William Shatner acted alongside two of his daughters in Star Trek's ''Miri''

Two Starfleet officers were named after his children, too.

For those who love Trek trivia, "Miri" packs in a lot of easter eggs. For starters, the first-season Star Trek episode filmed its outdoor scenes on the Desilu Forty Acres backlot, best recognized as downtown Mayberry. Seeing an apocalyptic view of Sherif Andy's hometown is a treat. 

"Miri" also happened to be a family affair. Kirk, Spock, Bones and Janice Rand beam down to a planet populated by children. Lots of young actors were needed to fill the costumes and scenes. Well, "young." Lead guest star Kim Darby was 19 at the time. Michael J. Pollard was pushing 30. But many of the other adolescents in the show were relations of the cast and creator.

Scott Whitney, son of Grace Lee Whitney (Rand), had a tiny role. Dawn and Darleen Roddenberry were also part of the "Onlies." It must have been bring your child to work day, because William Shatner acted alongside two of his daughters, Leslie and Lisabeth. (Fun fact: Another of the kids, the one in the Army helmet, was Phil Morris, son of Mission: Impossible star Greg Morris. Phil would years later play Lt. John Kelly on Star Trek: Voyager.)

The Everett CollectionShatner playing with daughters Leslie (left) and Lisabeth (right), and dog Morgan, in 1965.

Lisabeth is the easiest to spot — dad picks her up and carries her in his arms. She wears green pants and has the lighter hair.

The elder brunette Leslie sports bangs in her hair like her kid sister. She is costumed in green and purple sequins, making her easier to spot. Up top, she is standing in front of Dawn Roddenberry.

Contrary to some sources, Melanie Shatner does not appear in "Miri." She was only two at the time. If you're wondering, Leonard Nimoy opted to not include his children in the episode, wanting to shield them from showbiz.

This is not the only way Shatner's daughters made an impact on the Original Series. Two Starfleet characters were named in their honor.

Lemli (left) and Leslie (right) were named after Shatner's children.

First, most obviously, there was Lt. Leslie (Eddie Paskey). Another Redshirt, Roger Lemli (Roger Holloway) was named as a combination of LEslie, Melanie and LIsabeth!

See? Star Trek is truly a family show.

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20 Comments

JasonIrelan 39 months ago
Jackson Deforest Kelley didn’t have any kids in the episode?
Hogansucks1 47 months ago
I’ll bet behind the scenes and shooting, who ever was in charge of child care, was pulling their hair out !! 🤪. Interesting fact about Leonard Nimoy’s decision not to involve his children, I wonder if his children ever got wind of that at that time? And if they did, how did they respond? 🧐 😂
ELEANOR 51 months ago
One of William Shatner's daughters apparently became not thrilled about acting halfway through the episode and wanted to quit. But, obviously, that was not an option. Daddy had to put his foot down.
Hogansucks1 ELEANOR 47 months ago
With probably many of those actors/Desilu family members participants had the same experience 😂 🤪. ‘Boy Oh Boy’
Mirramanee 51 months ago
Stephen McEveety was also in that episode. Stephen is the cousin of Vincent McEveety, who directed several episodes of Star Trek, including, of course, Miri. As an adult, he now works as a film producer and done very well, too.
daDoctah 51 months ago
Okay, Phil Morris may have returned to Trekdom on Star Trek: Voyager, but most people know him best as attorney Jackie Chiles (a parody of Johnny Cochran) on "Seinfeld". (I know a lot about Phil because I discovered he and I were born on the same day.)
Ilovelalaw daDoctah 50 months ago
I first saw Phil Morris in the 1980s reboot of "Mission: Impossible" but the role that I most remember him for is that of Eddie Brock on "WIOU" a much missed show (at least by me!) that unfortunately only ran for 14 episodes (two more were apparently made but never shown). MeTV, please run this show or call upon any of your sister stations (at least ones on Comcast in southeastern Pennsylvania/Philadelphia) to run it. And the same goes for another show that I loved, which unfortunately ran against "WIOU", "Equal Justice". I'd give my eye teeth to see those two shows again. Also, as you probably can tell from my username, I'm a huge fan of "LA Law" and would love to see that one again.
Hogansucks1 daDoctah 47 months ago
“I didn’t tell you to put the ‘BALM’ on”!!!!!! 😂
gracie200 51 months ago
I read an article once about Grace Lee Whitney and it said that she had two daughters in that episode - and that was all it said. The article apparently got that very wrong since this article states it was her son; and the other article said nothing about William, Gene, & Greg's children being in it at all. Someone in that other article did not do their homework....shame on them. The article was about her struggles with alcoholism and various other things I don't remember - I wonder if they got that stuff wrong too.
ELEANOR gracie200 51 months ago
Even though I watched the Original Star Trek when it originally on, and also many reruns, I never really remember Grace Lee Whitney appearing.
Hogansucks1 gracie200 47 months ago
Maybe it WAS from the Romulan Ale ?? 😂
Mirramanee ELEANOR 37 months ago
How could you not recall Grace Lee Whitney?? She was a very strikingly lovely woman and she played a pretty big role in Miri.
ELEANOR Mirramanee 36 months ago
For the most part, actors really are not really acting but just projecting themselves. You can tell this when actors appear on game shows and you can see what they are really like. Willam Shatner said that for Capt. Kirk, he just did the character as his normal self. So Grace Lee Whitney, while she was appearing on Star Trek, was in a bad place in her personal life. Eventually, she was unable to function on the set and they had to write her out. I heard that later on she was able to recover. So I think that came through in her character, that she just didn't look comfortable. Also, they filmed on a tight schedule and if you flub your lines or you show up late on the set, that also comes through in your acting.
Pacificsun 51 months ago
So this is just a FYI kind of story then?

I think most TREK TOS fans know.
DeborahRoberts Pacificsun 51 months ago
Some of us enjoy the FYI stories. Those who don't could just skip them.
MrsPhilHarris Pacificsun 51 months ago
Oh I love fyi stories! I don't watch Star Trek but I always read these tidbits.
Pacificsun DeborahRoberts 51 months ago
The comment was more of a hint to the staff writers. Meaning that with all the research they've been doing lately on favored series, it might've been interesting to read (taken from an interview or a behind-the-scenes book) what their personal memories are. Surely as children their own experience would be a fascinating tidbit.
MrsPhilHarris Pacificsun 51 months ago
The are probably super young and never saw it as kids.
MrsPhilHarris Pacificsun 51 months ago
That should be "they" not "the". I need an edit option!
Mirramanee MrsPhilHarris 37 months ago
The slightly older kids would likely have seen it. For the younger ones, I would think it was a nice little treat to watch themselves on camera (even if only for a couple of minutes) on such an iconic show. I know I would love to have been part of something like that.
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