William Blackburn

William Blackburn, also known as Bill or Billy, was an uncredited background performer on Star Trek: The Original Series for all of the show's three seasons. In that time, he played a wide variety of roles, usually as a navigator or a helmsman, all believed to be a character named Hadley. In total, he appeared in 61 episodes of the series. In addition, archive footage containing his appearance in the original series episode was used in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode.

Originally recruited as DeForest Kelley's stand-in, Blackburn popped up in many small roles. He was the White Rabbit in, an Organian villager in , the robot constructed by Henoch in , one of Harry Mudd's androids in , a native of Gamma Trianguli VI in , and a NASA technician in. He also was the subject of various make-up tests (including the make-up for Frank Gorshin and Jay Robinson and the Tellarite make-up for ) and provided voice overs on the show – including the White Rabbit – although his own character of Hadley never spoke on-screen. Blackburn told, that maybe he spoke a few lines as Hadley, but they were cut from the eventual episodes.

Blackburn also often provided the off-screen voices during the actual filming (such as the voice of Trelane's parents in ), which would be dubbed-in during post-production. It was originally the job of script supervisor, George A. Rutter, but Rutter insisted on Blackburn doing it instead.

A former professional ice skater, Blackburn was an uncredited extra on films such as Spartacus and Snow White and the Three Stooges prior to his work on Star Trek. He acquired his job on Trek through assistant director Leonard Shapiro, whom he had worked with on the television series My Favorite Martian, where he was a stand-in for Ray Walston (later a guest actor on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager). Blackburn reportedly saved Shapiro's job on Martian so, to return the favor, Shapiro got him an assignment on Star Trek. As Blackburn recalled, he was told to sit at the conn and to not speak.

During his time on the set of Star Trek, Blackburn shot some 8mm and Super-8 home movies of the various behind-the-scenes goings-on of various cast and crew members. He filmed over an hour of footage, which he has kept for the most part in a safe-deposit box since the series ended in.

After Star Trek, Blackburn became a costumer. It was Trek costume designer William Ware Theiss who convinced him to seek this job.

As his first job in this new occupation, he worked with Theiss on MGM's 1976 film Bound for Glory (starring Ronny Cox). He later served as costumer on projects such as the 1978 NBC mini-series The Awakening Land (featuring Bert Remsen). He shared an Emmy Award nomination as a costumer on the 1980 TV movie The Diary of Anne Frank (featuring Clive Revill) and worked with Star Trek star William Shatner as a costume supervisor on Shatner's series T.J. Hooker (co-starring James Darren and Richard Herd). According to Blackburn, Shatner greeted Blackburn on the set (referring to him as "Billy"), but could not understand why he was in costuming and not acting.

Blackburn went on to serve as key costumer for the television series Night Court (starring John Larroquette). In 1990, he co-wrote, directed, and appeared in a film called Challenge the Wind, about a conflicted young boy who yearns to be a track star.

Blackburn prefers not to capitalize on his Star Trek connection. However, he was recently interviewed on a segment of the British television program After They Were Famous, which also featured highlights from his silent Super-8 home movies that he had taken on the set. In July 2007, he made his first convention appearance, at Comic-Con International in San Diego. There, it was announced that he had contracted with CBS and Paramount to release several minutes of his home movie footage on the upcoming HD DVD release of the original seres' remastered first-season episodes that fall. The feature, "Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories" was continued with the release of season 2 and season 3.

Appearances

 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and Starbase 11 Orderly
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley, White Rabbit and intercom voice
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and Gorn captain
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and Eminiar guard and technician
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Klingon guard and Organian villager
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley (stock footage)
 * as Hadley and Capellan warrior
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and Gamma Trianguli VI native
 * as Hadley and Hadley (mirror)
 * as a Mudd android
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and android body
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley and Rocket Base Technician
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Gideon native
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley (stock footage)
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley
 * as Hadley (stock footage)
 * as Hadley (archive footage)
 * as Hadley (archive footage)
 * as Hadley (archive footage)