Stefan Gierasch

Stefan Gierasch is a prolific character actor who made an appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation in, playing Doctor Hal Moseley in the fifth season episode. He filmed his scenes for this episode on Monday on Paramount Stage 16.

Gierasch has performed on television and in film since the early 1950s, accumulating over a hundred credits. He is also a veteran of the Broadway and off-Broadway stage, performing in numerous productions between 1943 and 1987.

Personal
Gierasch was born in New York City. He has never attended college, having broken into acting at the age of seventeen. Outside of acting, he has served in the American Field service's ambulance corps in Italy and in India. 

Theater work
Gierasch made his Broadway debut in 1943, taking over the role of Dexter Franklin in the comedy Kiss and Tell. This was followed later that same year with an appearance in Get Away, Old Man. In 1949, he appeared in the short-lived Broadway production Montserrat, acting with fellow Star Trek alumni John Abbott and Nehemiah Persoff.

In 1951, Gierasch performed with fellow TNG guest star Paul Lambert in the short-lived Broadway production Night Music. This was followed in 1953 by the off-Broadway production of Maya with Leo Penn, who directed Gierasch on the television shows Bonanza and Switch in the 1970s (see below). Later in 1953, Gierasch acted with Phillip Pine in The Little Clay Cart, which ran for seven performances off-Broadway.

Gierasch returned to Broadway in 1956, taking over the role of Smith the police constable in the successful revival of The Threepenny Opera. That same year, he acted with Michael Strong in a revival of A Month in the Country, also on Broadway. This was followed by 1957's Compulsion, in which Gierasch played Max Steiner, the older brother of Dean Stockwell's character. From November 1958 through January 1959, Gierasch worked with William Smithers in the Broadway revival of The Shadow of a Gunman.

In late 1959, Gierasch landed the role of Herr Zeller in the original production of the hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. This production's lead male protagonist, Captain George von Trapp, was played by Theodore Bikel. Neither Gierasch nor Bikel returned to their roles for the successful 1965 film version of the musical, which was directed by Robert Wise and starred Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp.

After appearing in the Broadway play The Deputy with Ian Wolfe in 1964, Gierasch left New York City and joined the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre Company in Wisconsin. He remained there for the company's 1965-1966 season, performing in such plays as The Tempest (with Robin Gammell), Saint Joan, The Glass Menagerie, The Time of Your Life, and Henry IV, Part I. He returned to New York in 1967 to perform in War and Peace, which also featured Keene Curtis.

Over the years, Gierasch has performed at such venues as the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut and the Los Angeles Actors Theatre in California. He also continued to act on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in other areas around New York. In 1973 and 1974, he appeared with Stephen McHattie in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre. He then acted with Kevin Conway in a production of Of Mice and Men and with Victor Garber and Ray Wise in a production of Tartuffe. His most recent Broadway credit was a revival of George Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell, in which he again worked with Victor Garber and Stephen McHattie.

Notable guest appearances
One of Gierasch's earliest TV appearances was a 1957 episode of Studio One entitled "Walk Down the Hill", in which he co-starred with TOS guest actor William Smithers. Two decades later, Gierasch and Smithers acted together in an episode of the series Lucan.

In the early 1960s, Gierasch appeared in two episodes of The Untouchables, which, like Star Trek: The Original Series, was produced by Desilu. Gierasch's first episode also guest-starred Frank Gorshin, Davis Roberts, and Jason Wingreen, while his second episode featured Stanley Adams. Throughout the remainder of the 1960s, Gierasch appeared on such TV shows as Dr Kildare (with Elinor Donahue and John Fiedler) and Gunsmoke (with France Nuyen and Charles Seel).

In 1971, he appeared on the short-lived NBC series Nichols, along with Ricardo Montalban. He then appeared on the NBC drama Ironside with Michael Bell and guest-starred on The Mod Squad, on which Tige Andrews and Clarence Williams III were regular cast members. In 1974, Gierasch acted alongside Michael Pataki in a two-part episode of Kung Fu.

In 1976, he guest-starred on Starsky and Hutch, which starred David Soul. The following year, Gierasch and Earl Boen were directed by Marc Daniels in an episode of Hawaii Five-O. In 1979, Gierasch appeared on Dallas with Mary Crosby and Fantasy Island with Ike Eisenmann, John Larroquette, and series regular Ricardo Montalban.

Between 1976 and 1981, Gierasch guest-starred in four episodes of the comic series Barney Miller, working with Ron Glass and James Gregory. Between 1976 and 1984, he was directed by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine director Reza Badiyi on three shows: Serpico, The Incredible Hulk (with Sharon Acker), and Falcon Crest (with Robert Foxworth).

