Sci-Fi Storm

We are very saddened to learn of the passing of actor W. Morgan Sheppard, father of fellow actor Mark Sheppard, yesterday per an instagram post by his son.

View this post on Instagram

We went to spend some time with my father today. Though he couldn’t speak, we held hands, he laughed and was so happy to see us. We left and came home. A good day. He was rushed to hospital and passed at 6:30pm, my mother by his side. I am so grateful that he didn’t have to suffer any longer. Thank you for all your kind thoughts, love and prayers.

A post shared by Mark Sheppard (@realmarksheppard) on Jan 6, 2019 at 8:16pm PST

Sheppard appeared in many genre shows…I first saw him that I recall in Shogun, but what I most remembered him from originally was in the role of Blank Reg, the mohawked pirate radio operator in Max Headroom. He also played the memorable and eponymous “Soul Hunter” on Babylon 5, and even played the older version of his son’s character of Cantor Everett Delaware III in the Doctor Who episode “The Impossible Astronaut”. More recently he appeared in an episode of The Librarians. His jovial face and white beard also earned him the the title role in Farewell Mr. Kringle, and he voiced “The Big Guy” in the Prep & Landing specials.

The entire 1987 TV series of Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into The Future, a series perhaps ahead of its time (hundreds of TV channels competing for the limited attention spans of viewers in a cutthroat business), finally comes back to the future with a [sfs=1024]DVD release on August 10th[/sfs]. Ah, the Commodore computers (I owned one at the time), the Amiga graphics…I’m getting nostalgic…