American actor turned director (1938–2007) who played small roles in two episodes of the original series and later directed the first-season Next Generation episode Haven.
Richard Compton was an American actor, writer and director. As a young actor he appeared twice in the original Star Trek, as Lieutenant Washburn, a member of the damage control party aboard the wrecked Constellation in The Doomsday Machine, and as a Romulan technical officer in The Enterprise Incident.
He moved into directing in the 1970s with low-budget features such as Macon County Line, then worked mainly in television.
He returned to Star Trek to direct Haven, the first-season Next Generation episode that introduced Lwaxana Troi and Mr. Homn. He later directed the Babylon 5 pilot film The Gathering and many episodes of Sliders. He died in 2007.