Among the other shows on which Gierash appeared during the 1980s were M*A*S*H (starring David Ogden Stiers), The Greatest American Hero (with William Lucking), Quincy M.E. (with Michael Durrell, Robert Ito, Norman Lloyd, and Garry Walberg), The Twilight Zone (in a segment with Fran Bennett and John Glover), The Colbys (with Joseph Campanella, Ricardo Montalban, and Tracy Scoggins), Murder, She Wrote (with Richard Cox), and Cheers (starring Kirstie Alley and Kelsey Grammer).

In the early 1990s, Gierasch appeared on such shows as Tales from the Crypt (with Mark Rolston, Jeff Yagher, and the voice of John Kassir) and Knots Landing (with Bruce Greenwood). His later TV guest spots included episodes of The Practice (with Bob Clendenin and Gregory Itzin), The Pretender (with Steven Anderson, Cathy DeBuono, Jay Karnes, and Daniel Dae Kim), and ER (with Robert DoQui and Kieran Mulroney).

Regular roles
In 1978, Gierasch was a regular on the short-lived comedy series A.E.S. Hudson Street. His fellow cast members on this show included actress Rosana DeSoto,  actor Allan Miller, and Deep Space Nine guest star Gregory Sierra.

In 1991, Gierasch starred on the short-lived MGM/NBC re-imagining of the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. He played two characters on this show, Professor Woodward and Joshua Collins. The latter character was the father of Barnabas Collins, who was played by Ben Cross, and the husband of Naomi Collins, played by Jean Simmons.

TV movies and mini-series
Gierasch had a supporting role in the 1974 TV movie This Is the West That Was, along with Kim Darby and Lance LeGault. In 1976, Marvin Chomsky directed Gierasch, Bibi Besch, Theodore Bikel, Allan Miller, and Harris Yulin in the TV movie Victory at Entebbe. In 1979, Gierasch was seen in the movie Beggarman, Thief, which starred Jean Simmons.

In the 1980s, Gierasch appeared in such TV movies as My Wicked, Wicked Ways... The Legend of Errol Flynn (starring Duncan Regehr in the title role and co-starring George Coe, Dick Durock, Alan Oppenheimer, and TNG regular Denise Crosby) and Shannon's Deal (with Miguel Ferrer and Spencer Garrett). Gierasch again worked with Miguel Ferrer in the 1992 TV movie Cruel Doubt, which co-starred Jordan Lund and Neal McDonough.

He was also one of the many Star Trek alumni to appear in the 1986 mini-series Dream West. Among his co-stars on this series were F. Murray Abraham, Jeff Allin, Erich Anderson, John Anderson, Lee Bergere, James Cromwell, Michael Ensign, Jonathan Frakes, Alice Krige, Matt McCoy, Glenn Morshower, Fritz Weaver, Noble Willingham, and Anthony Zerbe.

Gierasch appeared in two TV movies in 1996. The first was The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play, which co-starred Molly Hagan. The second was Crime of the Century, with Bill Bolender, Jeffrey Alan Chandler, Brad Greenquist, and Bert Remsen.

Feature films
Gierasch made his film debut in 1957, co-starring with TOS guest actors Paul Carr and Gene Lyons in the drama The Young Don't Cry. He then played the preacher in the acclaimed 1961 drama The Hustler.

In 1970, Gierasch and Marianna Hill co-starred together in The Traveling Executioner, playing siblings who are marked for execution. Gierasch and Hill later acted together in the 1973 Clint Eastwood western High Plains Drifter and in the 1980 mystery Blood Beach. The Traveling Executioner also featured Star Trek alumni Graham Jarvis, Logan Ramsey, and James Sloyan, while Mitchell Ryan co-starred in High Plains Drifter and Ian Abercrombie appeared in Blood Beach.

In 1972, Gierasch was seen as Fritz in the classic Peter Bogdanovich comedy What's Up, Doc?. This film also featured Graham Jarvis and starred Deep Space Nine guest actor Kenneth Mars. Later that same year, Gierasch played Del Gue in the acclaimed western drama Jeremiah Johnson. In 1975, Gierasch co-starred with Hal Baylor, Bernie Casey, Thalmus Rasulala, Madge Sinclair, and the aforementioned Logan Ramsey in the drama Cornbread, Earl and Me.

Gierasch played Mr. Morton in Brian De Palma's 1976 revenge horror classic Carrie. That same year, he appeared in the action comedy Silver Streak. He played two roles in this film: an art historian named Professor Schreiner and one of Schreiner's killers, Johnson. Another of Schreiner's killers, named Whiney, was played by fellow TNG guest star Ray Walston.

