James Sloyan, a character actor with nearly 100 screen credits in film and television, has passed away at age 85.
Per a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Sloyan’s family announced that he’d passed on July 22.
“Friends and colleagues remember him always present, always curious, courageous, inventive and loyal as well as brash, mouthy and very urban. He was one-of-a-kind,” the late actor’s family said in a statement.
Sloyan’s career, spanning from the late 1960s through to the late 2000s, encompassed drama, comedy, sci-fi and all points in between.
For fans of the “Star Trek” franchise, however, Sloyan was renowned for playing several different characters in three different “Trek” series during the 1980s and ’90s
Broadway Beginnings
Sloyan launched his career in New York, appearing in the 1969 production “Indians.” That led to leading roles in Off-Broadway productions including “A Dream out of Time.”
He made his screen debut in the 1970 film “The Traveling Executioner,” which opened the door on a Hollywood career as one of the silver screen’s most familiar character actors.
In film, Sloyan was best known for playing numbers runner Mottola in the Robert Redford-Paul Newman comedy “The Sting,” and his role as a nasty record company executive opposite Olivia Newton-John in 1980’s “Xanadu.”
A Thriving TV Career
It was in television, however, where Sloyan really made his mark.
As a guest star, he appeared in some of the medium’s most popular shows, including “Baywatch,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “NYPD Blue,” “The X-Files,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Highway to Heaven.” He also appeared in seven episodes of “Murder, She Wrote” and three episodes of “The Love Boat.”
Sloyan also had recurring roles in a few soap operas, including “General Hospital” and “The Young and the Restless.”
Another notable TV role was in Madeline Kahn’s short-lived 1980s sitcom “Oh Madeline,” in which he co-starred as the husband of Kahn’s character. As Sloyan’s obituary pointed out, that performance won a rave review in The New York Times, describing his portrayal as “Perfection … an accomplished actor who has spent too much of his career portraying creepy psychopaths.”
A ‘Star Trek’ Veteran
During the 1980s and ’90s, Sloyan became a go-to guest star for the “Star Trek” franchise.
In “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Sloyan played two different characters: Setol, an alias used by high-ranking Romulan Admiral Alidar Jarok when he defects to the USS Enterprise-D in a season three episode; and Jarok K’Mtar, the Klingon-human hybrid son of Worf (Michael Dorn).
He then went on to Ma’bor Jetrel — a Haakonian scientist who creates a weapon of mass destruction — in an episode of “Star Trek: Voyager”
That was followed by playing Dr. Mora Pol, a Bajoran scientist who studied and raised the Changeling Odo (René Auberjonois) in two episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
The Voice of Lexus
Interestingly, one of Sloyan’s most ubiquitious roles featured only his voice, not his visage.
Beginning in 1989, Sloyan began an 18-year run as the voice of luxury car brand Lexus, narrating all the company’s TV commercials during that period.
