- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLeonard Norman Rosenson
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Mark Lenard was an American actor, primarily known for television roles. He is primarily known for playing Vulcan ambassador Sarek (Spock's father) in "Star Trek: The Original Series" and a number of its spin-offs.
In 1924, Lenard was born under the name "Leonard Rosenson" in Chicago Illinois. His father was Abraham Rosenson, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who eventually owned his own tourist resort in South Haven, Michigan. Lenard was primarily raised in South Haven.
Lenard joined the United States Army in 1943, at the age of 19. He was originally trained as a paratrooper, but was eventually given the position of a technical sergeant. He was discharged in 1946, without ever seeing combat.
During his military service, Lenard served as an an amateur actor in theatrical productions. Following the war, he sought a formal acting education at the University of Michigan. He graduated with a master's degree in theater and speech. For several years, he was primarily a theatrical actor in New York City.
In the mid-1960s, Lenard moved to to Los Angeles, where he hoped to find work in film. He made his film debut in the Biblical epic "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965), at the age of 41. He played Balthazar, the Persian magus (Zoroastrian priest, magician) mentioned in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew.
Lenard first appeared in "Star Trek: The Original Series" in 1966, playing an unnamed Romulan commander in the episode "Balance of Terror" . He first played his character of ambassador Sarek in the episode "Journey to Babel" (1967). He voiced Sarek in the 1973 episode "Yesteryear" of "Star Trek: The Animated Series". He played Sarek again in the episodes "Sarek" (1990) and "Unification: Part 1" (1991) of the sequel series "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
In the film versions of Star Trek, Lenard played Sarek in four films: "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984), "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986), "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989), and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". He also played an unnamed Klingon captain in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979).
Lenard had guest star roles in several other series, such as "Mission: Impossible", The Wild Wild West", "Gunsmoke", and "Hawaii Five-O". He had a recurring role in the comedy Western television series "Here Come the Brides" (1968-1970), playing Seattle-based sawmill owner Aaron Stempel.
Possibly due to his experience in Star Trek, Lenard was often cast as an authority figure in science fiction television series. He played General Urko in "Planet of the Apes", Emperor Thorval in "The Secret Empire", Ambassador Duvoe in "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", and camp commandant Perel Sightings in "Otherworld".
Lenard had a rare villainous role as Catholic bishop Eberhard Hoffman in the historical film "The Radicals" (1990), depicting the persecution of the then-new Anabaptist movement in the 16th century. He mostly retired from television in 1993, as he had a leading role in a theatrical play which was performed on tour, "The Boys in Autum". He played an elderly Huckleberry Finn who gets reacquainted with his childhood friend Tom Sawyer (played by Walter Koenig). It was Lenard's last significant role.
Lenard died in 1996, suffering from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. He was 72-years-old, and had been appearing on film and television for three decades.- IMDb mini biography by: Dimos I
- SpouseAnn Elizabeth Amouri(1960 - November 22, 1996) (his death, 2 children)
- ChildrenRoberta RosensonCatherine Jane Rosenson
- Rich smooth voice
- One of 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (1966) (up to and including Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)), as well as in one of the spin-offs.
- Mark Lenard is one of the few actors ever to portray three different aliens on Star Trek: the Romulan commander in Balance of Terror (1966); the Vulcan Sarek (father of Spock) on more than one occasion (Star Trek (1966), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)) ; and the Klingon captain (the first Klingon to feature a "forehead" using lumpy forehead prosthetics) in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). He also almost played a human; Gene Roddenberry wanted him to portray Abraham Lincoln in The Savage Curtain (1969) but Lenard was unavailable at the time.
- Lenard had his hair dyed and makeup applied to his face to make him look older while playing Sarek, the Vulcan father of Spock on Star Trek (1966), because he was really only 7 years older than Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock).
- Received his Master's degree in theater and speech from the University of Michigan.
- Survived by his wife and two daughters (Roberta and Catherine).
- The screen captures your persona. It's not my personality, but it captures something in me that is there, something you cannot create or fake. That's something about acting: the camera catches something or it doesn't. Those who are successful are those who have been captured, who have presence and screen personality.
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