People (Births)

• 1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer.

People (Deaths)

• 1995 – Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (b. 1919).
• 2008 – Barry Morse, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918).

Brent Spiner

Brent Jay Spiner (born 02 February 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for Star Trek: Picard. In 1997, he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact, and was nominated in the same category for portraying Dr. Brackish Okun in Independence Day, a role he reprised in Independence Day: Resurgence. Spiner has also enjoyed a career in the theater and as a musician.

Donald Pleasence

Donald Henry Pleasence OBE (05 October 1919 to 02 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF Flight Lieutenant Colin Blythe in The Great Escape (1963), the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967), SEN 5241 in THX 1138 (1971), and the deranged Clarence “Doc” Tydon in Wake in Fright (1971).

Pleasence starred as psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis in Halloween (1978) and four of its sequels, a role for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor. The series’ popularity and critical success led to a resurgent career for Pleasence, who appeared in numerous American and European-produced horror and thriller films. He collaborated with Halloween director John Carpenter twice more, as the President of the United States in Escape from New York (1981), and as the Priest in Prince of Darkness (1987).

Second World War

In December 1939, Pleasence initially refused conscription into the British Armed Forces, registering as a conscientious objector, but changed his stance in autumn 1940, after the attacks upon London by the Luftwaffe, and volunteered with the Royal Air Force. He served as aircraft wireless-operator with No. 166 Squadron in Bomber Command, with which he flew almost sixty raids against the Axis over occupied Europe.

On 31 August 1944, his Lancaster NE112 was shot down during an attack on Agenville, and he was captured and imprisoned in the German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Luft I. Pleasence produced and acted in many plays for the entertainment of his fellow captives.

After the war and his release, he was discharged from the RAF in 1946.

Barry Morse

Herbert Morse (10 June 1918 to 02 February 2008), known professionally as Barry Morse, was a British-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio, best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999. His performing career spanned seven decades and he had thousands of roles to his credit, including work for the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.