John Colicos was the first man to portray a Klingon on Star Trek.
He was a veteran of the Stratford Festival.
He acted in The National Dream, voiced Apocalypse on X-Men: The Animated Series and much more.
This is his story.

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John Colicos was born on Dec. 10, 1928 in Toronto but was raised in Montreal. His first acting role was as Jesus in a Christmas pageant. By the time he was a teenager, he was acting with the Canadian Art Theatre and the Montreal Repertory Theatre.
Colicos began working on CBC Radio dramas in the early 1950s, often working with Winnipeg's Douglas Rain (who went on to voice HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey).
In 1952, Colicos moved to England and portrayed King Lear at the Old Vic.

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Colicos debuted on Broadway in 1956, and continued to act around North America on the stage. In 1961, he began a four season run with the Stratford Festival.
By the late-1950s and early-1960s, Colicos starting to act on television on shows.
In 1967, he became the first actor to portray a Klingon on Star Trek when he portrayed Commander Kor on Errand of Mercy on March 23, 1967. Colicos worked with Gene Roddenberry to design the overall look of the Klingons.

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In 1974, he portrayed William Cornelius Van Horne on CBC's docudrama The National Dream. He then portrayed Lord Baltar on Battlestar Galactica with fellow Canadian Lorne Greene. He continued to act in the 1980s in shows such as Street Legal, E.N.G., and Night Heat.
From 1992 to 1993, he portrayed Apocalypse\En Sabah Nur in four episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series. He returned to Star Trek, reprising his role as Kor, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in three episodes.

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Colicos was also known for his massive theatrical research library at his Toronto home that consisted of 4,000 volumes.
In 1997, Colicos received the Order of Ontario.
He died after a series of heart attacks on March 6, 2000.

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I hope you enjoyed that look at John Colicos.

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Craig Baird is creating Canadian history content

Hello!Bringing Canadian history to people is my full-time job through my podcast Canadian History Ehx, and on social media.I love Canadian history and I share my passion with my listeners and viewers.

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