Brock Peters

Brock Peters was an accomplished veteran actor of stage, film, and television. He played Admiral Cartwright in and , and later portrayed Joseph Sisko on .
In addition to his canon Star Trek roles, Peters voiced the role of General in the video game Star Trek: Starfleet Command III.
== Life and career ==
Peters was born as George Fisher in New York City to African and West Indian parentage and began acting at the age of ten. He trained in his craft at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. He studied physical education at the City College of New York, which he abandoned after landing a role in the opera Porgy and Bess in 1949.
Beyond the realm of Star Trek, Peters is probably best known for his performance as Tom Robinson, the black man unjustly accused and convicted of raping a white girl, in (1962). His co-stars in this film included guest actors Frank Overton, Paul Fix, William Windom, John Megna, and Richard Hale. On the set of that film, he struck up a lifelong friendship with star , and delivered the eulogy at Peck's funeral in 2003.
Peters also became friends with actor after working with him on several stage productions in the 1940s and 1950s. Peters later worked with Heston on three films: (1965), (1973), and (1976).
=== 1954-1979 ===
Peters made his film debut in (1954), having dropped his birth name the previous year. He then made his Broadway stage debut as Ajali in the Martin Beck Theatre production of Mister Johnson in 1956. He performed in the Broadway Theatre two years later in the musical production The Body Beautiful.
Peters had a supporting role in (1959), based on the stage opera which Peters had acted in ten years earlier. Original Series actress Nichelle Nichols had a bit part in this film, while Loulie Jean Norman provided the singing voice of Diahann Carroll's character, Clara. 
Peters attracted attention with his roles in and To Kill a Mockingbird, both released in 1962. His subsequent film credits included (1964), Major Dundee, and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973). 
In 1967, Peters guest-starred on an episode of Mission: Impossible, which, like The Original Series, was produced by Desilu Studios. The following year, Peters co-starred with Original Series regular George Takei and Original Series guest actors Davis Roberts and Malachi Throne in an episode of It Takes a Thief, directed by Marc Daniels.
In Soylent Green (1973, photographed by Richard H. Kline), Peters portrayed Chief of Detectives Hatcher while fellow Star Trek alumni Whit Bissell, Robert Ito, Roy Jenson, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Celia Lovsky also had roles. That same year, Peters was nominated for the for his portrayal of South African minister Stephen Kumalo in . He also won the 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance. He reprised the role of Kumalo in the film version of Lost in the Stars in 1974.
Peters guest-starred on many television shows throughout the 1970s, including (directed by Corey Allen and co-starring Phillip Pine), (1970, with Walter Koenig), Gunsmoke (with Robert Pine), The Streets of San Francisco (with Roy Jenson and Kenneth Tobey), (with Terri Garr), and (1978, starring Lindsay Wagner,with James B. Sikking). He also worked with Ed Lauter in (1975, with Ron Soble) and in two episodes of Police Story in 1976.
In 1979, Peters was a guest star in an episode of Battlestar Galactica, in which his role of Chief Opposer Solon returned him to a courtroom setting, this time as a prosecutor. Later that year he was a part of the ensemble cast of . His co-stars in this production included Bernie Casey, Percy Rodriguez, John Rubinstein, Bruce French, Paul Winfield, and Bill Quinn.
=== 1980-2005 ===
In 1982, Peters became a regular on CBS' , portraying the role of Frank Lewis until 1989. In the latter year, he was once again seen alongside his Star Trek film co-star William Shatner in the TV movie Broken Angel. regular Roxann Dawson also appeared in this production.
During his time on The Young and the Restless, Peters guest-starred on (along with Keone Young), (with Lenore Kasdorf), and Cagney & Lacey (with Gregory Sierra). He also co-starred with John Schuck, Ben Vereen, and Alfre Woodard in the Fairie Tale Theatre production of Puss in Boots.
In 1990, the awarded Peters a for decades of outstanding performances. To date, Peters and Ricardo Montalban are the only Star Trek alumni to have received this honor.
Peters had a supporting role in (1996, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Susanna Thompson, Bill Smitrovich, Terry O'Quinn, Richard Riehle, Bill Cobbs, and Thomas Kopache). He again worked with Terry O'Quinn in (2002).
Peters' rich, baritone voice was used on such animated shows as , , , , and . On the latter series, he voiced the recurring role of businessman ; other performers whose voices were heard in his episodes include Adrienne Barbeau, Ed Begley, Jr., Robert Costanzo, Gary Frank, John Glover, Loren Lester, Ron Perlman, David Warner, and The Original Series Nichelle Nichols. He also lent his voice to three non-consecutive Hanna-Barbera produced action cartoon, either as a main or primary villain – he played Tormack in Galtar and the Golden Lance, Bloth in The Pirates of Dark Water (co-starring Frank Welker, René Auberjonois, Michael Bell, Hamilton Camp and Paul Eiding), and Dark Kat in (the latter alongside Barry Gordon).
In addition, Peters lent his voice to the character of Jomo in a 2000 episode of The Wild Thornberrys and in 2002's , in which Alfre Woodard and Ethan Phillips also supplied voices. Peters even supplied the voice of Darth Vader in the radio series (with David Clennon and Keene Curtis), making him one of the few actors to have worked in both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises; coincidentally, James Earl Jones, who voiced Vader in the Star Wars films, was nearly cast as Joseph Sisko's son. 
Peters made his final acting appearance in the 2005 episode of JAG entitled "Bridging the Gulf". This episode also featured his fellow Trek performers David Andrews, Erick Avari, Scott Lawrence, Zoe McLellan, Phil Morris, and Jennifer Savidge.
== Death ==
Peters died of pancreatic cancer on 23 August 2005 in Los Angeles, California. He was 78 years old. 
He was honored and remembered at the , along with many other departed entertainers and people in television from that year, including James Doohan.
== Star Trek appearances ==
=== As Admiral Cartwright ===
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=== As Joseph Sisko ===
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** (Season 4)
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** (Season 6)
** (also as "Preacher")
** (Season 7)
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== Video games ==
*Star Trek: Starfleet Command III as General Mi'Qogh (voice)
== Star Trek interview ==
*"The Other Darth Vader", Tom Weaver, , issue 234, January 1996, pp. 32-35
== External links ==
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