R.I.P. Robert Walker Jr., Charlie from Star Trek's ''Charlie X'' and Jack from ''Easy Rider''

The actor, best known for his turn as a teenager with powers on Star Trek, was 79 years old.

Robert Walker Jr. is most frequently remembered for his role on the original series of Star Trek in the episode "Charlie X". Charlie, played by Walker with utter sincerity, is a teenager who has spent the past fourteen years utterly alone after being the sole survivor of a ship crash. He's taken aboard the Enterprise en route for a human colony, and is soon revealed to have reality-bending powers and a vicious dislike of anyone who "doesn't like him". 

"Charlie X" was only the second episode of Star Trek and set the tone for much of the series. It was the only episode that Gene Roddenberry appeared in (uncredited, as a voice exclaiming that his turkey-shaped meatloaf had inexpilcably turned into turkeys). Walker is considered one of the best guest stars on the series and his performance of Charlie as naïve and easily corrupted by power is one that stays with you.

Charlie develops an obsession with Yeoman Rand

Walker also appeared on other classic TV shows. On Bonanza, he played Mark Cole on the episode "The Gentle Ones", about an animal-loving cowboy who must stand up to his older brother. That wasn't the only time he played a cowboy— he played opposite John Wayne in the film The War Wagon.

Walker and John Wayne in Walker and John Wayne in ''The War Wagon''

In 1969 he appeared in the film Easy Rider as one of the hippies living in the commune that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda pass through.

The actor was 79 years old when he passed on December 5, 2019.

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12 Comments

TheDavBow3 44 months ago
"Charlie X" was a great ST episode. My favorite thing Rober Walker, Jr did was "Ensign Pulver". A great movie! Underrated actor. Boy, wasn't he the spitting image of his Dad. R.I.P.
rharper 57 months ago
He also appeared in an episode of The Big Valley.
texasluva 58 months ago
Oh I remember him in War Wagon (John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Robert Walker Jr.) now. He was the one to set up the Nitro for blowing up the bridge and things. This was funny at the end because they got the gold but had a problem and it blew all over the place and the Indians thought it was flour and picked it up. Kirk Douglas was in it and mad cause he wanted his share. One to watch if given the chance.
DuanneWalton 58 months ago
I spent days processing the turkey shaped meatloaf. I'm glad Charlie turned them into real turkeys and the cook should've been too! R.I.P.
Pacificsun 58 months ago
Been watching ST:TOS from the beginning of time. Endless reruns. Including this one, would skip over many episodes, favoring the most popular. Then started watching each one individually. ST writers were good at several levels of entertainment. Action / suspense, imagination / fantasy. Much technical (craft talent). But the message was always fundamental. Aimed at different generations. The misunderstood adolescent, not just ignored but ridiculed. Kirk's rejection as father figure. Spock's disinterested detachment. Bone's failure in psychological intervention. Yeoman Rand's frightened, unkindness. The boy was shunted at all levels of interaction. Making you wonder how many of the youth today, can identify. ST (because of it's dated styling) is often discounted, yet was very much ahead of its own time.
texasluva Pacificsun 58 months ago
I was saddened when read he had passed on. I remember the Star Trek episode and also read about his father after watching Strangers On A Train. He died very young. It was a strange story Just a year or so after that wonderful movie. Someone reported that he was acting strange (he had numerous health problems). A doctor came over and wanted to give Robert Walker a dose of medicine via shot. He refused saying he was fine. His friend more or less held him down while the doctor proceeded to give him a lethal injection of amobarbital (barbiturate). With the alcohol in his system he became unconscious and died. He was only 32. Jr. looked just like his dad.
teire 58 months ago
He looked so much like his father, who was terrific in Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train (Marion Lorne/Aunt Clara on Bewitched played his mother in that one). Both father and son displayed a vulnerable charm in many of their performances. Condolences.
ETristanBooth teire 58 months ago
I'm a fan of both Star Trek and Hitchcock, but I never paid attention to this young man's real name. It was only today that I realized he was Robert Walker's son, and you can definitely see it in the eyes.
Flamingo 58 months ago
As a tribute to him, you folks there should air the 'Charlie X' episode tomorrow night.
bbMeTv 58 months ago
R.I.P. I've only seen him in the Star Trek episode. There, he looked very much like a classmate I had in college. That episode always reminds me of the classmate.
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