Malachi Throne

Throne was born in New York City to Austro-Hungarian and Russian Jewish parents, Samuel and Rebecca Throne, who emigrated to America before World War II.^[2] He was raised in The Bronx, and first appeared on stage at the age of ten in 1939 in the New York Parks Department production of Tom Sawyer as Huckleberry Finn.^[3]

He attended Brooklyn College,^[4] and he served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.^[5][6]

Throne was a guest star on many television series of the 1960s and 1970s, including Mr. Novak (four episodes), The Defenders, Naked City, The Wild Wild West, Ben Casey, The Untouchables, GE True, Combat!, The Fugitive, Laredo (1966 as Finnegan in the episode "Finnegan"), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Four-Steps Affair" from 1965), Mannix (as Inspector Frank Kyler in the 1967 episode, "Run Sheep Run"), The High Chaparral, Hogan's Heroes, Babylon 5 ( "The Coming of Shadows" ) and Lost in Space. He also played the character Sandifer in the 1964 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Simple Simon".

He co-starred with Robert Wagner in the TV series It Takes a Thief. Throne was a favorite actor of TV producer Irwin Allen; he appeared in numerous roles in Allen's series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, and Lost in Space, often as several different characters in the same series. Throne played in two episodes of Mission: Impossible during seasons one and four as two different characters. Earlier in The Outer Limits TV series ("Cold Hands, Warm Heart", 1964) he appeared with William Shatner.

His film career was not as prolific as his television work, though he did have roles in films such as The Young Lovers (1964), Beau Geste (1966), Code Name: Heraclitus (1967), Assault on the Wayne (1971), The Greatest (1977), Stunts (1977) and Primary Motive (1992). He also had a small role in the 2002 film Catch Me if You Can.^[5]

Throne lived in Southern California, and he did much local theater work there. He was a member of the Theater West company in Hollywood. He also won critical acclaim for several performances with the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. Much earlier in his career, he had appeared briefly on Broadway (as Mal Thorne) in Reginald Lawrence's Legend of Lizzie and other plays.^[5]

Throne was a national television spokesman for Ziebart in several advertising campaigns throughout the 1970s. He also narrated the 1976 trailer for the film Star Wars (1977).^[9]

Throne was married to Judith Merians from 1965 to 1992, and Marjorie Bernstein from 1992 until his death. He and Merians have two children: Zachary Throne (born 1967) and Josh Throne (born 1969).

Throne died of lung cancer at his home in Brentwood, California on March 13, 2013, at the age of 84.^[5]

In 1980, Throne provided the voice-over narration for a vinyl record soundtrack version of the Star Wars sequel film, The Empire Strikes Back.^[11] In 1999, he provided the narration for rock band Powerman 5000’s album Tonight the Stars Revolt!.