Michael Pataki

Early life

Pataki was born in Youngstown, Ohio. His father was Hungarian. 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, with a review that read, "Michael Pataki went beyond the bounds of mere nationality in his tense and moving interpretation of Jerry in The Zoo Story". Pataki was so well loved that at a reception for the theatre group acclaimed English actor Laurence Harvey, whom Pataki had never met, said he was magnificent and gave him a kiss on the mouth.

Television career

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 started the bar fight in "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode of Star Trek.

He also played Governor Karnas on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Too Short a Season" and George Liquor in the episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show entitled "Dog Show" and "Man's Best Friend". 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."

Film career

Pataki's film credits included Airport '77 (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 the Soviet team.

Pataki has also had his fair share of B movie roles in titles such as The Last Porno Flick (1974), and Carnal Madness aka Delinquent Schoolgirls (1975) with George Buck Flower and Colleen Brennan, and others. In Dracula's Dog (1978), he played opposite Reggie Nalder and José Ferrer as a descendant of Dracula who is stalked by a vampiric Doberman Pinscher. His other horror titles included Grave of the Vampire (1972), The Baby (1973), Dead and 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 1997. Pataki died from cancer on April 15, 2010 at the age of 72.