Michael Rougas (22 January 1931 – 19 June 2008; age 77) was an American actor and playwright who played Cleary in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Rougas made his film debut playing Frank in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957, featuring Star Trek: The Original Series guest actors Whit Bissell and Joseph Mell).
Rougas had a bit part in Where the Boys Are (1960, featuring Frank Gorshin). He then appeared in Ice Station Zebra (1968, starring Patrick McGoohan, with Jim Goodwin, Lloyd Haynes, Jonathan Lippe, and William O'Connell).
In the 1970s, Rougas appeared in such films as Airport (with Michael Bell, Whit Bissell, William Boyett, Celia Lovsky, and Dallas Mitchell), Zabriskie Point (with Paul Fix), Grand Jury (starring Bruce Davison), and The Great Santini (1979, with Michael Strong). In the 1980s, he had small roles in Scarface (1983, starring F. Murray Abraham and Harris Yulin), Fast Forward (1985, with Robert DoQui), Into the Night (1985, with Bruce McGill), and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987, starring Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and Craig Wasson).
Rougas appeared on several television series as well. In 1976, he reunited with his I Was a Teenage Werewolf co-star Michael Landon for an episode of Little House on the Prairie. He later appeared on Dallas (with Mary Crosby and Paul Sorensen) and NBC's L.A. Law (starring Corbin Bernsen, in an episode with Robert Costanzo and Stanley Kamel).
In addition to his work on screen, Rougas had a successful stage acting career in the US West Coast. He also performed in Chicago for many years. He wrote at least one play, a semi-autobiographical drama entitled Anatomy of Revenge, about a gay-bashing victim who seeks his own brand of vengeance. He also portrayed the lead role in the play, which ran 9 August–19 September 2004 in Chicago. [1] [2]
- According to the Internet Movie Database, Rougas died on 19 June 2008, but this has yet to be confirmed. The Social Security Death Index does list a Michael Rougas who died on this date, but it is not known whether or not it is this Michael Rougas.