Harris Yulin, one of Hollywood’s great character actors, who also delivered an unforgettable performance during a guest-star appearance on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has died at the age of 87. According to Deadline, citing Yulin’s family and manager, Sue Leibman, Yulin died in New York City of cardiac arrest.
Yulin’s career spanned more than 60 years and encompassed roles on stage, including Broadway, as well as in films and television shows. The Internet Movie Database lists 138 screen credits dating back to 1970. Among them are Kojak, Little House on the Prairie, Night Moves, Scarface, Ghostbuster, II, A Clear and Present Danger, Frasier, Training Day, 24, The Blacklist, Veep, FBI: Most Wanted, and Ozark. He earned an Emmy nomination for his work on Frasier and, in the days prior to his death, was set to begin work on a new show called American Classic, starring Kevin Kline and Laura Linney.
His genre credits included episodes of Wonder Woman, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as the 2042 sci-fi film, Omni Loop, and, of course, the Deep Space Nine episode, “Duet.” Most fans consider “Duet,” the 19th episode of DS9’s first season, to be in the top five episodes of the show’s entire seven-year run. Yulin played Marritza, a guilt-ridden Cardassian who poses as Darhe’el, a brutal Cardassian known to Bajorans as the “Butcher of Gallitep.” Major Kira (Nana Visitor) can barely contain the hatred in her heart, but soon learns the truth about Marritza/Darhe’el, which affects her considerably. Yulin and Visitor sparked and sparkled in their performances, bringing out the best in each other and setting the stage for the evolution of Major Kira and continuing exploration of the Cardassian-Bajoran dynamic.
James L. Conway, director of “Duet,” discussed Yulin’s performance during a 2012 interview with StarTrek.com. He said, “(Yulin) did a fantastic job. However, the makeup was three hours in the morning and two hours at night and he had to get there at four in the morning. He was so tired that he had a very hard time remembering the lines, and we have a very hard time getting the performance. Then, it was one of those performances where you don’t really know what you have until it’s cut together. He also didn’t like the ending. He got so invested in his character that he didn’t want his character to die at the end. He was trying to justify it and have him somehow survive, which almost never happens on a television show. The guest star never starts trying to change a script. He did, but mostly because he was so invested in the character. But it was one of those shows that, until it was edited, I didn’t realize how good it was.”
Yulin is survived by his wife, Kristen Lowman, son-in-law Ted Mineo, nephew Martin Crane, and godchildren Marco and Lara Greenberg, according to Deadline. His daughter, Claire Lucido, died in 2021.
