Janos Prohaska
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Janos Prohaska (born János Prohászka; October 10, 1919 – March 13, 1974) was a Hungarian-born American actor and stunt performer. He appeared on American television from the 1960s and usually played the roles of animals (mostly bears and gorillas) or monsters.
He played a recurring comic role as The Cookie Bear on The Andy Williams Show from 1969 to 1971.[1] Prohaska also appeared in multiple roles on TV series including The Outer Limits, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space, and a few episodes of Gilligan's Island, where he plays a gorilla. His only credited role on that series appears in the episode "Our Vines Have Tender Apes." He also played the title role in the 1965 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla". In 1967 he appeared as a white gorilla in the "Fatal Cargo" episode of the ABC-TV sci-fi series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
He was in the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage, as an ape and as a humanoid bird.[2] Later he was in three episodes of the original Star Trek series, wearing alien costumes he himself designed and made as the Horta in "The Devil in the Dark"[3] and the mugato in "A Private Little War".[4]
He also stunt-doubled for both Arnold Stang and Peter Falk in the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in which Stang, a small and lightweight man, wore shoulder pads under his costume so that his appearance would match the bulky appearance of Prohaska.
Prohaska made an appearance on an episode of What's My Line? in 1969, where he wore one of his ape costumes.[5]
Personal life and death
He was born on October 10, 1919 in Budapest, Hungary. He was married to Irene M. Knoke from June 29, 1969 until his death on March 13, 1974. He and his son Robert were killed along with 34 others on March 13, 1974, at 8:28 p.m. in the crash of a chartered Sierra Airlines Convair CV-440 aircraft near Bishop, California, while filming the ABC/Wolper Productions television series Primal Man.[6][7] The plane flew into a mountain ridge in darkness, and the exact cause of the crash was never determined.[8] His ashes were interred in the Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Billy Rose's Jumbo | Circus Performer #14 | |
| 1963 | The Outer Limits | Allen as Thetan | Episode: "The Architects of Fear" (Uncredited) |
| 1963 | The Outer Limits | Darwin the Chimpanzee | Episode: "The Sixth Finger" (Uncredited) |
| 1964 | Advance to the Rear | Flagpole Sitter | Uncredited |
| 1964 | Bikini Beach | Clyde the Chimp | |
| 1965 | The Outer Limits | The Mikie | Episode: "The Probe" |
| 1965 | Perry Mason | The Gorilla | Episode: "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla" |
| 1966 | The Lucy Show | The Gorilla | Episode: "Lucy and The Monkey" |
| 1967 | Man of Steel | ||
| 1967 | Star Trek | Horta | Episode: "The Devil in the Dark" (Uncredited) |
| 1968 | Star Trek | The Mugato | Episode: "A Private Little War" |
| 1969 | Star Trek | Yarnek | Episode: "The Savage Curtain" (Uncredited) |
| 1969 | Land of the Giants | Gorilla | Episode: "Comeback" |
| 1970 | Land of the Giants | Bobo the Gorilla | Episode: "The Marionettes" |
| 1970 | Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You | Gorilla | |
| 1971 | Escape from the Planet of the Apes | Heloise | Uncredited |
| 1974 | Zandy's Bride | Bear | Uncredited |
| 1986 | Star Trek | Anthropoid Ape / Humanoid Bird | Episode: "The Cage" (Uncredited); First pilot (1965) not released until 1986 |
References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Template:Open access
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". "Prohaska, Janos: Anthropoid ape and Humanoid bird, 'Cage, The' (TOS); Horta; mugato; Yarnek, costumed"
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". "Horta (Janos Prohaska)... The Horta was designed, built, and performed by Janos Prohaska, who reportedly wore the costume into Star Trek producer Gene Coon's office. Coon liked the creature so much he wrote "Devil in the Dark" to feature it."
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". "mugato (Janos Prohaska)... Janos Prohaska was also the Horta from "Devil in the Dark" and the Excalbian from "The Savage Curtain"... Prohaska designed and built the mugato from an ape suit he had previously built for another project."
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Template:Open access
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External links
- [{{fullurl:MemoryAlpha:Template:Trim}} Janos Prohaska] at Memory Alpha
- Template:Trim/ Janos Prohaska at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Template:Trim/ Robert Prohaska at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Template:PAGENAMEBASE at Find a GraveTemplate:EditAtWikidata
- Pages with script errors
- 1919 births
- 1974 deaths
- Hungarian emigrants to the United States
- Hungarian male television actors
- Male actors from Budapest
- Accidental deaths in California
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1974
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
- Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery, Santa Monica
- 20th-century Hungarian male actors
- American stunt performers