William Morgan Sheppard

Incisive, deep-voiced stage and screen character actor William Morgan Sheppard has been a specialist in off-beat portrayals, notably in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. A 1958 RADA graduate, he spent twelve years as an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Prior to that, he sold building equipment, served in the Merchant Navy and wanted to be a stand-up comedian. Sheppard's screen career began modestly in British television, running the gamut of standard supporting roles in crime series like The Sweeney (1975), Z Cars (1962) and The Professionals (1977). Crossing the Atlantic to gain more 'visibility', he appeared on Broadway in Marat/Sade (reprising an earlier film role) and (a decade later) in Sherlock Holmes (then billed simply as 'Morgan Sheppard'). He made his American screen breakthrough in the role of post-apocalyptic punk outlaw disc jockey Blank Reg in the cult science fiction hit and subsequent series Max Headroom (1985) (for which he adopted a Mohawk haircut). That role, he later said, changed his career. It also defined a type of screen persona he would tend to favour down the track: possibly dangerous, certainly cantankerous, grizzled and perhaps vaguely droll. He preferred played villains and made up for his lack of height by "playing them smart". In a 2008 interview, he remarked that mini-cabbing in South London in the early 70s "got pretty hairy sometimes, but it was great experience because I could use that stuff. I know how to play psychopaths".

A recurring player in the Star Trek franchise, Sheppard has appeared as the cyberneticist Dr. Ira Graves; as a revenge-seeking Delta quadrant alien; as a Vulcan dignitary and (in his words) as the smallest ever Klingon. He also played a sinister Soul Hunter in Babylon 5 (1993) (a role he particularly appreciated because J. Michael Straczynski allowed him to 'run with' the character), a holographic professor in SeaQuest 2032 (1993) and the older incarnation of an-ex FBI agent helping to defeat The Silence in the sixth season of the Doctor Who (2005) relaunch. The actor's real-life son, Mark Sheppard (a top character actor in his own right, certainly best known as the snarky demon Crowley in Supernatural (2005)) played the younger version of the same individual. Father and son appeared together on several other occasions, including in an episode of NCIS (2003), and as -- respectively -- the older and younger Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island (2010).

Sheppard senior was one of just two non-American actors to be cast in the historical dramas Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003) (as Confederate General Isaac Trimble). More recent high profile roles have included theatrical impresario Merrit in The Prestige (2006), a senile priest who absolves Dexter (2006) of his sins and -- perhaps incongruously -- as the titular Kris Kringle in Farewell Mr. Kringle (2010). Sheppard has also been a prolific voice-over actor for animation and video games and has performed in radio plays with Los Angeles Theatre Works. He had latterly taught acting techniques at The Director's Playhouse in Los Angeles.

William Morgan Sheppard died on January 6 2019 in LA at the age of 86.