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Liam: Difference between revisions

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'''Liam''' was the name of an unborn child conceived by [[Saul Tigh]] and [[Caprica Six]]. ([[Sine Qua Non]])
{{DisambigTab
 
|tab1=Cast
Tigh calls his unborn son Liam (short for William) after his best friend [[William Adama]]. This was also his choice of name for a son when he and [[Ellen Tigh|Ellen]] were still trying to have children. After the [[Thirteenth Tribe (RDM)|Thirteenth Tribe]] on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]] wiped themselves out, Liam would be the first pure blood [[Humanoid Cylon|Cylon]] born in over 2,000 years. However, four months into Caprica's pregnancy, the fetus dies due to a misscarriage. ([[Deadlock]])
|subtab1_1=Liam Sproule
 
|tab2=Characters
[[Category:A to Z]]
|subtab2_1=Liam Tigh
[[Category:Characters]]
|subtab1_2=Liam Sullivan}}
[[Category:Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:Cylons]]
[[Category:Cylons (RDM)]]
[[Category:Deceased Characters (RDM)]]
[[Category:RDM]]

Latest revision as of 20:42, 6 March 2025


NOTE: This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page.

This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title.
If an article link referred you here, you might want to go back and fix it to point directly to the intended page. Also, if you wanted to search for the term "Liam", click here.


Liam
Liam
{{{credit}}}
Portrays: Keon Gatwick
Date of Birth:
Date of Death: Missing required parameter 1=month!


Related Media
@ BW Media

Warning: Default sort key "Sproule, Liam" overrides earlier default sort key "Liam".


Lian Sproule is the actor who portrays Keon Gatwick in Caprica.



Liam
{{{credit}}}
Portrays: Planner (uncredited)
Date of Birth: May 18, 1923
Date of Death: April 19, 1998
Age at Death: 74
Nationality: USA USA
Related Media
@ BW Media

Warning: Default sort key "Sullivan, Liam" overrides earlier default sort key "Sproule, Liam".


William E. Liam Sullivan (18 May 1923―19 April 1998) was an American actor and singer, professionally credited as Liam Sullivan. He portrayed the primary Planner, a Theta-class lifeform, in Original Series' "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II", a role for which he was uncredited but later identified through computer-aided facial recognition.

Sullivan's television career spanned 46 years across more than 115 productions.[external 1] His Romanesque features and precisely modulated voice made him ideally suited to portray smoothly roguish, arrogant or cynical characters, particularly in genre television.[external 2] Sullivan's most notable genre television appearances include The Twilight Zone, Star Trek: The Original Series, Logan's Run, Lost in Space, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

Early life and education

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Sullivan was born William Edward Sullivan on 18 May 1923 in Jacksonville, Illinois.[external 3] He was the son of Lee A. Sullivan Sr. (1889–1968) and Nell Sullivan (née Griffiths, 1891–1957).[external 4] His grandfather, W.E. Sullivan (1861–1932), founded the Eli Bridge Company, which built the innovative Big Eli Ferris Wheel in Jacksonville in May 1900.[external 5] The business remained in operation within the Sullivan family throughout his lifetime.[external 6]

Sullivan attended Jacksonville High School and Illinois College, where he had his first experience with acting in regional theater.[external 7] He later studied drama at Harvard University before pursuing a professional acting career.[external 8]

Stage work

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Sullivan made his way to New York and first appeared on Broadway in The Constant Nymph in 1951.[external 9] His Broadway career also included appearances in Merchant of Venice and the Mike Nichols production of The Little Foxes.[external 10] He later returned to the West Coast to perform in a Los Angeles stage production of Mary Stuart.[external 11]

Television

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By the early 1950s, Sullivan began appearing in television roles.[external 12] He became a familiar presence across all genres, from western to science fiction. Sullivan's only recurring television role was as Major Mapoy, the villainous cattle baron, in all 26 episodes of the ABC Western series The Monroes during the 1966–67 season.[external 13]

Sullivan's television credits included Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Dragnet, Hawaii Five-O, Dallas, and L.A. Law.[external 14] Among his many television credits, two stand out as particularly memorable: his sadistic philosopher-king Parmen in the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren", and his obnoxious social-climbing upstart Jamie Tennyson in The Twilight Zone episode "The Silence", who unwisely accepts a bet for a half-million dollars that he can remain silent for a year.[external 15]

In "Plato's Stepchildren", which aired on 22 November 1968, Sullivan played Parmen, a tyrannical leader of a small community of people with telekinetic abilities who decides he wants McCoy to stay against his will on the planet as their doctor.[external 16] The episode is historically significant for featuring television's first scripted interracial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura.

