Home → Familiar faces → Bill Zuckert
1915—1997 · two captains and a father
Bill Zuckert
The voice of hundreds of radio dramas from 1941 on, and the sheriff in Star Trek. In Columbo Bill Zuckert twice plays a captain — in Negative Reaction and A Case of Immunity — and in 1990 a father in Murder in Malibu.
Parts in Columbo
| Episode | Season | Year | Character | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative Reaction 4×02 | 4 | 1974 | Captain Sampson | 9.5 |
| A Case of Immunity 5×02 | 5 | 1975 | Captain August | 7.5 |
| Murder in Malibu 9×06 | 9 | 1990 | Father | 6 |
Who he was
Born in the Bronx, he spent six years at the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington and came to acting through amateur theatre. Twenty years of radio followed, including a police lieutenant in an NBC crime drama. In the Second World War he served with the Navy Seabees in New Guinea.
Then half a century of character parts on television: the sheriff in Star Trek’s “Spectre of the Gun”, Mr. Asper in Gunsmoke.
Facts
- A captain twice — in Negative Reaction and A Case of Immunity.
- Started out in radio in 1941.
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Cast data from TMDB. Biographical details from open reference sources.