Farewell to G’Kar
Andreas Katsulas, best known for his role as G’Kar in the television series Babylon 5, has died.
He was a long time stalwart of many television series, particularly in his his more recent career where he appeared in several cult shows, normally acting under heavy makeup as a variety of aliens including the notable the Narn ambassador in B5 and also the Romulan Commander Tomalak in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He appeared on the big screen too, acting opposite Harrison Ford in the movie version of The Fugitive (he was the One Armed Man) but will mainly remembered for his roles on the small screen.
I met him very briefly at a bar in Blackpool at a large B5 convention many, many moons ago and he seemed a very personable chap. Especially to put up with a very drunken me. Well, I had been drinking with Gareth “Roj Blake” Thomas all evening!
I met him in a bar in Blackpool too, must’ve been ooh, nine or ten years ago? What was that convention called…? Wolf 359? I remember it was the only time the entire cast of B5 ever appeared at a convention together. It was great. Apart from the fire alarms going off several times, and the lack of air conditioning in a room full of 2,000 people. I also remember Gareth Thomas being very, very drunk, all weekend. And Diane Duane and Peter Morwood being far too nice, as usual.
Anyhoo. RIP Andreas, you will be sorely missed.
Comment by matthew — February 23, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
Yes, that was the one. Sounds like you have far more memory of it than I do. I remember turning down CLaudia Christian’s autograph in favour of Warwick Davies’ and I remember nearly elbowing Walter Koenig in the head. He’s a short man. Now you come to mention it, I also remember the fire alarms. It was all a bit odd. I was having a bit of a funny time in my laugh (and was also accompanied by some strange freaks I had encountered on the internet. One of them still resides close by but fortunately she was definitely in the lowere echelons of freakdom.)
Comment by Tom — February 24, 2006 @ 9:45 am
I haven’t been at a SF convention since then I think. I suppose I grew out of it or something. All I remember about Claudia Christian is that she had a f***in’ HUGE camel-toe on the Saturday afternoon during her onstage appearance and I couldn’t stop looking at it. And I remember Pater Jurasik and Andreas doing the funniest re-creation of a scene from B5 that I’ve ever seen, where Andreas was playing the part of Dr. Stephen Franklin (Richard Biggs, also sadly departed…), but for some unknown reason, giving him a high-pitched Spanish accent. There were ROARS of laughter. Aaah, it’s all flooding back to me now…
Comment by matthew — February 24, 2006 @ 3:02 pm
Oh holy christ not another one…
I remember Andreas up a ladder on stage, but I can’t really remember why (and I think that this might be what Matthew is referring to above), and I remember him being very gracious and nodding when I passed him in the corridor.
I also remember Gareth Thomas being extraordinarily drunk.
I remember spying semi covert conversations going on backstage to try and stop Claudia Christian leaving the show.
I remember being in the dealers room and having one of the aforementioned dealers taking the piss out of my accent and nearly shitting myself when someone joined in and I turned round to tell them where they could go and discovered it was JMS himself.
I remember fire alarms, and being too hot and wigs and boots and too many things.
It’s funny, I found most of the bits and bobs I still have around from that weekend while I was sorting through stuff to pack last weekend.
So strange to think that two of the cast are no longer with us.
Comment by pixeldiva — February 25, 2006 @ 2:31 am