Sullivan appeared in another Twilight Zone episode, "The Changing of the Guard", in which he played the Headmaster who must deliver news to an aging teacher played by Donald Pleasence.[external 17]

In the Dragnet episode "The Big Prophet" (1968), Sullivan as his character Brother William, a thinly disguised portrayal of Timothy Leary, held forth for the entire half-hour on the benefits of LSD and marijuana while Joe Friday argued the opposing view.[external 18]

Sullivan's other science fiction television appearances included playing Nexus in the Lost in Space episode "His Majesty Smith", scientist Anthony Sterling in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "Leviathan", and an appearance in the Logan's Run television series.[external 19]

Sullivan often portrayed villains throughout his acting career. He once stated: "Playing truly evil people is a great way to release tension and anger and disgust with humanity. Show bad people what they really look and act like and maybe they'll recognize themselves and change. Who knows?"[commentary 1]

Sullivan's film work included The Magic Sword (1962), In the Cool of the Day (1963), One Man's Way (1964), Major Dundee (1965) with Charlton Heston, and That Darn Cat! (1965) as FBI Agent Graham.[external 20]

Battlestar Galactica

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In 1978, Sullivan portrayed the primary Planner—a Theta-class lifeform—in the Battlestar Galactica episode Original Series' "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II", which aired on 29 October 1978.[production 1] His role was uncredited in the original broadcast and was only identified decades later through computer-aided facial recognition technology employed by researchers documenting the series.[production 2]

Bits and pieces of Sullivan's unnamed character can be seen in the deleted scenes for this episode on both the DVD and Blu-Ray releases.[production 3]

Final years

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During the latter stages of his life, Sullivan combined acting with writing. Just prior to his death, he was working on a novel and was also in the process of compiling a biographical history of the Eli Bridge Company.[external 21] In the months prior to his death, Sullivan had signed publishing contracts for two books.[external 22]

Sullivan's final screen appearance was as a Reporter in the TNT miniseries George Wallace (1997), directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gary Sinise and Angelina Jolie.[external 23]

Sullivan died of a heart attack on 19 April 1998 in Los Angeles at age 74.[external 24] He was survived by a brother, a sister, three nieces and five nephews.[external 25] Memorial services were held at 2 p.m. on 17 May 1998 at the Church of Religious Science, 260 Pass Avenue, Burbank.[external 26]

Sullivan has a marker at Diamond Grove Cemetery in Jacksonville, Illinois, in the Sullivan family plot on the west side of Section L near the road, without an individual headstone.[external 27] However, cemetery personnel have indicated this may be just a marker to honor Sullivan, as records cannot be located to confirm whether he is physically interred there following his death in California.[external 28]

References

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External Sources

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  1. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  2. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  3. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  4. Liam Sullivan (1923-1998) (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Find a Grave. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  5. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  6. Dominic Genetti (22 June 2021). 10 things you may not know about Jacksonville actor Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Jacksonville Journal-Courier. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  7. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  8. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  9. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  10. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  11. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  12. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  13. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  14. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  15. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  16. Star Trek: Plato's Stepchildren - Full cast & crew (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  17. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  18. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  19. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  20. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  21. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  22. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  23. George Wallace (TV Mini Series 1997) - Full cast & crew (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  24. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  25. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  26. Liam Sullivan, 74 (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Variety (7 May 1998). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  27. Liam Sullivan (1923-1998) (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Find a Grave. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  28. Dominic Genetti (22 June 2021). 10 things you may not know about Jacksonville actor Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Jacksonville Journal-Courier. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.

Commentary and Interviews

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  1. Liam Sullivan - Biography (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). IMDb. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.

Production History

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  1. The Gun on Ice Planet Zero, Part II (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Battlestar Wiki. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  2. Liam Sullivan (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Battlestar Wiki. Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
  3. Gun on Ice Planet Zero (backup available on Archive.org) (in English). Jetsmedia (9 November 2020). Retrieved on 23 January 2026.
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Liam
Liam
An ultrasound of Liam Tigh 4 months into Caprica-Six's pregnancy (TRS: "Deadlock").
[show/hide spoilers]
Spoilers hidden in infobox by default.
Human Name Liam Tigh
Age {{{age}}}
Colony {{{colony}}}
Birthplace {{{birthplace}}}
Birth Name {{{birthname}}}
Birth Date {{{birthdate}}}
Callsign {{{callsign}}}
Nickname {{{nickname}}}
Introduced [[{{{seen}}}]]
Last Appearance [[{{{lastseen}}}]]
Death c. 4 ACH (2003BYR) (4 months into pregnancy)
Parents Caprica-Six (mother)
Saul Tigh (father)
Step-Parents {{{step_parents}}}
Siblings {{{siblings}}}
Children {{{children}}}
Marital Status {{{marital status}}}
Family Tree View
Role {{{role}}}
Rank {{{rank}}}
Serial Number {{{serial}}}
Portrayed by {{{actor}}}
Liam is a Cylon
Liam is a Final Five Cylon
Liam is a Human/Cylon Hybrid
Liam is an Original Series Cylon
Warning: Default sort key "Tigh, Liam" overrides earlier default sort key "Sullivan, Liam".

Liam Tigh was the name of the unborn child conceived by Saul Tigh and Caprica-Six (TRS: "Sine Qua Non").

Colonel Tigh calls his unborn son Liam, after his best friend William Adama. This was also his choice of name for a son when he and Ellen were still trying to have children.

After the Thirteenth Tribe on Earth wiped themselves out, Liam would be the first pure blood Cylon born (as opposed to being built) in over 2,000 years. However, four months into Caprica's pregnancy, the fetus dies due to a miscarriage (TRS: "Deadlock").

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