Star Trek legend Walter Koenig dies aged 90

For generations of Star Trek fans, Walter Koenig wasn’t simply another actor on the bridge of the Enterprise.

He was Chekov – the ever-loyal navigator.

With his youthful face, unmistakable accent and mop of hair, he became one of those characters fans could recognize almost instantly.

And even decades after the original series ended, Koenig remained a beloved part of the Star Trek universe.

Now, fans are saying goodbye.

Walter Koenig has died at the age of 90.

Cause of death

The actor passed away Sunday from natural causes at his home in North Hollywood, according to his representative.

For those who grew up watching Star Trek, the news marks the loss of another familiar face from television history.

Koenig joined Gene Roddenberry’s groundbreaking sci-fi series at the beginning of its second season, appearing in 36 episodes during the show’s final two seasons.

But surprisingly, before landing the role that would change his life, Koenig wasn’t exactly a Star Trek fan.

In fact, he admitted that he had barely given the show a chance.

”I’d flip through the channels and I’d see Styrofoam rocks — they were so obviously Styrofoam — and I said, ‘This has got to be phony.’ I didn’t give it a chance,” he recalled in a 2013 interview with the Television Academy Foundation.

Little did he know that those “Styrofoam rocks” were about to become part of his life forever.

Becoming Chekov

Marvin Walter Koenig was born in Chicago on September 14, 1936, the son of businessman Isadore Koenig and his wife, Sarah Strauss.

His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants whose family had been living in Lithuania before coming to the United States. After emigrating, the family shortened their surname from Königsberg to Koenig.

While Walter was still young, the family moved to the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, where he spent much of his childhood and attended school.

But growing up in the Koenig household also meant living with the political tensions of the era. His father was a committed communist, and during the height of McCarthyism, his beliefs attracted the attention of the FBI. Koenig later recalled that federal agents even searched the family’s apartment.

What led him to the Enterprise

Acting wasn’t originally the plan.

He attended Grinnell College as a pre-med student before transferring to UCLA, where he studied psychology. But an acting class changed his direction, eventually leading him to New York’s famed Neighborhood Playhouse.

There, he studied alongside future stars including James Caan, Christopher Lloyd and Dabney Coleman.

By the early 1960s, Koenig was finding television work and had become particularly skilled at playing characters with different accents and backgrounds.

Years before Chekov, he even played a Russian character in a 1963 episode of Mr. Novak.

He later appeared on The Lieutenant, a series created by Gene Roddenberry.

That connection would soon help lead him to the Enterprise.

Koenig recalled that director Joseph Pevney, who had previously worked with him on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, was among those present when he auditioned for Star Trek.

”He really liked my work, he kept telling me, ‘You’re going to be a big star,’” Koenig recalled. ”When I came in to read for Star Trek, he was very enthusiastic and one of the reasons I got the part.”

But the way Koenig discovered he’d actually landed the role was anything but glamorous.

After his audition, he spent hours sitting outside wondering whether he had gotten the job. Eventually, a man approached him and took him into wardrobe.

“He drops on his knees in front of me,” Koenig said, “and takes my crotch in his hand, and I’m saying, ‘What are you doing?!” I didn’t see the tape-measuring ruler in his other hand, and he was measuring from my crotch to my cuff to decide how long my pants should be. He says, ‘You do have to have a costume, don’t you?’

“And that’s the auspicious way I learned I was on Star Trek and it was going to change my life.”

It certainly did.