Joseph Ruskin

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Joseph Ruskin
Birth name:	Joseph Richard Schlafman
Date of birth:	14 April 1924
Place of birth:	Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA
Date of death:	28 December 2013
Place of death:	Santa Monica, California, USA
Roles:	Actor
Character(s):	Galt Tumek Vulcan master Various other characters

Joseph Ruskin (14 April 1924 – 28 December 2013; age 89) (born Joseph Richard Schlafman) was an American actor who appeared in four of the first five live-action Star Trek television series (the exception being Star Trek: The Next Generation, although he did appear in Star Trek: Insurrection). With the exception of Majel Barrett, who appeared in every Star Trek series excepting those which debuted after her death, he was the only actor to appear in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. Furthermore, given that Barrett only provided the computer voice in Star Trek: Voyager, Ruskin was the only actor to appear on screen in all four series mentioned above. Along with Majel Barrett, Clint Howard, Jack Donner and Vince Deadrick, he was one of only five actors to appear in both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Enterprise. He, Barrett and Howard also appeared in DS9.

Ruskin also worked on two Star Trek video games, lending his voice to Master Si'tann in Star Trek: Hidden Evil in 1999 and to Admiral Nolotai and Vulcan Master N'Kal in Star Trek: Away Team in 2001.

Ruskin filmed his scenes for "The Gamesters of Triskelion" on Wednesday 18 October 1967 and between Friday 20 October 1967 and Tuesday 24 October 1967 at Paramount Test Stage and Desilu Stage 10.

Hailing from Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA, he was born as Joseph Schlafman. Ruskin, like William Schallert, Barry Gordon and Kitty Swink served on the Screen Actors Guild Executive Board of Directors, becoming a Trustee at the Screen Actors Guild Pension and Health Plan. Ruskin worked for the SGA between 1976 and 1999.

He had a long and distinguished career, appearing in television series as early as 1959. More recently, he had a recurring role as Alliance Member Alain Christophe in J.J. Abrams' series Alias, as well as playing an elderly mob boss in Smokin' Aces, which featured Chris Pine.

Ruskin died on 28 December 2013 at the age of 89 from natural causes at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica. [1]

Other projects in which Ruskin appeared with fellow Trek performers include:

• The Magnificent Seven (1960) with Whit Bissell and John A. Alonzo
• The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" (1962) with Dave Armstrong, Theo Marcuse and James Wellman
• The Outer Limits episode "Production and Decay of Strange Particles" (1964) with Leonard Nimoy, Rudy Solari, Barry Russo, Willard Sage, Robert Fortier and Vic Perrin, makeup by Fred Phillips and Robert H. Justman as production manager
• The Time Tunnel episode "Revenge of the Gods" (1966) with James Darren, Whit Bissell, Lee Meriwether, Paul Carr and Abraham Sofaer
• Land of the Giants episode "The Secret City of Limbo" (1969) with Don Marshall, Malachi Throne and Whit Bissell
• The Streets of San Francisco episode "The Most Deadly Species" (1974) with Vince Howard and Ruskin's 'Triskelion' co-star Steve Sandor
• Planet of the Apes episode "The Tyrant" (1974) with Percy Rodrigues, Mark Lenard, Gary Combs, Ron Stein and Tom Troupe, directed by Ralph Senensky with cinematography by Jerry Finnerman
• The Scorpion King (2002) with Dwayne Johnson and Branscombe Richmond.

Star Trek appearances

Galt
TOS: "The Gamesters of Triskelion"

Tumek
DS9: "The House of Quark", "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"

Cardassian Informant
DS9: "Improbable Cause"

Son'a officer
Star Trek: Insurrection

Vulcan master
VOY: "Gravity"

Suliban doctor
ENT: "Broken Bow"

External links

• Joseph Ruskin at Wikipedia
• Joseph Ruskin at the Internet Movie Database