Michael Dorn and his Untold Stories
In this captivating episode of Dropping Names, we sit down with the legendary Michael Dorn, best known for his iconic role as Worf in Star Trek. Join us as we delve into his fascinating career, from his early days on 'Chips' to his memorable moments with Glenn Close and beyond. Michael shares…
Two moments from this episode
Good Cracker, Andy Griffith
Michael Dorn had a small part on a show with Andy Griffith, an actor he had watched most of his life. On a break they both reached for Ritz crackers at the craft service table, and the exchange that followed was, for Dorn, the whole point. Griffith went with it, and Dorn says it made his life.
“He eats it and I go, good cracker. And he goes, good cracker.”
The Egg With Your Name
Jonathan Frakes performed roughly ninety shows opposite Glenn Close in an outdoor drama in Williamsburg, when she was still a student there. She later invited him to a dinner party as a last-minute replacement, and he could tell because each place setting had a hard-boiled egg with the guest's name on it. His egg had clearly had the previous name scrubbed off and his written in.
“there was a hard-boiled egg with the name of the guest on it. And at my table setting, there was a hard-boiled egg that clearly had been”
Names dropped in this episode
64 names come up in this episode, in the order they are mentioned. Tap a timestamp to jump straight to that moment.
William Shatner
4:58Captain Kirk on Star Trek Wikipedia ↗
“Shatner still smokes them. Shatner? He'll still have an occasional cigar.”
Photo: Super Festivals · CC BY 4.0
Denise Crosby
5:59American actress and model known for portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar mainly in season one of Star… Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Super Festivals · CC BY 2.0
Marina Sirtis
5:59Counselor Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Super Festivals · CC BY 2.0
Larry Hagman
6:41Star of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie Wikipedia ↗
“remember Larry Hagman? Larry Hagman used to have this thing where Sundays...”
Billy Bob Thornton
7:08American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Emmanuelle CHOUSSY · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mark Harmon
8:42American actor, writer, producer, television director and former football player Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Angela George · CC BY-SA 3.0
Andy Griffith
9:14Star of The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock, and A Face in the Crowd Wikipedia ↗
“And it was Andy Griffith. Ah, Ang. Andy Griffith.”
Richard Egan
12:18American actor Wikipedia ↗
Rory Calhoun
12:24Western star of TV's The Texan Wikipedia ↗
“the two actors that were on there were Richard Egan and Rory Calhoun”
Faye Dunaway
12:58Oscar-winning actress of Network Wikipedia ↗
“Faye Dunaway was. That's who she was portraying.”
Photo: JacobsT21 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Henry VIII
13:05King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547 Wikipedia ↗
Anne Boleyn
13:05Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII Wikipedia ↗
Don DeFore
13:54American actor Wikipedia ↗
Glenn Close
14:46Acclaimed actress of Fatal Attraction and Jagged Edge Wikipedia ↗
“Did you work with Glenn Close on Jagged Edge?”
Photo: Max Surprenant · CC BY 4.0
Patrick Stewart
15:32Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
John Logan
15:54American playwright, screenwriter, and producer Wikipedia ↗
Photo: John Logan · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ricky Nelson
16:22Eric Hilliard "Ricky" or "Rick" Nelson was an American musician and actor Wikipedia ↗
Roger Ashton-Griffiths
16:43English character actor, screenwriter and film director Wikipedia ↗
Thomas Jefferson
16:56Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809 Wikipedia ↗
Sherry Lansing
17:52Former Paramount Pictures studio chief Wikipedia ↗
“I saw a thing on one of the social media with Sherry Lansing... they didn't want to see her for Fatal Attraction”
Photo: John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tom Stoppard
18:20British playwright and screenwriter Wikipedia ↗
Dwight Schultz
19:03Actor, Murdock on The A-Team and Barclay on Star Trek Wikipedia ↗
“the two leads in the play were Glenn Close and Dwight Schultz, who were a couple at that time”
Photo: evil_cotton · CC BY 2.0
Theodore Bikel
20:23Actor and folk singer, played Worf's adoptive father Wikipedia ↗
“Theodore Bickell played your father... he says, why don't when we beam in and you see us, you speak Russian?”
Photo: Bev Sykes · CC BY 2.0
Georgia Brown
20:23English singer and actress Wikipedia ↗
Michael Piller
21:23Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine writer-producer Wikipedia ↗
“he called me and said, you're the most unprofessional actor I've ever worked with”
Tony Todd
23:32Actor known for Candyman and Kurn on Star Trek Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Super Festivals · CC BY 2.0
Mary Chieffo
23:38American actress known for portraying the Klingon L'Rell on the television series Star Trek: Discovery Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Stana Katic
25:32Star of Castle Wikipedia ↗
“he was Astana's shrink”
Photo: Original: Eric Garcetti Derivative work: Mirer · CC BY 2.0
Rob Bowman
25:58Director and producer of Castle and The X-Files Wikipedia ↗
“I took him flying one day, one night, and we're flying to San Francisco, and the airplane had a problem.”
