Star Trek's Chekov Dies at 90

Walter Koenig, who beamed into pop culture history as Ensign Pavel Chekov on Star Trek, has died at 90. His representative says Koenig died Sunday at his home in North Hollywood. The Chicago-born son of Lithuanian immigrants joined Star Trek in its second season and appeared in 36 episodes, then reprised Chekov in the first seven Star Trek films, from 1979 to 1991. Chekov, a Russian navigator, was the only Communist-bloc member of the USS Enterprise's bridge crew, showing how rival nations could work together, the AP reports.

Early in his career, Koenig, who studied alongside James Caan, Christopher Lloyd, and Dabney Coleman at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, was known for his skill with dialects, and played French, German, and Swedish characters, per the Hollywood Reporter. He said that after his Star Trek audition, he waited in an office for hours and was startled when a man took him into a wardrobe room and started measuring from his crotch to his cuff. "He says, 'You do have to have a costume, don't you?'" Koenig said. "And that's the auspicious way I learned I was on Star Trek and it was going to change my life."

Koenig later found a second sci-fi fan base as telepath Alfred Bester on Babylon 5, a role created for him after he recovered from heart surgery. Away from the bridge, he wrote for TV, penned sci-fi, and authored two memoirs. Koenig was married to actress Judy Levitt, who appeared in three Star Trek movies, from 1965 until her death in 2022. He is survived by their daughter, writer and actress Danielle Koenig. Their son, Growing Pains actor Andrew Koenig, died by suicide in 2010.

• Star Trek castmate George Takei, who played Sulu, paid tribute to Koenig in an Instagram post. "Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man. Just last month, on Sept. 14, he turned 90, on the same day Brad and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. I will always treasure that he and I shared that date," Takei wrote. "Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend. To the fans who loved him for so many years, thank you. He loved you too. Rest well, my dear friend. Keep navigating a steady course."