Gierasch's subsequent film credits include The Champ (1979, co-starring Elisha Cook, Jr. and Allan Miller), Spellbinder (1988, with Richard Fancy and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and Mistress (1992). He then appeared in two comedies with Frank Langella, Dave (1993) and Junior (1994). In the former, he played the House Majority Leader opposite Parley Baer, who played the Senate Majority Leader. Robin Gammell and Stephen Root also appeared in Dave, while Alexander Enberg and Lawrence Tierney co-starred in Junior.

Gierasch next played Warden Humson in the 1995 thriller Murder in the First, which starred Christian Slater and co-starred Brad Dourif. More recently, Gierasch co-starred with TNG's Denise Crosby in the western horror film Legend of the Phantom Rider (also featuring George Murdock). Gierasch most recently worked with Conor O'Farrell and Michael Rider in the 2009 independent western The Hunter's Moon.

Other Trek connections
Additional credits not mentioned above in which Gierasch worked with other Star Trek alumni include:

Film

 * The New Centurions (1972) with James B. Sikking and Ed Lauter
 * Megaville (1990) with Hamilton Camp
 * Jack the Bear (1993) with Bert Remsen

Theater

 * A Moon for the Misbegotten at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., 1969, with Salome Jens and Mitchell Ryan
 * Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, 1984-1985, with Peter Weller
 * The Marriage of Bette and Bo at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in California, 1989-1990, with Angela Paton

TV mini-series

 * Captains and the Kings (1976) with John de Lancie, Cliff DeYoung, Richard Herd, Harvey Jason, Kermit Murdock, and Bill Quinn
 * The Winds of War (1983) with Peter Brocco, Michael Ensign, Ken Lynch, Byron Morrow, George Murdock, Lawrence Pressman, Logan Ramsey, and Davis Roberts

TV movies

 * Particular Men (1972) with Liam Sullivan
 * Return to Earth (1976) with Davis Roberts and George D. Wallace
 * Stunts Unlimited (1980) with Glenn Corbett and John Larroquette; directed by Hal Needham
 * The Million Dollar Face (1981) directed by Michael O'Herlihy
 * Big Bend Country (1981) with Anne Haney and Andrew Robinson
 * Incident at Dark River (1989) with Dion Anderson, Steven Anderson, K Callan, and Nicolas Coster
 * Empty Cradle (1993) with Aaron Lustig

TV series

 * Mister Peepers episode 1.17 (1952) with Georgann Johnson
 * The Philco Television Playhouse episode "Adapt or Die" (1954) with Guy Raymond
 * Play of the Week episode "The Dybbuk" (1960) with Theodore Bikel
 * Empire episode "End of an Image" (1963) with Oliver McGowan and Bill Mumy
 * The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Diagnosis: Danger" (1963) with Celia Lovsky
 * Stoney Burke episode "Point of Entry" (1963) with Antoinette Bower, Henry Darrow, and Rudy Solari
 * Arrest and Trial episode "Run, Little Man, Run" (1963) with Paul Carr and Ted Knight
 * Bonanza episode "The Iron Butterfly" (1971) with Mariette Hartley; directed by Leo Penn
 * City of Angels episode "The Parting Shot" (1976) with Meg Wyllie
 * Jigsaw John episode "Homicide Is a Fine Art" (1976) with Barbara Babcock and Henry Darrow
 * Holmes and Yo-Yo episode "The Last Phantom" (1976) with John Schuck
 * Switch episode "The 100,000 Rubie Rumble" (1976) directed by Leo Penn
 * Serpico episode "The Serbian Connection" (1976) directed by Reza Badiyi
 * The Incredible Hulk episode "Deep Shock" (1980) with Sharon Acker; directed by Reza Badiyi
 * Tales of the Gold Monkey episode "Ape Boy" (1983) with Stephen Collins, Marta DuBois, and Michael Ensign; directed by Winrich Kolbe
 * Remington Steele episode "A Steele at Any Price" (1983) with Susan Bay and Larry Cedar
 * Matt Houston episode "On the Run" (1984) with Kevin Brophy, Gary Lockwood, and Andrew Prine
 * He's the Mayor episode "Burke's Acres" (1986) with David Graf
 * Werewolf episode "The Black Ship" (1987) with Lance LeGault; directed by James Darren
 * Father Dowling Mysteries episode "The Confidence Mystery" (1990) with Stanley Kamel and Ed Lauter
 * Brimstone episode "Faces" (1999) with Greg Ellis, Michael Ensign, Jerry Hardin, and Lori Petty