American character actor (1938–2013) who played Lieutenant Commander Albert, father of the cadet killed in the Nova Squadron accident, in the Next Generation episode The First Duty.
Ed Lauter was one of American cinema's busiest character actors, seen in The Longest Yard, Family Plot, Cujo and, late in life, The Artist.
In The First Duty he plays the father of Cadet Joshua Albert, who died when Nova Squadron's five ships collided near Titan. A Starfleet officer himself, he attends the inquiry at the Academy.
In his main scene he calls on Wesley Crusher, who hands back a sweater borrowed from Joshua, and apologises for his son, believing the story that his son caused the crash. The encounter weighs on Wesley and helps bring him to tell the truth.