Harry Basch (16 January 1926 – 23 June 2020; age 94) was an actor who played Dr. Brown in the Star Trek: The Original Series first season episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?".
Born as Harry Leo Basch III in Trenton, New Jersey, Basch was married to fellow actress Shirley Slater until her death in 2002. Together, the couple wrote the travel books "Exploring America by RV" and "RV Vacations for Dummies" following Basch's retirement from acting in the late 1980s.
Having acted for almost three decades, Basch started his career with guest roles in episodes of Dr. Kildare (1965), Honey West (1965, with Liam Sullivan), Burke's Law (1966, with Skip Homeier, Troy Melton, and Paul Sorensen), and Blue Light (1966, with Steve Ihnat) as well as the television western Scalplock (1966, with John Anderson, James Doohan, and Paul Sorensen).
In the late 1960s, Basch wrote the stories for episodes of The Guns of Will Sonnett (1967) and Daniel Boone (1968 and 1969) and appeared in episodes of The F.B.I. (1966, with Peter Brocco, Michael Strong, and James Doohan), Gunsmoke (1967, with Steve Ihnat), Daniel Boone (1968, associate produced by Cliff Bole), Mission: Impossible (1966 and 1968, with Jimmie Booth, Lou Elias, Gene LeBell, Alfred Ryder, and Sid Haig), Get Smart (1965, 1966, and 1969, with John Fiedler in the latter episode), and The Mod Squad (1968 and 1970, starring Clarence Williams III and Tige Andrews and along with Meg Foster in the latter episode). He also worked on the television drama Ironside (1967, with Kim Darby, Gene Lyons, Grace Lee Whitney, and Theo Marcuse), A Man Called Gannon (1968, with Michael Sarrazin, Susan Oliver, John Anderson, Cliff Potts, and Jack Perkins), Winning (1969), and The Love War (1970, stunt coordinated by Ronald R. Rondell).
In the 1970s, Basch guest-starred on episodes of The Most Deadly Game (1970), Medical Center (1972, with James Daly, Meg Foster, Barbara Baldavin, and Bart La Rue), Bonanza (1972, with Biff Elliot), Love Story (1973), Mannix (1974, with Garry Walberg), Police Story (1975, with Glenn Corbett, Marsha Hunt, William Schallert, Ena Hartman, and Chuck Hicks), What's Happening!! (1978), and Quincy, M.E. (1979, with Gary Walberg, John S. Ragin, and Robert Ito) and had a recurring role in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, starring Graham Jarvis and recurring roles by Sid Haig and Salome Jens.
Further film work include The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971, with Leigh Taylor-Young and James Sloyan), They Only Kill Their Masters (1972, with Jason Wingreen), The Stone Killer (1973, with Alfred Ryder and Byron Morrow), Cry Panic (1974, with Jason Wingreen), the television pilot Law & Order (1976, with Terri Garr, James Whitmore, Jr., and Shay Duffin), Swashbuckler (1976, with Genevieve Bujold, Sid Haig, Henry Kingi, Sr., Anthony De Longis, and Bob Minor), Rollercoaster (1977, with Michael Bell, Craig Wasson, Bruce French, and Branscombe Richmond), Coma (1978, with Genevieve Bujold, Lance LeGault, Betty McGuire, William Wintersole, and Nicholas Worth), and the drama F.I.S.T. (1978, with Kevin Conway, Richard Herd, Bill Zuckert, and Bruce McGill).
Among his later work were guest parts in The Waltons (1980, with Ronnie Claire Edwards), Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980, starring Ben Vereen and with Michael Ensign), and The Wizard (1987, with David Rappaport and Joseph Ruskin), a recurring role as Vince Caproni in the second, third, and fourth season of Falcon Crest (1982-1984, starring Robert Foxworth), and World War III (1982, with Robert O'Reilly, David Soul, Brian Keith, Rick Fitts, Jerry Hardin, Bob Minor, and Brad Blaisdell) and In Self Defense (1987, with Terry Lester, James McIntire, and Josh Cruze).
He died in Los Angeles, California on 23 June, 2020 at the age of 94. [1]