Brock Peters - Twice the Star Trek Star

 

Note: This blogger just returned from the 2025 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas and was inspired to blog a Star Trek grave.

Brock Peters was born George Fisher in Harlem, New York, on July 2, 1927.  He was the son of a sailor and from a nearly age, set his sights on a career in show business.  Encouraged by his mother, he studied the violin and honed his singing abilities at New York's famed High School of Music & Art.  He later studied Physical Education at the City College of New York.

Upon graduation, he changed his name and pursued a career on the Broadway stage, landing a role in the 1949 touring production of Porgy and Bess.  Hollywood was calling however, and he made his film debut in the 1954 Otto Preminger film Carmen Jones.  Eight years later, he would co-star with Gregory Peck in the role for which he is most famously known, that of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Over the next 25 years, Peters enjoyed steady guest work in television and film, including the role of Admiral Cartwright in the 1986 sequel Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home. Peters would reprise the role five years later in the final installment of the Star Trek series, The Undiscovered Country.  He returned to the franchise in 1995 with a recurring role on Deep Space Nine, playing Joseph Sisko, father of station commander Benjamin Sisko.

In the early 2000s, Peters was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  It ultimately took his life on August 23, 2005.  He was 78 years old.  He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Location: Revelation Section, Map #G01, Lot #3529
Inscription: Your strings of life touched music empyrean, singing your memory
as actor, husband, father, friend better than you knew.  May your spirit rest in peace.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• A talented singer, Peters provided back-up vocals on Harry Belafonte's 1956 classic Banana Boat (Day-O).  Take a listen on YouTube.
  
  
• Peters was the chairman and co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
  
  
• Peters stepped into the role of Darth Vader for NPR's radio adaptations of the original Star Wars trilogy, including The Empire Strikes Back.  Take a listen on YouTube.  His dialogue begins at the 1:16:35 mark.

• Peters provided the narration for an audio adaptation of Richard Wright's 1945 novel Black Boy.  You can hear it in its entirety on YouTube.
  
  
• In June 2003, Peters gave the eulogy at the funeral for his friend and co-star Gregory Peck, with whom he had shared the screen in the 1962 classic film To Kill a Mockingbird.