Biography for
John Colicos More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 December 1928, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date of Death

6 March 2000, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (series of heart attacks)

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Spouse

Mona McHenry

(1956 - 1981) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

Played the first Klingon ever seen on Star Trek.

Father of Nicholas Colicos

Among his closest friends was Lorne Greene, with whom he did a 1952 Canadian radio performance of Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness."

Was also a passionate horseback rider.

Began his acting career in 1946 performing on stage in Canada and acted in hundreds of plays on three continents prior to acting in films and TV shows.

Extensive Shakespearean credits throughout the late 1950s and 1960s included Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew," Leonato in "Much Ado About Nothing," Laertes in "Hamlet" and the title roles in "King Lear" and "Macbeth".

After Leonard Nimoy's Spock, his "Star Trek" (1966) and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) character, Kor, is the second longest running character to have been played by one actor in the "Star Trek" franchise. He made his first appearance as Kor in "Star Trek: Errand of Mercy (#1.26)" (1967) on March 23, 1967 and made his final appearance in the role in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Once More Unto the Breach (#7.7)" (1998) on November 11, 1998, more than 31 years later.

Father-in-law of Sophie Louise Dann.

Personal Quotes

"When all else fails, be enigmatic." (describing his acting philosophy)

"I was homesick, typecast and bored doing the same role over and over again." (on why he went back to Canada after spending twelve years in Hollywood)

"I've always remained a 19th century, slightly hammy, overblown actor. I prefer gigantic parts with huge emotions to playing kitchen drama. All this realism is just tedious and boring. I'm too big for television now. I'm too big for my house. I belong on another planet somewhere. I wish there were a space shuttle going to Mars. I would take my Shakespeare and start a new company ... somewhere up there." (from a 1989 interview)

Leading men are so cliched. They're so boring, so predictable. But when you get a really kooky, offbeat villain you can explore all kinds of devious twistings and turnings in the human mind. If you're a hero, well, they're all interchangeable. I don't think they're so interesting as these basic characters, which are the mainstay of all the shows anyway. People tend to remember the villains more than the heroes. Everybody wants to hiss and boo. It gives them a sense of superiority because they can feel, 'Well, at least I'm not as bad as he is.'