Lawrence Montaigne Actor Lawrence Montaigne portrayed one of the first Romulan s on " Star Trek " , Decius , in the episode . He later played a Vulcan named Stonn in . Montaigne filmed his scenes as Decius on Wednesday and Thursday at Desilu Stage 9 . He filmed his scenes for " Amok Time " between Wednesday and Monday at Stage 10 . According to " The Making of Star Trek " by Stephen E . Whitfield , in the event that if Leonard Nimoy had left the series in the second season , Montaigne was on the list of possible replacement actors . According to " " , Montaigne was the only actor actually considered by the producers ( the rest were only employed as a psychological " ploy " against Nimoy and his agent ) . In 2007 , Montaigne returned to the role of Stonn in the fan film " Star Trek : Of Gods and Men " . In late 2007 Montaigne portrayed Commander Vellar in the pilot episode of the audio series " Star Trek : The Continuing Mission " . Life and career . Montaigne was born in Brooklyn , New York , but raised in Rome , Italy . He began his career as a dancer , before turning to acting . A former United States Marine , Montaigne has appeared in many other television shows in addition to " Star Trek " . He and Joan Marshall played husband and wife in two episodes of " Dr . Kildare " in 1966 . He later appeared in two episodes of " The Time Tunnel " , a science fiction series which starred fellow " Star Trek " alumni James Darren , Lee Meriwether , and Whit Bissell . One of these episodes , " Massacre " was directed by Murray Golden , written by Carey Wilber and featured Paul Comi , Bruce Mars and Perry Lopez . The other , " Idol of Death " co - starred Anthony Caruso and Peter Brocco . In 1967 , he was seen as Mr . Glee , a robot controlled by The Joker , in two episodes of " Batman " , " The Joker ' s Last Laugh " and " The Joker ' s Epitaph . " Both of these episodes co - starred Phyllis Douglas . Other television shows on which Montaigne has appeared include " The Invaders " ( including an episode directed by Joseph Sargent ) , " Twelve O ' Clock High " ( starring Robert Lansing ) , " The Man from U . N . C . L . E . " ( including a 1967 episode with William Marshall ) , " Bonanza " ( in an episode directed by Leo Penn and co - starring Kenneth Tobey ) , " Hawaii Five - O " ( in an episode directed by Michael O ' Herlihy and co - starring Monte Markham and Madlyn Rhue ) , " McCloud " ( starring Diana Muldaur , in an episode with Teri Garr ) , and , the latter of which , like the original " Star Trek " , was originally produced by Desilu . He appeared in " It Takes A Thief " ( episode : Turnabout ) with Steve Ihnat , Ralph Maurer and Malachi Throne ( who was a regular ) . He appeared in two episodes of " Mission : Impossible " , one with Nehemiah Persoff and another with Lee Delano and Leon Russom . Montaigne has also appeared in multiple episodes of " The F . B . I . " , working with series regular Stephen Brooks as well as Barry Atwater , William Boyett , Joseph Campanella , Anthony Caruso , Don Keefer , Barbara Luna , Scott Marlowe , Joan Marshall , William Sargent , and William Shatner . Perhaps Montaigne ' s most notable film role is that of POW Haynes in the acclaimed 1963 film " The Great Escape " , along with Jud Taylor . Taylor later directed Montaigne in a 1965 episode of " The Man from U . N . C . L . E . " and in the 1984 made - for - TV movie " License to Kill " . Montaigne ' s other feature film credits include 1965 ' s " Synamon " ( featuring fellow TOS guest stars Barbara Luna and Richard Evans ) , 1968 ' s " The Power " ( again working with Nehemiah Persoff ) , 1975 ' s " Escape to Witch Mountain " ( with Rex Holman ) , 1975 ' s " Framed " ( featuring the late Brock Peters ) , and 1981 ' s " Deadly Blessing " ( with Michael Berryman and narrated by Percy Rodriguez ) . He also appeared in the 1974 made - for - TV movie " The Undergound Man " with Judith Anderson . Montaigne retired from acting following his role in the 1988 drama film " Dakota " , which also featured Herta Ware , though he came out of retirement in 2007 for the aforementioned fan productions " Star Trek : Of Gods and Men " and " Star Trek : The Continuing Mission " . For several years , Montaigne taught at various schools in California and taught drama part - time at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas . " Of all the films , television and theatre I ' ve done , " Montaigne noted , " I can honestly say that the things I ' m most remembered for are the two roles I created on Star Trek : Decius in ' Balance of Terror ' and Stonn in ' Amok Time ' . " Accordingly , he wrote an autobiography entitled " A Vulcan Odyssey " . As reported by his daughter via Facebook , Montaigne died on Friday morning , 17 March 2017 .