In praise of Paul Fix

[jayrath]

He played the ship's surgeon on "Where No Man Has Gone Before." As written, it was a nothing role, and I always thought he was an inoffensive placeholder.

I don't think he ever would have worked out as McCoy, but I now see him all the time in reruns of "The Rifleman." And you know what? I get it now. I see what the casting could have been. He was a fine, fine character actor of great depth and warmth. I don't generally like Westerns, but Fix always makes "The Rifleman" something more.

So here's a toast to the late, great Paul Fix. You may not have been aboard for most of the five year mission, sir, but you certainly helped launch it!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'll always remember him as Commander Kronus of the Battlestar Rycon.

 

[plynch]

He's fine as Rhoda's grandaddy in "The Bad Seed."

 

[J.T.B.]

Paul Fix and John Hoyt were fine old character actors, easy to overlook but solid and valuable in pretty much any role. Either would have made a fine ship's surgeon.



Justin

 

[T'Girl]

In both pilots, Roddenberry went for old men as the ship's doctor. Which was a interesting choice.

I would have trouble seeing Paul Fix chopping down the transporter operator in "City." Other than that, I can see him in the majority of the scenes played by Kelley. He certainly would have brought a different take to the scene between the Doctor and the green dress girl around the sickbay bed in "Women."

Natrira would have pretty much have been cast with a older actress.

Interest what if.

.

 

[Greg Cox]

And, of course, he and Kelley both appeared in Night of the Lepus . . . along with some seriously nasty bunnies!

 

[Ssosmcin]

You can't watch TV shows from the 50's through the 70's without tripping over certain actors repeatedly: Fix was one of them. He could play strength and weakness equally well. He apparently took any job that paid him, which is not a slight. He was a TV fixture, one I enjoyed. He's a lot of fun in "The Terrible Toys" episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

 

[A.V.I.A.F.]

The role of the doctor would have been a very different one for sure, but Fix certainly would have risen to the occasion.

 

[Lord Garth]

The Rifleman was a great show. I used to watch it through On Demand five years ago. My uncle got me hooked on it. I'm not usually into westerns either. The only other western I'm fan of is Dr. Quinn.

Dr. Piper seems like he'd be more at home in a western. Especially when he said Mitchell disappeared with Dr. Dehner into the peak of the valley. Which is not a slight against Paul Fix.

I just think John Hoyt and DeForest Kelley were better suited to the role.

 

[Lord Garth]

He's not just the Surgeon, he's the Sheriff. He's made of sterner stuff!

 

[bbailey861]

Fix was around for years and years before being cast in Star Trek. As mentioned, he was a character actor with a long pedigree - and did many, many films with John Wayne, the first being in '31.

 

[A beaker full of death]

A lot of the supporting roles in Trek - and earlier series - were basically nothing. It was the actors who breathed life into them. Sadly, the supporting characters in today's tv shows are more paper than performance.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Interesting that of all the officers knocked out, Piper recovers first......even before Spock. Of course, Vulcan endurance has been canonized yet at this point.

I figured because it got it through the TV or something. He was like an afterthought. Mitchell gave Kirk and Spock a heavier shot due to their proximity. Since Gary still had a little feeling toward Kirk, Spock probably got it worse. Also because he was gonna shoot.

At least, this is what I tell myself.

 

[Maurice]

I just watched Fix on the 2nd Season Twilight Zone episode "The Lateness of the Hour" last night. Good stuff, even if it's one of the six awful looking TZ episodes shot on videotape (ick) and looking like a high-class soap.