Arthur Batanides(1923-2000)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stocky, general purpose actor, a prolific face on the small screen
during the 1960s and 1970s. Batanides got into acting after
performing stand-up routines in front of fellow GI's in Europe during
World War II. His training in dramatic art at the Actors Lab in Los
Angeles was followed by extensive stage experience. He was more recently noted as "Mr.
Kirkland" in four instalments of the popular "Police Academy" franchise but
is remembered by older viewers chiefly as the ill-fated U.S.S. Enterprise
geologist Lieutenant D'Amato who died rather badly (cellular disruption)
in the Star Trek (1966) episode,
That Which Survives (1969). Other notable appearances include
one of dictator Clemente's
(Peter Falk) henchmen in
The Twilight Zone (1959)
episode,
The Mirror (1961);
and the Mongol leader "Batu" in
The Time Tunnel (1966)
episode,
Attack of the Barbarians (1967).
Batanides regularly played heavies in shows like
I Spy (1965) and
Mission: Impossible (1966),
or spoofed them (for instance, as a KAOS agent in
Get Smart (1965)). He retired from
acting in 1989.
