Prolific actor Ken Tobey, who played "Rurigan" in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Shadowplay," passed away on December 22. He was 85.

With a career spanning seven decades and nearly 100 movie roles and countless television parts, Oakland native Tobey specialized in playing policemen and other military types. He is perhaps best known for his role as Captain Patrick Hendry in the 1951 Earth-invasion flick "The Thing from Another World." (Coincidently, this was the movie that was partially recreated, along with some help from other Star Trek luminaries, at a recent Halloween event in Burbank. See related story here.)

In the Deep Space Nine episode "Shadowplay," Tobey's character Rurigan journeyed to another planet and created a virtual village, using a hologenerator, following the destruction of his own world by the Dominion. Dax and Odo, who were visiting his planet, fixed the hologenerator thus allowing Rurigan to live his life with his virtual family and community.

Tobey graduated from UC Berkeley with a master's degree in political science before moving to New York to hone his craft at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He has performed on Broadway and made his film debut in 1943.

Ken Tobey died in Rancho Mirage. He is survived by a daughter and a brother.