Jeffrey Combs

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Jeffrey Combs
Combs (right) in 2007
Born	Jeffrey Alan Combs September 9, 1954 (1954-09-09) (age 55) Oxnard, California, U.S.

Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.

Early life

Combs was born in Oxnard, California and raised in Lompoc, California. He attended Santa Maria's Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, and later developed his acting skills in the Professional Actor's Training Program at the University of Washington.

After spending several years performing in playhouses all along the West Coast, Combs moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and landed his first role in the 1981 feature film, Honky Tonk Freeway, in which he played an unnamed drive-in teller. His first horror film role came two years later in the 1983 film Frightmare, which set the path for the much of his career in the genre.

Career

Combs' best known horror role was as Dr. Herbert West, the main character in the movie Re-Animator, which he has reprised in the film's two sequels. The role has also made him somewhat of a sex symbol.^{[citation needed]} He also portrayed the part of author H. P. Lovecraft (creator of the Herbert West character) in the film Necronomicon: Book of the Dead. Combs has starred in seven H.P. Lovecraft adaptations with the upcoming remake of Lovecraft's tale 'Dunwich Horror' on the way to make eight. Producer Brian Yuzna, along with director Stuart Gordon and writer Dennis Paoli had planned a possible fourth film, entitled 'House of Re-Animator', that would reunite the original Re-Animator cast of Combs, Bruce Abbott, and Barbara Crampton and was set in a fictionalized Bush era White House. This would have been the possible first of a new trilogy that included 'Re-animator Unbound' and 'Re-Animator Begins'. Other film credits include FeardotCom (2002), House on Haunted Hill (1999), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) and Dark House.^[1]

On television, Combs enjoyed critical and popular success playing alien characters on the various modern Star Trek incarnations, beginning in 1994 with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in 2000 with Star Trek: Voyager, and in 2001 with Star Trek: Enterprise. Even Trek fans unfamiliar with Combs' human face immediately recognized him due to his distinctive voice. Ironically, this distinctive voice Combs uses in all his screen roles is not his natural speaking voice but rather an affected one, as evidenced by interviews and commentaries on various DVDs of his film and television appearances. Combs originally auditioned for the role of Commander William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but lost out to Jonathan Frakes, though producers kept him in mind for casting in the later series.

His largest science-fiction role to date has been his multi-episode, multi-season appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Vorta clone Weyoun. On the same series, he had a recurring role as the Ferengi Brunt. During the DS9 episode "The Dogs of War", Combs appeared as both Weyoun and Brunt, making Trek history as the first guest actor to play two unrelated recurring roles in the same episode.

On Star Trek: Enterprise Combs had a very popular recurring role as Shran, an Andorian military officer. Shran represents a dramatic shift in character type for Combs, as his three previous Star Trek incarnations, Weyoun, Brunt and Penk, had all been somewhat passive officials, whereas Shran is a more heatedly aggressive leader. Enterprise producer Manny Coto once mentioned in an interview that he hoped to make Combs a regular on the show, had the series been renewed for a fifth season.^{[citation needed]} In addition, Combs made some non-recurring appearances, including Officer Kevin Mulkahey^[2] and Tiron on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Penk on Star Trek: Voyager, and the Ferengi Krem in Star Trek: Enterprise. He also had a cameo as a patron in Vic's Lounge in the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, along with many other actors, writers, and creators of the show. Combs has played nine onscreen roles in the Star Trek universe, as well as voicing Romulan Commander Suldok for the video game, "Star Trek: Elite Force II."

Beyond the Star Trek franchise, Combs has had roles in many other science fiction series. He starred as the telepath Harriman Gray, in "Eyes" (1994), a first season episode of Babylon 5. In August 2005, he appeared for the first time on the science fiction series The 4400 as Dr. Kevin Burkhoff; by 2006, this became a recurring role. In early 2007, he played a highly-fictionalized Edgar Allan Poe in "The Black Cat", an episode of Masters of Horror.^[3] With his feet in both the horror and science-fiction worlds, as well as outside the two popular genres, Combs enjoys a diverse and varied fanbase.

Combs has done extensive voice work; among others, Combs voiced The Scarecrow in the 1997 "revamp" of Batman: The Animated Series. Combs continued his work in the DCAU several years later, with a recurring role as The Question in Justice League Unlimited. His version of the Question was well-regarded by both fans and the JLU writing staff and is credited for reviving interest in the character.

In July 2009, Combs returned to his stage roots and reprised his role as Edgar Allan Poe in a one-man theatrical show entitled Nevermore...an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe[1] at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Although only supposed to run for a month, the show enjoyed much success and sold-out crowds, and was extended four times. Nevermore as it is now simply known, will close its run in Los Angeles on December 19, 2009. An East Coast tour of the show in 2010 is now in the planning stage.

On September 11, 2001, a man named Jeffrey Coombs (note the extra 'o' in the last name) was aboard hijacked American Airlines Flight 11, which was later crashed into the World Trade Center. Having been confused with the passenger on the jet, Combs the actor was pronounced dead by news media outlets and had to announce publicly that he was still alive.^[4]

Filmography

Television works

(Star Trek and The 4400 credits separate)

References

Further reading

Voisin, Scott, "Character Kings: Hollywood's Familiar Faces Discuss the Art & Business of Acting." BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN 9-781593-933425.

External links

• Official website
• Jeffrey Combs at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeffrey Combs at Allmovie
• Jeffrey Combs at TV.com
• Jeffrey Combs at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• The Combs Corner