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Charles Dierkop (11 September 193625 February 2024; age 87) was the actor who played Morla in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Wolf in the Fold". He filmed his scenes between Tuesday 27 June 1967 and Monday 3 July 1967 at Desilu Stage 9 and Stage 10.

Hailing from the renowned Actors Studio, he is probably best known to movie audiences for his appearances in George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969; with Ted Cassidy, Jeff Corey, Don Keefer, and Kenneth Mars) and The Sting (1973; with James Sloyan and Ray Walston), as well as his co-starring role, from 1974 to 1978, as Royster in the series Police Woman, which included appearances by Tige Andrews, Bibi Besch, Charlie Brill, Brooke Bundy, Joseph Campanella, William Campbell, Anthony Caruso, Dick Cherney, Mimi Cozzens, Dick Crockett, Henry Darrow, Walt Davis, Lee Delano, Elinor Donahue, Ike Eisenmann, Frank Gorshin, Gary Graham, Gilbert Green, Sid Haig, Skip Homeier, Shep Houghton, Vince Howard, Bob Hoy, John Hoyt, Claude Earl Jones, Nathan Jung, Marcy Lafferty, Kenneth Mars, John Megna, Glenn Morshower, Diana Muldaur, George Murdock, France Nuyen, Monty O'Grady, Roger Perry, Robert Phillips, Charles Picerni, Phillip Pine, Lawrence Pressman, Logan Ramsey, Ned Romero, John Rubinstein, Joseph Ruskin, Robert Sampson, Georgia Schmidt, William Shatner, Jack Sheldon, Paul Sorensen, Warren Stevens, Robert Strong, Jerry Summers, Robert Walker, William Windom, Ian Wolfe, Morgan Woodward, Meg Wyllie, Sally Yarnell, and others.

Prior to his appearance on Star Trek, he made nine various uncredited appearances in the television series Naked City (1960-1963), which was narrated by Lawrence Dobkin and co-starred Nancy Malone). Dierkop appeared in episodes that also included Theodore Bikel, Robert Gentile, Max Kleven, and Malachi Throne. After his first appearance in Naked City, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961; with Michael Ansara, Benjie Bancroft, Robert Strong, and Robert Easton), followed by the films The Hustler (1961), and The Pawnbroker (1964; with Brock Peters).

Among his other television guest appearances were in the series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as the namesake character in the episode "The Left-Handed Man" (1965; with Michael Barrier and Barbara Bouchet), Lost in Space (1965; with Bill Mumy), and the pilot of the unsold television series-cum-movie The Long Hunt of April Savage (1966; starring Robert Lansing and produced by Gene Roddenberry). The following year he appeared in both The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966; with Boris Karloff and Jack Perkins) and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1966; with Tom Anfinsen, Al Cavens, Dick Crockett, Sharyn Hillyer, Bob Hoy, Shari Lewis and Sally Yarnell).

During the 1970s, his other work included starring in the TV film Murdock's Gang (1973, with William Daniels)

His later filmography included a role as the Killer Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984, with Lilyan Chauvin), Merchants of Venus (aka A Dirty Little Business; 1998, with Helen Cates, Robert Easton, and Michael Pollard). He appeared in a segment of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (1998; hosted by Jonathan Frakes and with Tony Dow), and later the TV movie, James Dean (2001; with Mark Moses and Lou Wagner), an episode of Mystery Woman (2006; with Clarence Williams III, and the films The Midnighters (2016; with Leon Russom) and Heaven & Hell (2018; with Jeff Rector).

Dierkop died on 25 February 2024, aged 87. [1]

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