legacy. Creation Entertainment hosts the annual Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. This year’s event has been delayed from August to December, and Koenig is hoping to attend. He’s also still scheduled for Star Trek: The Cruise, which has been delayed until 2022.
These fan parties began for the actor in the 1970s, at a time when Star Trek created the model for celebrities meeting their devotees in person. “We sort of created the whole idea of conventions,” Koenig said. “It happened with us and then evolved into the enormous entity that it has become. I did the first one somewhere in the early ‘70s in Los Angeles. We did it for free. You weren’t paid. I’m not even sure the audience paid. … There were talks, and there were autograph signings. And there was participation by the audience and [a] costume parade and things like that, some of which has changed, but it started then.”
Over the years, Koenig almost had to pinch himself that Star Trek proved to be the gift that kept on giving. When he finished the second and third seasons of the show, the series was officially canceled, and he moved on with his personal and professional life. He had no hope that the series would live on.
“When we finished the series I was absolutely convinced that we were gone for good and forever and would never be involved with anything to do with Star Trek again, so I had no foreknowledge of where my life would go, nor did anyone else I think,” he said. “The artistic failings of the first motion picture certainly seemed to seal our fate and was an indication that we were done, gone and buried. As it turned out, that wasn’t so, and we continued to resurface, to disinter, as it were, and come back. So it’s always been a pleasant surprise that we’ve had this life that’s gone on for more than five decades. In the best of all worlds, it would have been nice if I had a greater variety of opportunities, but still there’s something to be said for still being acknowledged and recognized and finding some financial remuneration this late in the game.”
He added this about his convention appearances: “As much fun and as exhilarating as it was to appear before a live audience and find approbation for work that I had done in the past, there’s also an ironic twist to it, and that is indeed it was the work I had done in the past. That was underscored by enthusiasm for something that had happened so many years before. I like the applause. I like the recognition, but at the same time, what have I done lately? I’ve had many, many dry spells along the way to give that sense of pleasure an ironic twist because I wasn’t contributing in the ‘80s and the ‘90s other than the Star Trek movies, which also ended. I wasn’t contributing much as a performer.”
Then came another sci-fi project, and it was a game changer. In the 1990s, he acted as Alfred Bester in a dozen episodes of the beloved series Babylon 5. For Chekov, this is an important bullet point on his résumé.
“It was special,” he said. “Here at last was an opportunity to do something that was more of a challenge and involved me in an integral fashion. The character was pivotal to the stories that he appeared in. And it wasn’t excessively demanding, but it was something I couldn’t take for granted. I had to involve myself in and find that character and believe in him, so I had a very good time being involved in Babylon 5. Along the way, I hope that those people who only saw me as eye candy for the pre-teens would come to accept the fact that I was an actor of merit as well and that I could accomplish things that were more substantial than the role of Chekov.”
Today, Koenig considers himself definitely not retired. He has appeared in several TV shows as an actor or voice actor in recent years, and he still feels that acting is who he is as a person. It’s his means of expression.
Confirmation of his professional accomplishments came a couple years ago when he received a gold star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The event, which turned into a celebration of Koenig’s career, was an important part of his Hollywood story.
“It was nice to be included,” Koenig said. “When I was a kid and walked Hollywood Boulevard as a tourist I looked at the names of the stars, some of which I recognized. Well, that’s interesting, but I never put myself in that position, never considered that one day I would be there. As I say, it’s more of a consequence of my association with this bigger-than-life project than my contribution that has put me in the cement on Hollywood Boulevard.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Walter Koenig’s memoir, recently updated, is Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek. Click here for more information.
