Hartley: Schtupping Spock

Mariette Hartley‘s role as Zarabeth in the original series episode All Our Yesterdays is still a fan favorite, and the actress remembers her guest appearance very well, even forty-odd-years later.

But Hartley is surprised that she’s not the only one who remembers the role after so many years. “[People are] still fascinated by [Zarabeth],” she said, after attending last summer’s Creation Entertainment Official Star Trek Convention. “I’m just so stunned. I go there and it’s like going to a foreign country, with so many people in different costumes, dressed as different characters. I’ve met a few Borg, actually. It’s so bizarre and wonderful, and I kept thinking, ‘Are they going to have things like this for Grey’s Anatomy in 20 years?’ This has such a very special heat, still, to it.”

Speaking of heat, what about that heat between Zarabeth and Spock? “But when you kiss Spock, I mean, come on!” said Hartley. “I remember De Kelley. I remember the whole thing vividly. I remember taking off that huge coat, the fur coat, and people going, ‘Oh, wow.’ I had no idea that I had a figure. I come from Connecticut. I had no idea what sexuality was. I was doing Shakespeare.”

Part of what attracted Hartley to the role was what happened between Zarabeth and Spock. “When I did my episode, I just loved the script,” she said, “loved the idea that this strange man (Spock) was finally going to be schtupped and I was going to be the one to do it, and that I was going to be the one to teach him how to not be a vegetarian. So I loved the idea.”

Hartley is still acting and has been a recurring character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She also will be performing on the stage in January, at the Cleveland Play House where she will play the mother of Alfred Lunt in a comedy titled Ten Chimneys.

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