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Dan O'Herlihy

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Dan O'Herlihy
Dan O'Herlihy
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Portrays: Ravashol
Date of Birth: May 1, 1919
Date of Death: February 17, 2005
Age at Death: 85
Nationality: IRL IRL
Related Media
@ BW Media


Dan O'Herlihy (born May 1, 1919 in Wexford, Ireland, died February 17, 2005 in Malibu, California) was an Irish actor.

O'Herlihy gained notability as Brigadier General Warren A. Black in the film Fail-Safe (1964). From his film debut in the 1947 film, Odd Man Out, O'Herlihy enjoyed many roles in theatrical roles throughout the 1950s and 1960s, gaining an Best Actor Oscar nomination for 1954's Robinson Crusoe.

As television came to pass, O'Herlihy took on roles in television theatre programming such as Cavalcade America and Screen Directors Theatre, but soon enjoyed episodic TV series such as Dr. Kildare, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, The Untouchables, and The Big Valley.

Television content became less serious (and with more available work) than feature films that O'Herlihy had done in the past, but O'Herlihy tried to keep his interests in both films and television, moving from serious to comedic and parody with roles in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, Ironside and Hawaii Five-O while performing in notable epic television series such as QB VII.

By the 1970s, O'Herlihy become more of a character actor with guest-starring roles in many notable shows such as Serpico, The Bionic Woman, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and Barnaby Jones.

In the 1980s and 1990s, O'Herlihy found roles in more TV films such as Mark Twain: Beneath the Laughter and shows such as Murder, She Wrote and Remington Steele. Some feature films gave him renewed stardom for younger audiences with The Dead (1987) and as the kind-spirited alien mentor, Grig, in 1984's The Last Starfighter. O'Herlihy also became part of the TV cult classic, Twin Peaks in several episodes.

Towards the end of his life, O'Herlihy took on voice acting roles for animated series such as The Pirates of Dark Water and Batman.

O'Herlihy played Dr. Ravashol the brilliant creator of the Theta-class androids and a very dangerous weapon in the Original Series two-part episode, "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero".

O'Herlihy was married to Elsa Bennett from 1945 to his death of natural causes in 2005. They had five children, including Star Trek: Voyager guest star Gavan O'Herlihy.