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Michael Pataki
Michael Pataki
	Pataki in 1974
Born	January 16, 1938; Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
Died	April 15, 2010 (aged 72); North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–2010
Known for	Spider-Man; Love at First Bite; Airport '77; Spider-Man Strikes Back; Rocky IV;

Michael Pataki (January 16, 1938 – April 15, 2010) was an American actor of stage, film and television.^[1]

Early life

Pataki was born in Youngstown, Ohio, to Hungarian parents, the youngest of three children. He had an elder brother and an elder sister. He attended the University of Southern California with a double major in political science and drama. His career was launched at a summer stock festival in Edinburgh in 1966 as Jerry in The Zoo Story.

Television career

Pataki had a co-starring role on the 1974–75 groundbreaking ABC-TV series Get Christie Love! playing Officer Pete Gallagher, Christie Love's bumbling but well-meaning sidekick with the dream to one day be a technical advisor on a TV cop show. Despite being the first detective TV series with an African American female lead, the characters of Christie and Pete rarely discussed race and just focused on watching out for each other and getting out of the trouble they often created for themselves.

Pataki appeared as a guest star in numerous television productions, from the black and white days of Hawaiian Eye, M Squad, The Twilight Zone, Ripcord, Combat!, and My Favorite Martian, to early color shows such as The Flying Nun, All in the Family, Mr. Terrific, Garrison's Gorillas, Bonanza, Run for Your Life, Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Batman, and Felony Squad. He was also a regular on Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers, and The Amazing Spider-Man, and had a re-occurring role on McCloud as well. One of his most famous roles was as "Korax", the brash, loudmouthed Klingon who provoked the bar fight in "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of Star Trek.^[2]

He also played Governor Karnas in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Too Short a Season"^[2] and George Liquor in the episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show titled "Dog Show" and "Man's Best Friend"; he would continue playing the latter role in subsequent projects by John Kricfalusi up until his death, with his last appearance being in the posthumously released 2019 short Cans Without Labels. Pataki is one of the few Star Trek actors that appeared in both the original series and The Next Generation.^[2] In the original series, he played Klingon First Officer Korax in the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".^[2] He was also the voice of The Cow in Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, along with many other secondary characters. Pataki played a guest spot on Happy Days Season 4 as Myron "Count" Malachi, one half of the Malachi brothers. He was made famous on Happy Days for his line "Let the pigeons loose." He played a Russian defector in the episode "The Americanization of Ivan" in WKRP in Cincinnati.

Film career

Pataki's film credits included Airport '77 (1977), Spider-Man (1977), Love at First Bite (1979), The Onion Field (1979), Raise the Titanic (1980), Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985), and many others. He also appeared in Rocky IV (1985), as Nicoli Koloff, the sports administrator for Ivan Drago and had a memorable moment in Ron Howard's Night Shift as a man who moons an entire courtroom.

Pataki has also had his fair share of B movie roles in titles such as The Last Porno Flick (1974), Carnal Madness a.k.a. Delinquent Schoolgirls (1975) with George Buck Flower and Colleen Brennan, and others. In Dracula's Dog (1977), he played opposite Reggie Nalder and José Ferrer as a descendant of Dracula who is being stalked by a vampiric Doberman Pinscher. His other horror titles included Grave of the Vampire (1972), The Baby (1973), Dead & Buried (1981) and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). He also directed Richard Basehart in Mansion of the Doomed (1976).

Other work

Pataki directed the 1977 film version of Cinderella. He also co-produced the filming of the stage presentation of Pippin with David Sheehan, starring William Katt. Pataki was also an accomplished voice over artist, playing the part of the Sewer King in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. He was the voice of George Liquor for The Ren & Stimpy Show production house Spümcø until the company was fired by Nickelodeon in 1992. He reprised the role for subsequent John Kricfalusi projects in the following years, with the last being the crowdfunded short Cans Without Labels, which was released in 2019, nine years after his death.^[3]^[4]

Death

Pataki died from cancer on April 15, 2010, at the age of 72. He completed his recording for George Liquor for Cans Without Labels before his death^[4] and the short was dedicated to his memory.

Selected filmography

The Young Lions (1958) as Pvt. Hagstrom (uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
Ten North Frederick (1958) as Parking Lot Thug (uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
Easy Rider (1969) as Mime #4
The Sidehackers (1969) as J.C.
The Cut-Throats (1969) as German Sniper (uncredited)
Dream No Evil (1970) as Rev. Paul Jessie Bundy
The Andromeda Strain (1971) as Operator of 'The Hands' (uncredited)
The Return of Count Yorga (1971) as Joe
Brute Corps (1971) as MacFarlane
The All American Hustler (1972) as Carol's Boyfriend (uncredited)
The Pink Angels (1972) as Biker
Grave of the Vampire (1972) as Caleb Croft / Professor Lockwood
The Dirt Gang (1972) as Snake
The Black Bunch (1973) as Mr. Heinke
The Baby (1973) as Dennis
Sweet Jesus, Preacherman (1973) as State Senator Sills
Little Cigars (1973) as Garage Mechanic
Heterosexualis (1973) as Virgil
Last Foxtrot in Burbank (1973) as Paul
The Bat People (1974) as Sgt. Ward
The Last Porno Flick (1974) as Ziggy
Get Christie Love! (1974-75) as Sgt. Pete Gallagher
Carnal Madness (1975) as Carl C. Clooney
Airport '77 (1977) as Wilson
Spider-Man (1977, TV Movie) as Captain Barbera
Dracula's Dog (1977) as Michael Drake / Count Igor Dracula
Jailbait Babysitter (1977) as Roger Warfield (uncredited)
Spider-Man Strikes Back (1978) as Captain Barbera (voice)
Superdome (1978, TV Movie) as Tony Sicota
When Every Day Was the Fourth of July (1978, TV Movie) as Robert Najarian
The Pirate (1978, TV Movie) as General Eshnev
Love at First Bite (1979) as Mobster
The Onion Field (1979) as Dist. Atty. Dino Fulgoni
The Glove (1979) as Harry Iverson
The Last Word (1979) as Dobbs
Disaster on the Coastliner (1979, TV Movie) as Tate
Up Yours (1979) as Virgil / Virgil's Father
Raise the Titanic (1980) as Munk
High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980, TV Movie) as Darold
Graduation Day (1981) as Principal Guglione
Dead and Buried (1981) as Sam
Night Shift (1982) as Man Who Moons Courtroom (uncredited)
Sweet Sixteen (1983) as George Martin
One More Chance (1983) as Sam
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) as Jim Wilson
Rocky IV (1985) as Nicolai Koloff
American Anthem (1986) as Coach Soranhoff
The Underachievers (1987) as Murphy
Death House (1987) as Franco Moretti
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) as Dr. Hoffman
Hollywood Hot Tubs 2: Educating Crystal (1990) as Professor Drewton
Batman: The Animated Series (1992) as the Sewer King in the 6th episode entitled: 'The Underdwellers' (voice only role)
The Looking Glass (2003) as Frank
Edge of Nowhere (2003) as Sheriff
Trim (2010) as Dimitri
Cans Without Labels (2019) as George Liquor (posthumous release)