Gene Dynarski, ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Star Trek’ Actor, Dead at 86

Actor Gene Dynarski has died at the age of 86. The news was confirmed on Friday by playwright Ernest Kearney, who stated that Dynarski had died at a rehabilitation center in Los Angeles died on February 27, according to The Daily Mail. At this time, no cause of death was given.

While he had a storied career that spanned decades, Dynarski was likely best-remembered as Izzy Mandelbaum Jr. from the beloved sitcom Seinfeld. The veteran actor played the son Izzy Mandelbaum, who was played by Lloyd Bridges. Though he only appeared in two episodes, he made a lasting impression among the show’s expansive cast of supporting characters. Particularly “The English Patient,” where he attempts to show-up Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) by lifting up a hospital TV to prove a point, only to find out it’s been bolted down.

Dynarski started acting back in the early 1960s after landing a role in General Hospital back in 1963. He also appeared in the Batman series a few years later, where he played Benedict, one of the henchmen to Vincent Price’s Egghead. He also played two different roles in The Monkees and Mission: Impossible. He did the same when he appeared in the original Star Trek series, before playing a different character altogether in Star Trek: The Next Generation decades later. Other noteworthy series that Dynarski appeared in include CHiPs, The A-Team, Starsky and Hutch and Knots Landing.

While he wasn’t as prominent on the big-screen, he had a few noteworthy appearances in 70s disaster flicks like Airport 1975 and Earthquake. He also played a county clerk in the political drama All the President’s Men. Additionally, he had a small role in director Steven Spielberg’s 1971 debut feature, Duel, as well as his 1977 epic sci-fi spectacle Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Dynarski also dabbled briefly in videogames, playing Joseph Stalin in the 1996 title Command & Conquest: Red Alert. He’d previously played the former Soviet leader in a 1987 stage production Master Class. “You have a man of limited background, but a genius through his own efforts: of grit and pushing, getting behind the revolution and manipulating himself in,” Dynarski told the Los Angeles Times that year.

His Seinfeld appearances came near the end of his career. In 1999 he played Mr. Peterman in Boy Meets World, and bat victim Ernie Stefaniuk in a 2000 episode of The X-Files. His last credited role was in the 2003 short film, Apple Jack.