Eugene Dynarski, a prolific character actor of Polish ancestry, was born in Brooklyn and later moved to California in 1957 after serving in the U.S. Navy. He honed his craft at Los Angeles City College, Harbor College, and UCLA.
With the help of renowned casting director Lynn Stalmaster, Dynarski made his screen debut in 1963, often portraying characters of Slavic background, such as Pollick, Barmak, Krodak, or Kowalski. He had a knack for playing villains, which he made even more menacing with his calm but intense demeanor.
Dynarski's notable roles include portraying Stalin to critical acclaim on stage in 1987's "Master Class" and providing the dictator's voice for the 1996 video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert. He also appeared in both the original Star Trek series in 1966 and Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, playing a starbase commander.
A regular contributor to the science fiction genre, Dynarski played a variety of roles, including Benedict, the henchman of Egghead in Batman (1966),a sea centaur in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964),a malevolent prison warden in Land of the Giants (1968),and an ill-fated hunter in The X-Files (1993) who falls victim to a bat-human hybrid monster.
Dynarski also had small parts in Steven Spielberg's productions Duel (1971) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). In 1979, he established the Gene Dynarski Theater near Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, which operated until the 1990s. After retiring from screen acting in 2003, Dynarski left behind a legacy of memorable performances.
