Not every well-known actor from the TV side of the Star Trek franchise has been a leading member of a show’s cast. Oftentimes people who recur on one or even more of these series will leave distinct impressions on the fans thanks to the colorful characters they’re bringing to life on the small screen. Gary Graham was one of those actors, having recurred across Star Trek: Enterprise during its four-season run as Ambassador Soval, amongst his many other credits. Unfortunately, it’s been announced that Graham is no longer with us, having died at the age of 73.
This news was shared by Susan Lavelle, Graham’s ex-wife, on Facebook, with her revealing that he passed away on Monday with his wife Becky by his side. Graham is also survived by his daughter with Lavelle, Haylee Graham, who, like her mother, is “devastated” by Graham’s passing. Lavelle did not reveal the cause of death, but after going over how she met Graham and listed some of his positive attributes, she concluded her post with these words:
Fly high into the heavens Gar! Thank you for our journey and thank you for the gifts you left me in acting, my love of horses and most importantly, our daughter.
Born on June 6, 1950, Gary Graham began his acting career in the mid-1970s, with his early credits including movies like Hardcore, The Hollywood Knights and All the Right Moves, and guest spots on TV shows like Eight is Enough, Starsky & Hutch, The Incredible Hulk, CHiPs and The Dukes of Hazzard. By 1989, his career got a boost through the sci-fi series Alien Nation, which was adapted from the same-named 1988 movie starring James Caan. In the show, Graham played Detective Matt Sikes, who investigated crimes with his alien partner, Eric Pierpoint’s George Francisco. Although Alien Nation was cancelled after just one 22-episode season, five TV movies followed between 1994 and 1997.
By 1995, one year after the superhero series M.A.N.T.I.S., in which he played Captain Ken Hetrick, was cancelled after one season too, Gary Graham left his first stamp on the Star Trek franchise by playing Tanis in the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Cold Fire.” Six years later, though, he scored his significantly more well-known Trek role of Soval, the Vulcan ambassador who represented his homeworld’s interests to Earth’s Starfleet Command during Star Trek: Enterprise. Soval placed T’Pol (who later inspired Lower Decks’ T’Lyn and is arguably worthy of leading her own spinoff show) aboard Captain Jonathan Archer’s crew on the USS Enterprise NX-01, and while he frequently clashed with Archer during Enterprise’s early episodes, the two later developed a friendlier relationship.
Graham appeared in 12 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, and while that marked his last time officially contributing to the franchise, a few years later, he played Ragnar in the fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, then later reprised the role in fellow fan productions Prelude to Axanar and Star Trek: Renegades, another fan production. Outside of Star Trek, the latter portion of Graham’s career included appearing in six episodes of JAG as separate characters Captain Tobias Ingles and Captain Gary Hochausen, as well as movies and TV shows like Demon Protocol, Jeepers Creepers: Reborn, Walker, Texas Ranger, Crossing Jordan and Nip/Tuck.
CinemaBlend extends its condolences to Gary Graham’s family and friends for the loss of their loved one. If you’d like to revisit his work as Soval on Star Trek: Enterprise, that show can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription.
