[1] He graduated from Pittsburg Senior High School in 1964 then from the University of San Francisco in 1967.
He served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War era.
Along with Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Mark Lenard, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Armin Shimerman and John de Lancie he is one of only a few actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series.
He created roles in the off-Broadway productions of Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey and Christopher Durang's Why Torture Is Wrong... and the People Who Love Them.
He provided narration for the audiobook version of Cormac McCarthy's novels Blood Meridian, The Crossing and Suttree, as well as Dan Brown's Angels & Demons.