That the Christopher Pike character from The Original Series was played by Jeffrey Hunter
His portrayal in this role appeared in the first episode to be filmed in the 1965 pilot episode of the series. This episode was rejected at first and a new first episode was reshot and recast with William Shatner.
The Christopher Pike character was reimagined by reusing the footage of the original pilot episode in the later episodes of ‘The Menagerie’ in 1966. The Christopher Pike character in the beep chair from these episodes was played by a different actor.
In later years, the Christopher Pike character was often referenced in later movies and as a main character in the modern series ‘Discovery’ and ‘Strange New Worlds’ where he is played by Anson Mount.
The original actor Jeffrey Hunter would never live to see any of this fame or notoriety of his original character because he tragically died in 1969 from a movie stunt accident when he was 42 years of age, four years after he had appeared as the original Christopher Pike. He never lived to see the fame and popularity of the Star Trek franchise or the character that he had originally played.
It’s one of the saddest things I ever discovered about the actors and people that were part of the whole Star Trek franchise.
And in that pilot, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock character hadn’t yet been decided to be emotionless, thus even though they tried to reuse as much footage as they could from the pilot in TOS (to save costs:-), they had to be careful to not ruin that carefully built up cannon for him.
The sad part I think about with Jeffrey Hunter was that he was born in 1926 while Shatner was born in 1931 … Hunter was just five years older than Shatner. So there was no reason why Hunter could have grown old or long enough to see what would have happened to Star Trek and maybe even go back and reprise his role as the original and first Star Trek captain. Apparently in his bio, he was like every other actor at the time and constantly looking for starring roles and parts that could make him famous. He would have become renown in the Star Trek community, events, comic cons and the whole bit for many years after. And even added to his career by being part of Star Trek like what happened to Shatner whether he wanted it or not.
I can’t help but think of that possibility when I see Anson Mount playing the role of Christopher Pike.
Maybe Hunter did make it big and become Star Trek famous in an alternate universe.
An unfortunate case of circumstance and tragedy, as there was plenty of room for upward momentum.
Anson Mount wound up being an incredible stand-in for the modern re-imagining in the lead up to TOS. Also a surprisingly close casting for looks. Seems we lucked out that he didn’t end up landing Lorca.
That the Christopher Pike character from The Original Series was played by Jeffrey Hunter
His portrayal in this role appeared in the first episode to be filmed in the 1965 pilot episode of the series. This episode was rejected at first and a new first episode was reshot and recast with William Shatner.
The Christopher Pike character was reimagined by reusing the footage of the original pilot episode in the later episodes of ‘The Menagerie’ in 1966. The Christopher Pike character in the beep chair from these episodes was played by a different actor.
In later years, the Christopher Pike character was often referenced in later movies and as a main character in the modern series ‘Discovery’ and ‘Strange New Worlds’ where he is played by Anson Mount.
The original actor Jeffrey Hunter would never live to see any of this fame or notoriety of his original character because he tragically died in 1969 from a movie stunt accident when he was 42 years of age, four years after he had appeared as the original Christopher Pike. He never lived to see the fame and popularity of the Star Trek franchise or the character that he had originally played.
It’s one of the saddest things I ever discovered about the actors and people that were part of the whole Star Trek franchise.
And in that pilot, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock character hadn’t yet been decided to be emotionless, thus even though they tried to reuse as much footage as they could from the pilot in TOS (to save costs:-), they had to be careful to not ruin that carefully built up cannon for him.
Love it. Was hoping to see this one. Begat the original “First episode” argument.
The sad part I think about with Jeffrey Hunter was that he was born in 1926 while Shatner was born in 1931 … Hunter was just five years older than Shatner. So there was no reason why Hunter could have grown old or long enough to see what would have happened to Star Trek and maybe even go back and reprise his role as the original and first Star Trek captain. Apparently in his bio, he was like every other actor at the time and constantly looking for starring roles and parts that could make him famous. He would have become renown in the Star Trek community, events, comic cons and the whole bit for many years after. And even added to his career by being part of Star Trek like what happened to Shatner whether he wanted it or not.
I can’t help but think of that possibility when I see Anson Mount playing the role of Christopher Pike.
Maybe Hunter did make it big and become Star Trek famous in an alternate universe.
An unfortunate case of circumstance and tragedy, as there was plenty of room for upward momentum.
Anson Mount wound up being an incredible stand-in for the modern re-imagining in the lead up to TOS. Also a surprisingly close casting for looks. Seems we lucked out that he didn’t end up landing Lorca.