David Graf

David Graf was an American actor who guest-starred as Fred Noonan in the second season episode and Leskit in the fifth season episode . His widow, Kathryn Graf, guest-starred in the Deep Space Nine first season episode . Prior to his appearance in Voyager, Graf guest-starred in a series called Voyagers! (VOY Season 2 DVD, "The 37's" text commentary)
In addition to his episodic appearances, Graf also did voice work on several Trek s, including Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force and Star Trek: Away Team.
He is best remembered for his role as Officer (and later Sergeant) Eugene Tackleberry in all seven of the Police Academy movies from 1984 through 1994. He also played the character on the short-lived 1997-98 series inspired by the films. One of these films, 1988's Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, also featured his wife, Kathryn, as well as Deep Space Nine star René Auberjonois and guest star Matt McCoy. In fact, all the other Police Academy films featured fellow Trek alumni: the first film (1984) had Kim Cattrall, Steve Guttenberg, and Scott Thomson; (1985) had Arthur Batanides, who also appeared in the fourth and sixth films; Scott Thomson, Steve Guttenberg, and Brian Tochi appeared in (1986) and also appeared in (1987); (1989) featured Gerrit Graham, Darryl Henriques, Kenneth Mars, Matt McCoy, Beans Morocco, and Angelo Tiffe; and Ron Perlman co-starred in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (1994).
== Biography ==
Born in Lancaster, Ohio, Graf attended Lancaster High School where his love of theater and drama were predominant. Upon graduation in 1968, he attended Otterbein University, where he majored in theater. From there, he went to graduate school at Ohio State University but dropped out in 1975 and moved to New York City to pursue a professional acting career, ultimately breaking into film and television in 1981.
Graf was described as a shy person who kept to himself. He died of a heart attack at a family wedding just nine days short of his 51st birthday. His father and grandfather both also suffered heart attacks and died at age 51.
== Career ==
Graf, struggling to find acting work, made his television debut as a contestant on the game show The $20,000 Pyramid, where he won US$10,000 with the help of celebrity guest panelist . Graf himself became a guest panelist on the show, competing against Duke. 
After his game show appearance, Graf took on small guest roles on popular TV shows like (starring David Ogden Stiers, in an episode with Cyril O'Reilly), (starring Dwight Schultz, in an episode with Javier Grajeda and Carlos LaCamara) and (starring Brian Keith and Daniel Hugh Kelly). He also made his feature film debut in the 1981 drama Four Friends, starring Craig Wasson and Jim Metzler and also featuring Natalia Nogulich. 
Acquiring some celebrity as Tackleberry in 1984's Police Academy, Graf opted to reprise the role in five sequels, each released one year after the other, from 1985 through 1989. In the meantime, he continued acting on television. He found himself as a regular on the ABC series He's the Mayor in 1986, although it only ran for ten episodes, with three episodes filmed but never aired. He also guest-starred in an episode of Night Court, working with series star John Larroquette and fellow guest star Keye Luke. In addition, he starred in a few TV movies, including 1988's Police Story: The Watch Commander, with Gregg Henry and Carlos LaCamara.
When the Police Academy films seemingly ended after 1989, Graf stuck primarily to television. He appeared in the last two episodes of in 1990, starring Ron Perlman, with Jeff Corey, Fionnula Flanagan, and Ellen Geer. In 1991 he worked with future actors Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell on , with Lauren Tom. That same year, he and Jeffrey Combs guest-starred in an episode of , starring Bill Smitrovich. Also in '91, Graf appeared on Doogie Howser, M.D., starring James B. Sikking. 
Graf went on to appear on such shows as (1992, starring Jason Alexander, with Stephen McHattie and Heidi Swedberg), (with Richard McGonagle and Ray Walston), (1993, starring Chris Demetral and Wendie Malick, with Kim Cattrall), (1995, starring Teri Hatcher, with Barbara Bosson), (with Ellen Bry) and (with James Parks). Graf later made appearances on shows like (starring Terry Farrell, in an episode with Fran Bennett and Wade Andrew Williams), , and Son of the Beach.
He did continue acting in films, however. He had supporting roles in (1993) and (1994, co-starring fellow Deep Space Nine guest star Edward Laurence Albert). Also in 1994, he returned to the role of Sgt. Tackleberry for the last time for Mission to Moscow. 
Subsequent film credits include (1995, with Gary Cole, James Avery, Michael McKean, and Keone Young) and (1996, with Kenneth Mars and Kurtwood Smith) and Skeletons (co-starring Dennis Christopher and Christopher Plummer). He had a small role in (2000, with Gordon Clapp, Thomas Knickerbocker, and Richard McGonagle), and had a supporting role in the little-known adventure film The Cactus Kid, co-starring Mike Starr. And in 2002 Graf co-starred with fellow Trek actors Scott Bakula, Ron Perlman, and John Schuck in the made-for-TV movie The Trial of Old Drum. This latter production proved to be Graf's final acting work; it was released six months after his death.
=== Video game appearances ===
*Klingon Captain (Star Trek: Invasion)
*Terran Empire Officer (Star Trek: Elite Force) 
*First Tugol'atan (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen) 
*Ensign Ty Mijoral (Star Trek: Away Team)
== External links ==
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Category:Performers
Category:DS9 performers
Category:VOY performers
Category:Video game performers