Standing six feet nine inches tall, Ted Cassidy was an imposing actor. He is perhaps best remembered for playing the gloomy butler Lurch across 64 episodes of The Addams Family from 1964 to 1966. But he also appeared multiple times in the original series of Star Trek.
Cassidy first brought his talents to the show in the early episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” voicing the terrifying puppet guise of the alien known as Balok. He also did superb voicework as the Gorn Captain in the brilliant first season episode “Arena.” As Captain Kirk and the Gorn are locked in a gladiatorial combat to the death, it is Cassidy’s voice that taunts him with iconic lines: “This is your opponent, Earthling. I have heard every word you have said.” Likely due to expensive insurance, it was Trek stuntman Bobby Clark who actually donned the styrofoam suit of reptilian hideousness.
Cassidy shines as Ruk
But all 205cm of Cassidy showed up for the often-underrated but always interesting episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?,” where he played a rather depressed android with a seemingly eternal lifespan.
Cassidy brought a nuance to the role beyond that of being a simple henchman. Ruk is an android whose creators have long since died. He maintains the facility at Exo III, going through the motions of his previous life, but lacking any purpose. That all changes when Federation scientist Roger Korby lands on the planet. Suddenly, Ruk’s existence has meaning again. He can look after Korby and help him with his research. Despite his high level of intelligence and conviction, Ruk becomes Korby’s dogsbody.
After some years, Captain Kirk and Nurse Chapel of the USS Enterprise arrive. Kirk’s first encounters with Ruk are unnerving, and as Kirk eventually begins to unravel Korby’s deranged plans, Ruk sets out to hunt him down.
The plot takes a turn, however, when Kirk attempts to convince Ruk to resist Korby rather than serve him. In one unforgettable scene, Cassidy lifts William Shatner clean off the floor, holding him in the air like a ragdoll. It is at this moment Ruk realizes that he has been used by Korby and must rebel, exclaiming “That was the equation! Existence! Survival must cancel out programming!”
Cassidy seems to have had a lot of fun on set. In one famous anecdote relayed by William Shatner, Cassidy helped to chase off a persistent salesman who was hanging around the set. In full makeup as Ruk, he pretended to be showrunner Gene Roddenberry. incredibly, the salesman was unfazed by this, and proceeded to try and sell the hulking android an oversized suit.
With Strange New Worlds beginning the Christine Chapel/Roger Korby arc at the end of the last season, the episode is well worth a rewatch.