Marj Dusay obit

Marj Dusay, 'Star Trek' Actress and Veteran Soap Opera Player, Dies at 83

She was not on the list.

She also appeared on 'The Facts of Life' and 'The Odd Couple' and played the wife of a war hero in 'MacArthur.'

Marj Dusay, who played an alien who stole Spock's brain on Star Trek and worked on five daytime soap operas during her career, has died. She was 83.

Dusay died Tuesday, her stepdaughter Elizabeth Perine reported on Facebook. "She was quite a woman and had quite a grand life," she wrote.

Dusay also portrayed the mother of Lisa Whelchel's Blair Warner on NBC's The Facts of Life and appeared opposite Gregory Peck as the wife of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in MacArthur (1977).

The Kansas native stepped in for the late Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg on CBS' Capitol in 1983 and went on to play Pamela Capwell Conrad on NBC's Santa Barbara, Vivian Alamain on NBC's Days of Our Lives, the evil Vanessa Bennett on ABC's All My Children and Alexandra Spaulding on CBS' The Guiding Light.

Born Marjorie Mahoney on Feb. 20, 1936, she was raised in Russell, Kansas, and attended Kansas University. She began a modeling career in New York when she and her husband, John Dusay, moved there for his medical internship.

In Los Angeles, she became a member of The Session, an improvisational comedy troupe formed by Rob Reiner.

Dusay made her big-screen debut in the Elvis Presley movie Clambake (1967) and then appeared with Sandy Dennis in Sweet November (1968).

On the September 1968 Star Trek episode "Spock's Brain," which kicked off the show's third and final season, Dusay's Kara beams aboard the Enterprise, removes Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) brain and takes it with her to her planet.

The actress was memorable on the 1971 Odd Couple episode "What Does a Naked Lady Say to You?" when Oscar (Jack Klugman) discovers that her character, Felix's (Tony Randall) new girlfriend, is performing in a nude play.

Dusay also appeared on dozens of other shows including Hogan's Heroes, Mod Squad, Get Smart, Mannix, Phyllis, Barnaby Jones, Hart to Hart and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Partial TV and filmography

    Guiding Light as Alexandra Spaulding #2 (1993-1997, 1998-1999, 2002–2009)

    All My Children as Vanessa Bennett Hayward Cortlandt (1999–2002)

    Siao Yu as Rita (1995)

    Days of Our Lives as Vivian Alamain (1993) (temporary replacement)

        Replaced Louise Sorel while she was away

    Murder, She Wrote as Miriam Bowman (1992)

    Murder, She Wrote as Alice Reynard Carson (1989)

    Made in Heaven as Mrs. Packert (1987)

    Santa Barbara as Pamela Capwell Conrad (1987-1988, 1991)

    Dallas as Bernice Billings (29 March 1985)

    Capitol as Myrna Clegg (1983–1987)

    The Facts of Life as Monica Warner (1981–1987) (recurring)

    Stop Susan Williams! as Jennifer Selden (1979)

    Wheels as Caroline Horton (1978)

    MacArthur as Jean MacArthur (1977)

    Breezy as Betty Tobin (1973)

    McMillan and Wife episode "The Face of Murder" (1972)

    The Odd Couple episode "What Does a Naked Lady Say To You" as Madelyn (1971)

    Hogan's Heroes episode "The Merry Widow" as Countess Marlene (1970)

    Family Affair episode "The Unsinkable Mr. French" as Dana Markham (1970)

    Hawaii Five-O episode "The Singapore File" as Nicole (1969)

    Pendulum as Liz Tennant (1969)

    Bonanza episode "A Ride in the Sun" as April Horn (1969)

    Hogan's Heroes episode "My Favorite Prisoner" as Baroness von Krimm (1969)

    Star Trek episode "Spock's Brain" as Kara (1968)

    Hawaii Five-O episode "Twenty-Four Karat Kill" as Andrea (1968)

    Sweet November as Carol (1968)

    Hogan's Heroes episode "Guess Who Came to Dinner" as Heidi Eberhardt (1968)

    Clambake as Waitress (1967)

    Year 1999 A D. as Karen (1967)

    The Wild Wild West episode "The Night of the Turncoat" as Crystal Fair (1967) and episode "The Night of the Kraken" as Dolores Hammond (1968)