Widely known and admired as Romulan Subcommander Tal in the original
Raumschiff Enterprise (1966), Jack Donner has worked steadily in TV, film and theater since
the 1950s. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he did his first
professional theater and TV work there before heading for New York
during the glory days of TV, appearing in many prestigious early shows
like Studio One (1948), and soap operas such as Jung und Leidenschaftlich - Wie das Leben so spielt (1956) and Springfield Story (1952). He also did
seven seasons of New York regional and stock theater. Returning to
L.A., he worked his way up to guest star and co-star status in shows
like Die Strassen von San Francisco (1972), Mannix (1967), Einsatz in Manhattan (1973), Solo für O.N.K.E.L. (1964), the aforementioned Raumschiff Enterprise (1966)
episode "The Enterprise Incident", and eleven episodes (the most by any
guest star in any series) of Kobra, übernehmen Sie (1966). He also founded, with fellow
actor Lee Delano, his own theater and drama school. His students
included Barry Levinson, Craig T. Nelson, Barbara Parkins, and Don Johnson. Recent TV credits
include Baywatch - Die Rettungsschwimmer von Malibu (1989), Buffy - Im Bann der Dämonen (1997), Frasier (1993), Charmed: Zauberhafte Hexen (1998), General Hospital (1963), Chicken Soup for the Soul (1999), G vs E (1999),
Malcolm mittendrin (2000) and Roswell (1999), and as a regular in The Privateers (2000). Donner has assayed a
wide variety of roles in recent feature films such as Gideon (1998) (with
Christopher Lambert and Charlton Heston), and Family Tree (1999) (with Robert Forster). With his deep,
resonant voice, silver-white hair and patrician profile, he has
recently been compared with Vincent Price for his roles in a run of classy
horror flicks, as Afzel the sorcerer in Retro Puppet Master (1999), the mysterious Father
Almeida in Stigmata (1999), the manipulative Dr. Bassett in Demon Under Glass (2002), and the
obsessed Father Lansing in Exorcism (2003).
