Star Trek actor Tom Troupe has died aged 97 from natural causes – just five days after his birthday.
Star Trek and Mission: Impossible star Tom Troupe has died aged 97.
The film star passed away at his home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California from natural causes on July 20 – five days after his birthday.
He is survived by his son Christopher Troupe, daughter-in-law Becky Coulter, granddaughter Ashley Troupe and several nieces and nephews.
Tom was married to Sixteen Candles actress Carole Cook from 1964 until her death from heart failure at the age of 98 in 2023.
Instead of flowers, requests for donations have been made to either the Entertainment Community Fund or the Pasadena Humane Society.
Tom was born on July 15, 1928, in North Kansas City, Missouri.
He moved to New York in 1948, and studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Manhattan in the early 1950s, after he was given a scholarship from the late Reversal of Fortune actress-and-teacher, Uta Hagen.
Tom served in the Korean War – which was fought from 1950 until 1953 – and was awarded a Bronze Star for his service.
Following the war, Tim returned to New York and made his Broadway debut as Peter van Daan in 1957’s The Diary of Anne Frank, which also starred Joseph Schildkraut and Gusti Huber.
The following year, Tom moved to Los Angeles, California, where he landed dozens of top film and TV acting jobs during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Some of his most notable acting credits included playing David Day in the Mission: Impossible TV series, as well as being cast as Lieutenant Matthew Harold in the Star Trek TV series, both in 1967.
Tom also appeared in The Fugitive, The Wild, Wild West, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Cagney and Lacey, CHiPs, Knots Landing, Murder, She Wrote, Cheers, The Big Fisherman, The Devil’s Brigade, Kelly’s Heroes, Summer School and My Own Private Idaho.
On stage, he co-starred alongside Carole – who with Tom was honoured with the 2002 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Career Achievement – in The Lion in Winter, Fathers Day and The Gin Game.
He also co-wrote a one-actor play called The Diary of a Madman.
Tom also co-founded The Faculty, a Los Angeles-based acting school, alongside Charles Nelson Reilly, Lu Leonard, John Erman, and Dom DeLuise.
Star Trek actor Tom Troupe dead at 97
