Everyone Is Wrong About This Star Trek Cameo
Star Trek is a franchise filled with cameos that range from film stars to astronauts to professional basketball players. Sometimes, the cameos are a bit more subtle: for example, in two early episodes of Deep Space Nine, Susan Bay played Admiral Rollman. Offscreen, Bay is the widow of Trek icon Leonard Nimoy, and while fans frequently think her husband helped get her the gig, the truth is that she landed this role thanks to her other surprising Star Trek connections.
Susan Bay’s Deep Space Nine Cameos
Before we talk about her Star Trek cameo, it’s important to review how Susan Bay got so enmeshed in the franchise in her personal life. Previously, she was married to Star Trek guest actor John Schuck, and Leonard Nimoy was previously married to Sandra Zober, mother of his two children. Bay divorced her first spouse in 1983 and Nimoy divorced his first spouse in 1987, leaving these two free to begin dating and ultimately get married in 1989.
Appeared Only Twice During The Show’s Run
The first Star Trek episode that Bay had a cameo appearance in was “Past Prologue.” In it, she played Admiral Rollman, a by-the-book Starfleet officer who gives Sisko a heads-up when Kira begins complaining about how the commander handled a recent asylum request. Later, Bay reprised this character for the episode “Whispers,” where she was now a Starbase commander who had a brief interaction with a replicant of Miles O’Brien.
Bay Is Best known As Nimoy’s Wife But That’s A Little Unfair
At the time that she made her first Star Trek cameos, many people assumed that she got the gig because she was married to Leonard Nimoy. Unfortunately, his fame cast a long shadow over his wife’s career, and even though she was an experienced director, producer, and Hollywood veteran in her own right, she was (as the Deep Space Nine Companion dutifully notes) best known as Nimoy’s wife. Because of that reputation and Nimoy’s own connection to the franchise, you might think his name helped her land the part, but that’s not the case.
Worked With DS9’s Casting Director Before
According to Susan Bay, one of the big reasons that she landed her Star Trek cameo is because she already had a good working relationship with Junie Lowry-Johnson. The latter woman was the casting director for Deep Space Nine at the time (which means you can thank her for some of your favorite performances and additions to the cast). Hollywood is like any other industry, and who you know sometimes remains more important than what you know.
Michael Bay’s Cousin
Susan Bay didn’t just know the casting director for the Star Trek spinoff…she also had a good working relationship with producer Rick Berman that stretched back many years. Being on good terms with these two major Star Trek decision-makers helped her ultimately snag the cameo she was going for. That meant that she didn’t have to call on any other Hollywood connections: as her name might have let you know, she is the cousin of famous Transformers director Michael Bay.
Being Married To Leonard Nimoy Didn’t Open Any Doors
As we noted before, Star Trek is a franchise filled with killer cameos, but Bay’s appearance in DS9 is the one cameo fans are always wrong about. Being the real-life wife to Spock (eat your green-blooded heart out, T’Pring!) didn’t open any doors for her, but knowing Rick Berman most certainly did. And while Bay only appeared in two episodes of Trek, she left an impression (a mind meld, if you will) that audiences will always remember, deep down inside our katras.
