Robert Ellenstein (born June 18, 1923 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American stage, television and film actor.
The son of a Newark dentist, Robert Ellenstein grew up in that New Jersey city and saw his father go on to become its two-term mayor. He served in the Air Corps during World War II: earning a Purple Heart during his service, he began acting, directing and teaching in Cleveland, Ohio. A veteran of the "Golden Age" of live TV (he played Qua...
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Robert Ellenstein (born June 18, 1923 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American stage, television and film actor.
The son of a Newark dentist, Robert Ellenstein grew up in that New Jersey city and saw his father go on to become its two-term mayor. He served in the Air Corps during World War II: earning a Purple Heart during his service, he began acting, directing and teaching in Cleveland, Ohio. A veteran of the "Golden Age" of live TV (he played Quasimodo in a live Robert Montgomery Presents (1950) version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), Ellenstein made his first film in 1954 (MGM's Rogue Cop). In 1961, he played the mobster Legs Diamond in an episode of NBC's 1920s crime drama The Lawless Years with James Gregory.
He also tried directing television with an episode of the 1960s situation comedy, Love on a Rooftop with Judy Carne. Ellenstein is still working in TV and regional theater. He played the Federation President in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
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