Farewell Walter Koenig
Farewell to Walter Koenig, the unforgettable Pavel Chekov on Star Trek.
Like thousands of Trekkies, I saw him at conventions over the years—initially in the late 1980s, where I saw him demonstrate the “Chekov scream” on stage (how can you not smile?) and asked him to sign my copy of a DC Star Trek comic he wrote. (As I recall, he was the only left-handed member of the original cast.)
I saw him in recent years in the audience at an L.A. play, long after he stopped wearing his hairpiece but before revealing that to the media (unlike a certain castmate). I saw him on the picket lines outside Paramount a few years ago—that was wild, all the cast and writers who were there—and for the last time at a film music concert within the past year. As so many others have written, he was genuine, nice, thoughtful and approachable.
Of all the cast members, he seemed to be more than aware that the franchise was a wonderful blessing that afforded him a fabulous lifestyle, made millions of real people happy, and furthered noble ideals of goodness and understanding. And, at the same time, it was all kind of ridiculous.
“Could you use another hand, Admiral?” Everybody loved Chekov. And everybody loved Walter.
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