(written from a Production point of view)
Randy James (born 6 August 1955; age 68) is the Screen Actors Guild stage name of Randy Pflug who is an actor and worked between 1988 and 1999 as a regular stand-in and background actor on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as on Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. Well known for portraying the background character Jones on both series, James also worked as first unit stand-in and photo double for Colm Meaney besides standing-in for several guest actors. He received an on screen credit three times on Deep Space Nine in the episodes "Dramatis Personae", "Time's Orphan", and "Chrysalis". Because Richard Sarstedt was out of the country, James filled in as stand-in for Jonathan Frakes on the first two weeks of shooting on Star Trek: First Contact.
One of his uniform trousers were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay and were also worn by Avery Brooks. The name tag misspelled his name as "Randy Phlug". [1] According to the call sheets, Pflug was scheduled to appear as Jones in the fourth season episode "Identity Crisis" and in the fifth season episodes "Disaster" and "New Ground" in scenes in Ten Forward but was either not filmed or cut from the final episodes.
James was born in Omaha, Nebraska and started his career as a stage actor in Omaha before moving to Los Angeles. In the late '80s, he was the manager of an auto parts store before making his first step into the film business.
Among his work as background actor are the comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988, with Ricardo Montalban, Raye Birk, Tiny Ron, Nicholas Worth, Lawrence Tierney, Brett Bartlett, Rick Seaman, Mark Holton, Jim Painter, John Copage, Michael Moorehead, Eddie Hice, Robert Herron, Larry Robb, Anthony Giger, Gene Poe, George Sasaki, Joel Schultz, Michael Wilkinson, Faith Burton, Leslie Hoffman, John Blower, Joey Banks, Debra Dilley, Bruce Dobos, Mike Paciorek, Tom Morga, Len Felber, Allan Graf, Bruce Barbour, Nick Dimitri, Terry Jackson, Gene LeBell, Carey Loftin, Jimmy Ortega, Mary Peters, Rick Sawaya, Brian J. Williams, and Harry Wowchuck), the comedy Worth Winning (1989, with Andrea Martin, Meg Wyllie, and John Carter), the romance When Harry Met Sally... (1989, with Franc Luz), the thriller The Hunt for Red October (1990, with Timothy Carhart, Daniel Davis, Ned Vaughn, and Gates McFadden), the drama Guilty by Suspicion (1991, with Robin Gammell, Roxann Dawson, Stephen Root, Cecile Callan, and Paul Collins), the comedy What's Eating You? (2000, with Leslie Ackerman, edited, produced, and directed by Jonathan West, and script supervising by Trisha Burton), and the drama The Dying Gaul (2005), on which he worked as stand-in for Peter Sarsgaard). In the 1995 science fiction television movie Alien Nation: Body and Soul, James portrayed a Human cop. The film also features Star Trek performers Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michele Scarabelli, Leon Russom, Tiny Ron, Glenn Morshower, Jeff Austin, Miguel Perez, Marva Hicks, and fellow DS9 regular Ivy Borg.
His resume also includes television series such as Hunter, Hardball, Night Court (with Lorine Mendell), The Tracey Ullman Show (1988 episode "Our Dinner at Troy's" with Rudy Morrison and David Channell), Cheers (1989, episode "For Real Men Only" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Mark Reilly, Keith Rayve, Richard Sarstedt, Lorine Mendell, Rebecca Soladay, Michael Braveheart, and Denise Lynne Roberts, 1989 episode "Two Girls for Every Boyd" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Mark Reilly, Rebecca Soladay, Lee Allen, and Renna Bogdanowicz, 1990 episode "What is... Cliff Clavin?" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Thomas J. Booth, Alex Landi, Linda Harcharic, Rebecca Soladay, Marijane Cole, and Denise Lynne Roberts, 1990 episode "Norm and Cliff's Excellent Adventure" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Tom Klunis, Paul Willson, Lee Allen, Debbie Marsh, Sherry O'Keefe, Robert Buckingham, Jay Crimp, Mark Watson, Denise Lynne Roberts, and James Davison, 1991 episode "Baby Balk" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Mark Reilly, Lee Allen, Don Bennett, Bruce Wright, Cooper, Theresa St. Clair, Joycelyn Robinson, Sissy Sessions, Elliot Durant III, and Jeremy Doyle, 1991 episode "Bar Wars V: The Final Judgement" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Paul Willson, Debbie David, Bill Majik, Mark Watson, Gerard David, Jr., Michael Moorehead, David Channell, Susan Lewis, Mike Paciorek, Curt Truman, James Davison, Joycelyn Robinson, Keith Rayve, Joe Baumann, and Don Bennett, 1991 episode "Head Over Hill" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Paul Willson, Keene Curtis, Jordan Lund, Ken Magee, Don Bennett, Michael Moorehead, Rachen Assapiomonwait, Bill Majik, Eben Ham, and Mark Watson, and 1991 episode "A Fine French Whine" with Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Paul Willson, Mark Watson, Bill Majik, Gerard David, Jr., William Ward, and Debbie David), L.A. Law, Roswell (1999-2002, as stand-in for Deep Space Nine guest star William Sadler), Baby Bob, ER, and Scrubs (starring Ken Jenkins).
