For generations of Star Trek fans, Walter Koenig wasn\u2019t simply another actor on the bridge of the Enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was Chekov \u2013 the ever-loyal navigator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his youthful face, unmistakable accent and mop of hair, he became one of those characters fans could recognize almost instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And even decades after the original series ended, Koenig remained a beloved part of the Star Trek universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, fans are saying goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walter Koenig has died at the age of 90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The actor passed away Sunday from natural causes at his home in North Hollywood, according to his representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those who grew up watching Star Trek, the news marks the loss of another familiar face from television history<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig joined Gene Roddenberry\u2019s groundbreaking sci-fi series at the beginning of its second season, appearing in 36 episodes during the show\u2019s final two seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But surprisingly, before landing the role that would change his life, Koenig wasn\u2019t exactly a Star Trek fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, he admitted that he had barely given the show a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201dI\u2019d flip through the channels and I\u2019d see Styrofoam rocks \u2014 they were so obviously Styrofoam \u2014 and I said, \u2018This has got to be phony.\u2019 I didn\u2019t give it a chance,\u201d he recalled in a 2013 interview with the Television Academy Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Little did he know that those \u201cStyrofoam rocks\u201d were about to become part of his life forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Becoming Chekov<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Marvin Walter Koenig was born in Chicago on September 14, 1936, the son of businessman Isadore Koenig and his wife, Sarah Strauss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants whose family had been living in Lithuania before coming to the United States. After emigrating, the family shortened their surname from K\u00f6nigsberg to Koenig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Walter was still young, the family moved to the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, where he spent much of his childhood and attended school<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But growing up in the Koenig household also meant living with the political tensions of the era. His father was a committed communist, and during the height of McCarthyism, his beliefs attracted the attention of the FBI. Koenig later recalled that federal agents even searched the family\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What led him to the Enterprise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Acting wasn\u2019t originally the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He attended Grinnell College as a pre-med student before transferring to UCLA, where he studied psychology. But an acting class changed his direction, eventually leading him to New York\u2019s famed Neighborhood Playhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There, he studied alongside future stars including James Caan, Christopher Lloyd and Dabney Coleman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the early 1960s, Koenig was finding television work and had become particularly skilled at playing characters with different accents and backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Years before Chekov, he even played a Russian character in a 1963 episode of Mr. Novak<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NBC Television<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He later appeared on The Lieutenant, a series created by Gene Roddenberry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That connection would soon help lead him to the Enterprise<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig recalled that director Joseph Pevney, who had previously worked with him on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, was among those present when he auditioned for Star Trek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201dHe really liked my work, he kept telling me, \u2018You\u2019re going to be a big star,\u2019\u201d Koenig recalled. \u201dWhen I came in to read for Star Trek, he was very enthusiastic and one of the reasons I got the part.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
But the way Koenig discovered he\u2019d actually landed the role was anything but glamorous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After his audition, he spent hours sitting outside wondering whether he had gotten the job. Eventually, a man approached him and took him into wardrobe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cHe drops on his knees in front of me,\u201d Koenig said, \u201cand takes my crotch in his hand, and I\u2019m saying, \u2018What are you doing?!\u2019 I didn\u2019t see the tape-measuring ruler in his other hand, and he was measuring from my crotch to my cuff to decide how long my pants should be. He says, \u2018You do have to have a costume, don\u2019t you?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s the auspicious way I learned I was on Star Trek and it was going to change my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
It certainly did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young face of the Enterprise<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Chekov was partly created to bring a younger energy to the show<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig said the character was originally called Jones, with producers hoping to appeal to the same young audience that adored Davy Jones of The Monkees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cAnd indeed, my [fan] mail was from people who were 8- to 14-years-old,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said, \u2018I think you\u2019re groovy, I love your hair\u2019 \u2014 which was a wig, by the way. I got hundreds and hundreds of letters, the third most after Bill [Shatner] and [Leonard [Nimoy]].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
That famous hair wasn\u2019t the only illusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig joked that Chekov\u2019s appeal eventually faded somewhat once fans learned more about the man playing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nHe said there were three reasons: \u201cthe hair wasn\u2019t real; I wasn\u2019t really Russian, and that exotic flavor was gone; and [viewers found out] that I was married, and they couldn\u2019t fantasize about being with Chekov. Things then started to take a nosedive<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Although Chekov wasn\u2019t always given much to do in the original series, Koenig understood his place in the crew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He once described his job as helping \u201cset out the bones of the plot and let McCoy, Spock and Kirk fill in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Star Trek didn\u2019t end for Koenig when the original show disappeared from television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Far from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He returned as Pavel Andreievich Chekov in the first seven Star Trek movies, beginning with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 and continuing through Star Trek Generations in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suffered a heart attack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Koenig\u2019s career, however, stretched far beyond one character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After worrying that Star Trek might leave him typecast, he increasingly turned to writing, contributing episodes to shows including Land of the Lost, Family, The Powers of Matthew Star and The Incredible Hulk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Years later, another generation of science-fiction fans discovered him as Alfred Bester on Babylon 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The role almost never happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 56, Koenig suffered a heart attack and underwent quadruple bypass surgery, forcing him to miss an earlier opportunity to appear on the series<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig also wrote books about his life, including his 1998 memoir Warped Factors: A Neurotic\u2019s Guide to the Universe and 2020\u2019s Beaming Up and Getting Off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tragic death of his son<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Away from the cameras, Koenig shared an extraordinarily long marriage with actress Judy Levitt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple married in July 1965, before Star Trek had even entered his life, and remained together for more than 57 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Levitt, who appeared alongside her husband in several Star Trek films as well as Babylon 5, died in December 2022 at the age of 83<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actor Walter Koenig (C), wife Judy Levitt and daughter Danielle Koenig pose as Walter is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 10, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire\/WireImage)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family had already endured an unimaginable loss years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their son, actor Andrew Koenig \u2014 remembered by many television fans as Richard \u201cBoner\u201d Stabone on Growing Pains \u2014 died by suicide in 2010 at the age of 41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Koenig is survived by his daughter, actress and screenwriter Danielle Koenig, who is married to comedian Jimmy Pardo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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