James B. Sikking

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James B. Sikking

James Barrie Sikking (born 5 March 1934; age 90), from Los Angeles, California, is the actor who played the self-righteous Captain Styles in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He is a good friend of the film's director and co-star, Leonard Nimoy, whom he has worked with a number of times.

He is best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Lieutenant Howard Hunter on the television series Hill Street Blues. Original Trek guest actress Barbara Babcock was also a cast member on that show, as were Deep Space Nine guest stars Barbara Bosson, Tony Plana, and Jonathan Banks. Sikking later became known for his role on the TV series Doogie Howser, M.D. as the title character's father. Also a part of that show's cast was Star Trek guest actor Lawrence Pressman.

Sikking had previously been a regular on the daytime soap opera General Hospital. In 1992, he and late Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan actress Bibi Besch played a married couple in the made-for-TV special Doing Time on Maple Drive. Sikking also has numerous television guest appearances to his credit, including The Fugitive, My Favorite Martian (starring Ray Walston), Bonanza, Hogan's Heroes, Mission: Impossible, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, Starsky and Hutch, and Hunter, among many others. One of his earliest TV appearances, however, was an episode of The Outer Limits alongside his Star Trek III co-star William Shatner (as well as TOS actors Lawrence Montaigne and Malachi Throne).

Besides Star Trek III, his notable film credits also include Ordinary People (1980), Up the Creek (1984, with Robert Costanzo and Frank Welker), Sikking played the stingy Bill Watson in the 1987 comedy hit Soul Man with Voyager guest star Wallace Langham, Narrow Margin (1990, with Harris Yulin), and The Pelican Brief (1993, with Casey Biggs). He also appeared in the 1973 film Scorpio, which also featured TOS/DS9 guest actor John Colicos. He most recently appeared in the 2005 remake of Fever Pitch, as did DS9 guest actor Jack Kehler.

Sikking and Star Trek III producer Harve Bennett had been acquaintances for quite some time prior to their collaboration on Search for Spock. Bennett produced two 1972 ABC Movies of the Week which featured Sikking and his fellow Star Trek III co-star Paul Kent: The Astronaut (also starring Robert Lansing and Monte Markham) and Family Flight (also with Ed Begley, Jr. and Bill Zuckert). The following year, Bennett produced the unsold series pilot for The Alpha Caper, which also featured Sikking and Kent as well as their fellow Star Trek III actor Paul Sorenson, TOS guest actor Vic Tayback, DS9 guest actor Kenneth Tobey, and Leonard Nimoy. And in 1984, the same year in which Star Trek III was released, Bennett worked with Sikking again on The Jesse Owens Story, which also starred Vic Tayback and future Next Generation actors Ben Vereen, Ronny Cox, and LeVar Burton.

Sikking also lent his voice to two episodes of the animated series Batman Beyond, appearing with Brian George, Kate Jackson, Victor Rivers, and Brian Tochi.

Sikking most recently collaborated with Bennett on the animated science fiction series Invasion America, to which Sikking, Nimoy, Bennett, Ronny Cox, and Tony Jay lent their voices.

Other Trek connections

Additional projects in which Sikking worked with other Star Trek alumni include:

• Coffee, Tea or Me? (1973; with Kenneth Tobey and Marcy Lafferty)
• Whisper of the Heart (1995; 2006 English version; with Judi Durand and Bradley Pierce)
• The Outer Limits episode "Cold, Hands, Warm Heart" (1964) with William Shatner

External links

• James Sikking at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link