Ed Lauter

Ed Lauter was the actor who played Albert in the fifth season episode . He filmed his scenes for this episode between Thursday and Monday on Paramount Stage 16.
Lauter was considered for the role of Benjamin Sisko in .
Lauter began as a comedian before moving on to become a film and television actor in 1971. He made his feature film debut in the 1972 sequel The Magnificent Seven Ride!, co-starring fellow Star Trek alumni William Lucking and James B. Sikking. Lauter and Sikking also appeared in The New Centurions that same year.
Perhaps Lauter's best known role is Captain Knauer in (1974). He and star Burt Reynolds were the only two actors from the original film to reappear in the 2005 remake, albeit in different roles. The remake also starred veteran Trek actor James Cromwell. Other films Lauter appeared in during the 1970s include (1975 with Jill Ireland), (1976, with René Auberjonois), (1978, with David Ogden Stiers), and (1976). He also had a role in . William Shatner, Fionnula Flanagan, William Boyett, Robert DoQui, Brian Keith, Ricardo Montalban, George D. Wallace, Morgan Woodward, and Harris Yulin were also involved with this series. Lauter was also part of the mini-series Greatest Heroes of the Bible, as were Ted Cassidy, Jeff Corey, Frank Gorshin, Nehemiah Persoff, John Schuck, and Dean Stockwell.
In the 1980s, Lauter starred in (1980, co-starring LeVar Burton, Brad Dourif, Meg Foster, and Madge Sinclair), (1982, co-starred with Paul Williams, Henry Darrow, Ken Lynch, and William Daniels). His many other movie credits during the 1980s include (1983, with Daniel Hugh Kelly and Jerry Hardin), (with Marina Sirtis and Gavan O'Herlihy), (1984, with Heather Langenkamp), (1985, with Biff Yeager and Morgan Woodward), (1985, with Beau Billingslea, Jeanne Mori, Peter Parros, Louis Giambalvo, and Randy Lowell), (1986, with Wil Wheaton), (1986, with Fionnula Flanagan), Class 89 (with René Auberjonois), (with James Cromwell, Tom Hodges, and Raymond Forchion), (starring Dwight Schultz), and (1989, with Bob Gunton, Richard Poe, and Mike Starr).
In the 1990s, Lauter starred in (1990, with Bill Irwin and Carol Kane), (1991, starring Billy Campbell, with Paul Sorvino, Terry O'Quinn, Tiny Ron, Max Grodénchik, Clint Howard, and William Boyett), (1992, with guest Kevin Tighe and Anthony Rapp), (1993, starring Christian Slater and featuring Saul Rubinek) and (1994, co-starring Voyager actors Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, and Charles Rocket).
Other movies in which Lauter appeared include (1995, with Christopher McDonald, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Tim Kelleher, and Janet MacLachlan), Digital Man (1995, with Chase Masterson and Clint Howard), (1995, with Steven Weber and Thomas Kopache), (1996, with Melinda Clarke, Michael Krawic, Titus Welliver, Buddy Joe Hooker, Johnny Martin, Louise Fletcher, and Azalea Davila), (1997, also with Louise Fletcher), (with Kurtwood Smith and Richard Libertini), and (2000, starring Wil Wheaton).
Lauter was one of many Star Trek alumni to appear in (2000, with Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, Kevin Conway, Tim Kelleher, Bill Smitrovich, Boris Krutonog, Jack Blessing, and Peter White). The following year, he and Michael Ensign appeared in . In 2003, Lauter appeared in , with Michael Ensign, Michael Buchman Silver. In 2004 he appeared in , with Bobby C. King, Brenda Strong, Lawrence Monoson, and Oliver Keller.
Besides The Next Generation, Lauter made guest appearances on several popular TV series, most notably a recurring role as Fire Captain Dannaker on . He also appeared in the two-hour pilot episode for Hardcastle and McCormick, starring fellow Trek alumni Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly. Lauter appeared on in 2002 with Megan Gallagher, Ellen Geer, and Frank Military. The episode was written by Kristin Dobkin, daughter of director and guest star Larry Dobkin.
Lauter was later seen as "The Butler" in (2011, with James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell, Hal Landon, Jr., Andy Milder, Annie O'Donnell, Mark Donaldson, Brian J. Williams, Tim de Zarn, and Bill Blair), had a supporting role in the television movie Carnal Innocence (2011, with Pancho Demmings), and filmed the thriller Blind Pass (2012).
Leaving the 2012 Oscars ceremony, an embarrassing incident occurred when a "tired" BBC News reporter, live, on-air, in the early hours of the morning, thrust a microphone into the face of someone they had been told was "Patrick Stewart" – it turned out it was Ed Lauter.
Lauter died of mesothelioma at his home in West Hollywood on 16 October 2013. He was 74. 
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es:Ed Lauter
Category:Performers
Category:TNG performers