Whatever Happened to Roger C. Carmel, Harry Mudd From ‘Star Trek’?

Roger C. Carmel as Star Trek’s Harry Mudd — Everett Collection

Roger C. Carmel made Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudd one of the most hilarious scoundrels in Star Trek history. But truth be told, Roger was way more than just Harry Mudd.

Roger was born in Brooklyn in 1932, and long before he was trying to pull the wool over Captain Kirk (William Shatner)’s eyes, he was killing it on Broadway. This guy wasn’t just a face on TV; he was a legit stage actor, popping up in plays like Caligula and A Man for All Seasons. He even took over big roles mid-run, proving he could jump into any part and own it.

THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, Roger C. Carmel, 1967-69

Everett Collection

Although he had been making guest appearances on television shows since the early 1960s, Roger’s first big, steady TV gig was on the sitcom The Mothers-in-Law in 1967. Interestingly, he walked away after just one season because of a paycheck fight with Desi Arnaz. Yep, Lucy’s ex. Desi had told Roger that there was no room for renegotiating his Season 2 contract, and because of that, he just left the show.

Truthfully, I believe the reason Roger was willing to take such a bold risk was because just about a year earlier, he had made his first appearance on Star Trek; his character, Harry Mudd, was a conman, a smooth talker, and just plain fun. He only did two episodes, but fans loved him.

Harry Mudd wasn’t Roger’s only claim to fame. Roger was the main villain, a ne’er-do-well named Colonel Gumm, during a couple of Season 2 episodes of Batman. Truthfully, Colonel Gumm might be my favorite role ever played by Roger — he’s just so funny. Plus, those are the episodes where we were all introduced to the television versions of Green Hornet and Kato.

During the 1960s, Roger also made memorable guest appearances on Hogan’s Heroes and The Munsters. Moving into the 1970s, he guest starred on All in the Family and even showed up a handful of times on Hawaii Five-O playing a character named Misha “The Bear” Toptegan.

THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, (aka THE MOTHERS IN LAW), Kaye Ballard, Roger C. Carmel, 1967-69

Everett Collection

Somewhere along the way, Roger also discovered that he was a pretty darn good voice actor. He voiced Cyclonus in Transformers and, by doing so, got to work with Leonard Nimoy again. And, even before that, he played Harry Mudd one more time on Star Trek: The Animated Series. He also voiced Smokey Bear in a handful of fire safety ads.

Sadly, Roger passed away in 1986 at the way-too-early age of 54. His body was discovered in his condo by the building manager after friends and neighbors had noticed that they hadn’t seen Roger out and about for a few days. At first, officials suspected that it might be a drug overdose. But once the autopsy had been concluded, it was determined that Roger had a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, where muscle tissue around the heart hardens.

The ironic thing is that right before his death, Roger was just starting to realize how much Star Trek fans adored him. There was even talk about bringing old Harry Mudd back to Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Only semi-related, but still worth noting, is that Dwight Schrute himself, Rainn Wilson, portrayed Harry Mudd more recently on Star Trek: Discovery. It is nice to know that the character lives on.

"The Escape Artist" -- Episode SF-004-- Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd of the CBS All Access series

No doubt about it, Roger C. Carmel was one of those actors who made every role fun. Whether he was scamming the Enterprise or trying to turn Batman and the Green Hornet into giant postage stamps, he was ALWAYS the master of mischievous charm.