American actor who played Spock's father Sarek across two series and three films, as well as the first Romulan seen on screen.
Mark Lenard (1924–1996) was an American actor who worked primarily in television. His first Star Trek role was the unnamed Romulan Commander in Balance of Terror (1966), the episode that introduced the Romulans, whose dignified commander became a model for many later Trek adversaries.
In Journey to Babel (1967) he played Ambassador Sarek, Spock's Vulcan father, a role he voiced again in the animated episode Yesteryear and played in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He also appeared as a Klingon captain in the opening of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, making him one of the few actors to play a Romulan, a Vulcan and a Klingon.
Lenard portrayed Sarek twice in The Next Generation, in the episode Sarek, about the ambassador's late-life illness, and in Unification. Outside Star Trek he played the gorilla general Urko in the Planet of the Apes television series. He died in 1996.