Lawrence Montaigne

Lawrence Montaigne was the actor who played Decius in the first season episode and Stonn in the second season episode .
Montaigne filmed his scenes for "Balance of Terror" 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 Herb Solow and Robert H. Justman in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 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 . 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 in 1966. He later appeared in two episodes of , starring 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 , both co-starring Phyllis Douglas.
Other television shows on which Montaigne appeared include (including an episode directed by Joseph Sargent), Twelve O'Clock High (starring Robert Lansing), (including a 1967 episode with William Marshall), Bonanza (in an episode directed by Leo Penn and co-starring Kenneth Tobey), (in an episode directed by Michael O'Herlihy and co-starring Monte Markham and Madlyn Rhue), McCloud (starring Diana Muldaur, in an episode with Terri Garr), and Mission: Impossible the latter of which, like the Original Series, was originally produced by Desilu. He appeared in (1968, with Steve Ihnat, Ralph Maurer, and Malachi Throne. 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. He also appeared in an episode of with Whit Bissell.
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 Original Series 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 Underground 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. 
== External links ==
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* – former official site
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