Star Trek appearances
Appearances as Jones
(All uncredited unless otherwise noticed)
- TNG:
- "Hollow Pursuits"
- "Sarek"
- "Ménage à Troi"
- "The Best of Both Worlds"
- "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"
- "Final Mission"
- "Data's Day"
- "Clues"
- "First Contact"
- "Galaxy's Child"
- "The Nth Degree"
- "Qpid"
- "The Drumhead"
- "Half a Life"
- "The Host"
- "The Mind's Eye"
- "Redemption"
- "Silicon Avatar"
- "The Game"
- "Hero Worship"
- "Violations"
- "The Next Phase"
- DS9:
- "Emissary"
- "Babel"
- "Q-Less"
- "Dax"
- "The Passenger"
- "Move Along Home"
- "The Nagus"
- "Vortex"
- "Battle Lines"
- "The Storyteller"
- "If Wishes Were Horses"
- "The Forsaken"
- "Dramatis Personae" (as "Randy Pflug", credited as "Guard")
- "In the Hands of the Prophets"
- "The Circle"
- "The Siege"
- "Cardassians"
- "Rivals"
- "The Jem'Hadar"
- "The Search, Part II"
- "The House of Quark"
- "Second Skin"
- "The Abandoned"
- "Civil Defense"
- "Defiant"
- "Fascination"
- "Visionary"
- "Improbable Cause"
- "The Die is Cast"
- "The Adversary"
- "The Way of the Warrior"
- "The Visitor"
- "Rejoined"
- "Homefront"
- "Crossfire"
- "Sons of Mogh"
- "The Muse"
- "For the Cause"
- "To the Death"
- "Body Parts"
- "Apocalypse Rising"
- "Trials and Tribble-ations"
- "Things Past"
- "Rapture"
- "The Darkness and the Light"
- "By Inferno's Light"
- "Business as Usual"
- "Ferengi Love Songs"
- "Children of Time"
- "Blaze of Glory"
- "In the Cards"
- "Call to Arms"
- "Behind the Lines"
- "You Are Cordially Invited"
- "Time's Orphan" (credited as "Security")
- "Image in the Sand"
- "Chrysalis" (credited as "Officer")
- "Penumbra"
- "What You Leave Behind"
- Star Trek Generations
- Star Trek: First Contact
Stand-in work
- TNG:
- "Suddenly Human" – stand-in for Sherman Howard
- "Final Mission" – stand-in for Nick Tate
- "First Contact" – stand-in for George Hearn
- "Qpid" – utility stand-in
- "Redemption" – stand-in for J.D. Cullum
- "The Perfect Mate" – stand-in for Charles Gunning
- DS9:
- "Dax" – stand-in for Colm Meaney and Gregory Itzin
- "Vortex" – stand-in for Colm Meaney and Cliff DeYoung
- "Civil Defense" – stand-in for Andrew Robinson
- "Defiant" – stand-in for Michael Canavan and Marc Alaimo
- "Who Mourns for Morn?" – stand-in for Colm Meaney and Gregory Itzin
- "Strange Bedfellows" – stand-in for Casey Biggs
- "Tacking Into the Wind" – stand-in for Chris Doyle
- Multiple episodes – stand-in for James Darren
- Star Trek: First Contact – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes