Marj Dusay, ‘Star Trek’ Actress and Veteran Soap Opera Player, Dies at 83

Marj Dusay, who played an alien who stole Spock’s brain on Star Trek and worked on five daytime soap operas during her career, has died. She was 83.

Dusay died Tuesday of natural causes at her home in Manhattan, her son-in-law, David Blocker, announced. 

Dusay also portrayed the mother of Lisa Whelchel’s Blair Warner on NBC’s The Facts of Life and appeared opposite Gregory Peck as the wife of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in MacArthur (1977).

The Kansas native stepped in for the ailing Carolyn Jones as Myrna Clegg on CBS’ Capitol in 1983 and went on to play Pamela Capwell Conrad on NBC’s Santa Barbara, Vivian Alamain on NBC’s Days of Our Lives, the evil Vanessa Bennett on ABC’s All My Children and Alexandra Spaulding on CBS’ The Guiding Light.

Born Marjorie Mahoney on Feb. 20, 1936, she was raised in Russell, Kansas, and attended Kansas University. She began a modeling career in New York when she and her first husband, John Dusay, whom she married in 1956, moved there for his medical internship.

In Los Angeles, she became a member of The Session, an improvisational comedy troupe formed by Rob Reiner.

Dusay made her big-screen debut in the Elvis Presley movie Clambake (1967) and then appeared with Sandy Dennis in Sweet November (1968).

On the September 1968 Star Trek episode “Spock’s Brain,” which kicked off the show’s third and final season, Dusay’s Kara beams aboard the Enterprise, removes Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) brain and takes it with her to her planet.

The actress was memorable on the 1971 Odd Couple episode “What Does a Naked Lady Say to You?” when Oscar (Jack Klugman) discovers that her character, Felix’s (Tony Randall) new girlfriend, is performing in a nude play.

Dusay also appeared on dozens of other shows including Hogan’s Heroes, Mod Squad, Get Smart, Mannix, Phyllis, Barnaby Jones, Hart to Hart and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Survivors also include her daughter, Debra, granddaughter Deena and siblings Mary Ann, Kathleen and Timothy.

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