Michael Ansara

Michael Ansara (April 15, 1922^[2] – July 31, 2013^[3]) was a Syrian-American stage, movie and voice actor.

Michael Ansara
Michael Ansara in Law of the Plainsman (1959)
Born	(1922-04-15)April 15, 1922 Syria
Died	July 31, 2013(2013-07-31) (aged 91)[1] Calabasas, California
Cause of death	Complications from Alzheimer's disease
Nationality	Syrian-American
Citizenship	United States
Education	B.A. from Los Angeles City College
Alma mater	Los Angeles City College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1944–2001
Known for	Cochise, Killer Kane, Commander Kang, Sam Buckhart, Mr. Freeze (voice)
Notable work	Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Broken Arrow, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Law of the Plainsman, Star Trek, Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, Batman Beyond
Height	6' 3" (1.90 m)
Spouse(s)	Jean Byron ​ (m. 1955⁠–⁠1956)​ , Barbara Eden ​ (m. 1958⁠–⁠1974)​ , Beverly Kushida ​ ​ (m. 1977⁠–⁠2013)​
Children	Matthew Ansara (1965-2001; w/Eden)
Awards	Hollywood Walk of Fame, Western Heritage Award, Saturn Award

He was best known for playing of Cochise in the American television series Broken Arrow, Kane in the 1979-81 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Commander Kang on three different Star Trek TV series, Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart on the NBC series, Law of the Plainsman, and the voice for villain character Mr. Freeze in the Emmy Award winning series Batman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, and Batman Beyond.

Early life

Ansara was born in a small village in Syria and moved to Lowell, Massachusetts. He was educated at the Los Angeles City College.

Career

Ansara starred in his own ABC-TV series, Law of the Plainsman (1959–60), with Gina Gillespie and Robert Harland. He performed as an Apache Indian named Sam Buckhart who had been appointed as a U.S. Marshal. The series began as an episode of The Rifleman. In 1961, he appeared as Carl in the episode "Night Visitors" of the NBC anthology series The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

Ansara also played in the Biblical epics The Robe (1953) as Judas Iscariot, The Ten Commandments (1956) as a taskmaster (uncredited), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) as Herod's commander. He also appeared as Belshazzar in Columbia's 1953 movie Slaves of Babylon. Guest starred with Kurt Russell in an episode of the 1960's series "Lost in Space".

Later career

Ansara did voice-acting as Mr. Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series as well as the animated movie Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, an episode of both New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond. He also voiced Mr. Freeze in the video game Batman Vengeance.

Ansara retired in 2001.

Awards

Ansara was nominated for an Academy of Science Fiction Award. He won a Western Heritage Award for Rawhide. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for both movies and television.

Marriages

Ansara was married to Jean Byron from 1955 until they divorced in 1956. He was married to Barbara Eden from 1958 until 1974. They had a son, Matthew Ansara, who died in 2001. He married Beverly Kushida in 1977.

Death

Ansara died on July 31, 2013 of Alzheimer's disease in his home in Calabasas, California, aged 91.^[4][5]