Play One on TV

From Sci-Fi Wire:

Andreas Katsulas, the character actor known to SF fans as G’Kar on Babylon 5 and a familiar face from Star Trek and other SF&F TV shows, died Feb. 13 of lung cancer in Los Angeles, his agent, Donna Massetti, confirmed to SCI FI Wire. He was 59.

It’s not often that the passing of a television actor causes me to pause. Katsulas was something special in a genre that typically settles for mediocre actors and even more mundane scriptwriting. In the cult television series Babylon 5, one of the best science fiction stories ever to grace the small screen, he played the character of Ambassador G’Kar of the Narn Regime. Despite the encumbrance of heavy makeup, a rubber mask, and garish red contact lenses, Katsulas managed to convey a forceful passion and eloquence of thought that most actors could never hope to manage with their bare faces.

He was a true master in a medium that habitually hamstrings its best artists. Rest in peace, sir.

This sad news via Matt Deatherage.