(written from a Production point of view)
Ralph Moratz (10 October 1931 – 10 March 2016; age 84) was an actor who appeared as a background actor in two Star Trek productions. He first appeared as a Mercy Hospital visitor near the elevator in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. [1] Eight years later, Moratz appeared as a Bajoran Vedek in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine second season episode "The Collaborator", directed by Cliff Bole. [2]
Born in Berlin, Germany, Moratz became a target of harassment when Adolf Hitler's power increased, due to Moratz' Jewish heritage. In 1939, he was able to leave Berlin on a transport to France where he found shelter in a Jewish orphanage in Paris. In 1941, he was able to resettle to New York. He attended Flushing High School and enlisted in the United States Air Force.
In November 1953, Moratz joined Central Casting and SEG and in 1955 he became a member of the Screen Actors Guild and of AFTRA in the 1980s. During his acting time, Moratz took a thirty year hiatus where he worked as programmer, analyst, and application manager of payroll and consumer loans at a bank in Los Angeles, California. He returned full time to acting following his retirement.
Moratz died on 10 March 2016 at the age of 84 in Hermiston, Oregon. [3]
Acting[]
Moratz started his acting career in the early 1950s and worked as background actor in film productions such as The Robe (1953, with Jean Simmons, Torin Thatcher, Jay Robinson, and Michael Ansara), The Student Prince (1954, with John Hoyt), Sabrina (1954, with Kay E. Kuter), Sign of the Pagan (1954), East of Eden (1955), An Annapolis Story (1955, with William Schallert, Benjie Bancroft, and Don Keefer), Daddy Long Legs (1955), The Purple Mask (1955, with John Hoyt), Not as a Stranger (1955, with Whit Bissell and Gail Bonney), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), The McConnell Story (1955, with Paul Baxley and Arthur Tovey), and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, with Ian Wolfe and Chuck Hicks).
In 1955, he worked as stunt double for actor Russ Tamblyn for his jump into the orchestra in Hit the Deck. He also worked as stand-in on Black Saddle (1959) and The David Niven Show (1959).
Further acting work includes The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956, with Leslie Parrish), Helen of Troy (1956, with Torin Thatcher), Our Miss Brooks (1956, with Arthur Tovey), D-Day the Sixth of June (1956, with Parley Baer), Giant (1956, with Paul Fix), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Written on the Wind (1956, with William Schallert and Gail Bonney), Friendly Persuasion (1956, with Peter Mark Richman), Jeanne Eagels (1957, with Theo Marcuse), Raintree County (1957, with DeForest Kelley), Sayonara (1957, with Ricardo Montalban and William Meader), No Time for Sergeants (1958, with Dick Crockett and Bob Hoy), Pork Chop Hill (1959, with Barry Atwater, Bert Remsen, and Clarence Williams III), A Hole in the Head (1959), The Apartment (1960, with Ray Walston), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961, with William Shatner, Bernard Kates, and Rudy Solari), Two for the Seesaw (1962, with Victor Lundin), Irma la Douce (1963, with Grace Lee Whitney), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963, with Madlyn Rhue), and The Steagle (1971) as well as episodes of Wanted: Dead or Alive (1959-1960), The Rifleman (1960, with Paul Fix and Whit Bissell), Ben Casey, Bonanza, and Zane Grey Theater (1960).
Following his "break" from acting, Moratz started again to work in background with the beginning of his retirement in the 1990s. Among his appearances are Tango & Cash (1989, with Teri Hatcher), the science fiction thriller Monolith (1993, with Musetta Vander, Mark Phelan, and Boris Krutonog), the comedy The Wacky Adventures of Dr. Boris and Nurse Shirley (1995, with Clive Revill), the drama Panther (1995, with Charles Cooper, Christopher Michael, Joseph Culp, L. Sidney, Manny Perry, and John Snyder), Heat (1995), Forget Paris (1995, with Tom Wright, Tim Halligan, Judyann Elder, and Clint Howard), the romance The American President (1995), Independence Day (1996, with Bill Smitrovich, Frank Novak, Leland Orser, Brent Spiner, Pam Blackwell, Mirron E. Willis, Raphael Sbarge, Carlos LaCamara, Tim Kelleher, Jana Marie Hupp, Robert Pine, Derek Webster, Randy Oglesby, Anthony Crivello, Mark Thompson, Frank Welker, Erick Avari, and Tracey Walter), That Thing You Do! (1996, with Bill Cobbs and Clint Howard), Albino Alligator (1996, with Spencer Garrett), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Wedding Singer (1998, with Ellen Albertini Dow), Thirteen Days (2000, with Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp), Monkeybone (2001), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003, with Kristanna Loken and Earl Boen), and Nobel Son (2007, with Tracey Walter, Matt Winston, and Carla Stoelting).
Besides film work, Moratz appeared in various television series including Alien Nation, Muscle (1995, with Dan Gauthier, Amy Pietz, and Alan Ruck), Leave Tt to Beaver, Picket Fences, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Dragnet, The Larry Sanders Show, News Radio, Profiler, Sister, Sister, The Pretender, Pacific Blue, Married... with Children, Hart to Hart, Good vs Evil, Days of Our Lives, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001-2007, with Paul Dooley, Christopher Darga, Joy Kilpatrick, Jimmie F. Skaggs, and Michael McKean).
External links[]
- "In Another Time" – official blog
- Ralph Moratz at the Internet Movie Database
- Ralph Moratz at YouTube