Yvonne Craig on “Whom Gods Destroy”

Yvonne Craig played the Orion woman Marta in “Whom Gods Destroy.” She shared her memories of the role in a 1989 interview with Starlog.

Susan [Oliver] and I were supposed to be from the same planet. Only they couldn’t remember how they got Susan green in the first season episode – they somehow had lost the makeup. So, they had to devise a substitute formula. I had skid marks because the makeup wouldn’t stay on. Then, they sprayed me with Liquid Bandage, which has to be removed with acetone, so my skin was all burned – I was a walking disaster. When you perspire, Liquid Bandage won’t stick, so here I was, walking around with moss hanging from my armpits. It was just hideous. I would take two showers at the studio, then go home and take an oil bath, and then take another shower to get the remainder of it off. Then, I would start all over again the next day. 

…Three weeks later, I still had traces of green makeup in the cuticles of my toes – I couldn’t get it out.



Turns out she also had a bit of a hard time with her co-star:

[William Shatner] wasn’t as warm a person. He was tired of the green makeup because it was marking up his clothes. We were supposed to shoot a love scene, and he was getting pissy that I wasn’t allowed to touch him because he didn’t want any makeup on his costume. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to do a love scene with him if I can’t touch him?’ So, I figured I would just play with his hair a little – surely the makeup wouldn’t show up in his hair. One night I go in to say goodnight to everyone and Shatner is standing there with his hair in his hand – I didn’t know he wore a toupee! And I’m thinking, ‘Damn! Now, he won’t let me touch his hair either!’

…We shot the scene bathed in different colored lights, mainly green, so that if I left skidmarks on him, you wouldn’t be able to see them.

…I found him to be a very selfish actor…He also had a tendency to direct other actors in a scene. That’s OK if you’re the director, but he wasn’t – he was the lead. I was really annoyed with him. If he wanted to direct us, he should’ve gone through the director. I found it rude and very unprofessional.

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