Photo: Marta Evry · CC BY-SA 2.0
Patti LaBelle
28:19Patricia Louise Holte , known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer and actress Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Danielle G. Campbell · CC BY-SA 4.0
Vivica A. Fox
28:19American actress, television presenter and producer Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Jesse Kornblum · CC BY-SA 4.0
Chuck Yeager
33:12Test pilot, first to break the sound barrier Wikipedia ↗
“But I did have a Chuck Yeager moment.”
Tom Selleck
38:29Star of Magnum, P.I. Wikipedia ↗
“Tom Selleck wasn't Indiana Jones. He got offered it. He was supposed to do it... they wouldn't let him out of Magnum”
Photo: Luis Ochea · CC BY-SA 4.0
Leon Isaac Kennedy
39:06American actor, screenwriter, film and television producer, and former radio personality Wikipedia ↗
Photo: RealTVfilms · CC BY-SA 3.0
Jayne Kennedy
39:14American television personality, actress, model, corporate spokeswoman, producer, writer, public… Wikipedia ↗
Jackie Kennedy
39:14First lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president… Wikipedia ↗
Barbara Eden
39:58Star of I Dream of Jeannie and Harper Valley PTA Wikipedia ↗
“do you know how to ride a motorcycle on Harper Valley PTA starring the great Barbara Eden?”
Photo: ruthdaniel3444 · CC BY 2.0
Richard Dean Anderson
40:36Star of MacGyver and Stargate SG-1 Wikipedia ↗
“Ricky Dean Anderson, from who I was friends with from Nathan and... he taught me how to ride his motorcycle”
Photo: Pedro Heshike for Galaxy Con · CC BY 2.0
Peter Falk
41:43Star of Columbo Wikipedia ↗
“We heard a story about Peter Falk today, pretending to drop his eye and picking it back up.”
Michelle Hurd
41:55Actress, Raffi on Star Trek: Picard Wikipedia ↗
“can we make her hair greasier, put some more makeup on her?”
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
John Cassavetes
41:55American filmmaker and actor Wikipedia ↗
Emmanuel Lewis
41:55Child star of Webster Wikipedia ↗
“Did you and Emmanuel Lewis wind up hanging out after that? No, I couldn't fit in his house.”
Debralee Scott
44:37American actress best known for her roles on the sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter; Angie; Mary Hartman… Wikipedia ↗
Tyler Perry
45:04Filmmaker behind the Madea stage plays and films Wikipedia ↗
“You know, like Tyler Perry did, you know, where...”
Photo: PhilipRomanoPhoto · CC BY-SA 4.0
Seth MacFarlane
53:12Creator of Family Guy and the Ted films Wikipedia ↗
“So I called Seth. I go, you know, I think it's funny.”
Photo: Kevin Paul · CC BY 4.0
Patrick Warburton
53:45Actor known for Seinfeld's Puddy and Ted Wikipedia ↗
“I'm supposed to be Patrick Warburton's gay lover”
Photo: Pedro Heshike for Galaxy Con · CC BY 2.0
René Auberjonois
55:46René Marie Murat Auberjonois was an American actor Wikipedia ↗
Photo: Rene-Auberjonois-by-kyle-cassidy-DSC_8245.jpg: · CC BY-SA 3.0
LeVar Burton
58:12Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation and host of Reading Rainbow Wikipedia ↗
“LeVar is eating and the bones are piled up”
Photo: Super Festivals · CC BY 2.0
Nicholas Meyer
63:38Director/writer of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and The Day After Wikipedia ↗
“He directed Star Trek and wrote The Wrath of Khan. Nick Meyer.”
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Christopher Plummer
64:03Acclaimed actor, played General Chang in Star Trek VI Wikipedia ↗
Jason Robards
64:49Two-time Oscar winner, starred in The Day After Wikipedia ↗
Fred Astaire
65:04American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film… Wikipedia ↗
Edward G. Robinson
65:53American actor who was popular during Hollywood's Golden Age Wikipedia ↗
Lionel Barrymore
66:02Legendary actor of the Barrymore acting dynasty Wikipedia ↗
“And Lionel goes, hear me, he's praying out loud.”
Beatrice Straight
66:49American theatre, film, television and radio actress and a member of the prominent Whitney family Wikipedia ↗
Claire Trevor
66:49Oscar-winning actress for Key Largo Wikipedia ↗
“Claire Trevor won an Oscar... She won it because she sang this song.”
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons.
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