Frank Sinatra still remains one of the world’s most popular and commercially successful music artists, but he was a Star Trek fan just like the rest of us. At least, that’s according to Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart, who was amazed by Sinatra’s obsession with the sci-fi series.
The actor behind one of the most famous Star Trek captains explained it all in a recent appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show, where he was speaking about the recent Star Trek series Picard. “When I learned several years ago that one of our biggest fans, who never missed a show, was Frank Sinatra…” the actor paused, mimicking his stunned amazement.
The actor then explained that he learned about Sinatra’s love of Star Trek through a mutual connection with a hairdresser who shared that the singer “watches every single show that we make and loves every moment of it”.
Sinatra’s love for Star Trek was so intense that the singer was even offered a role in Star Trek Deep Space Nine. The Star Trek character Vic Fontaine, a holodeck creation, was intended to be played by the legend. However, Sinatra turned it down because he wanted to play an alien instead.
That never happened, sadly, and remains a huge missed opportunity. He would have joined the likes of Iggy Pop and Mick Fleetwood from the band Fleetwood Mac, who both had cameo roles across the show. Still, with Vic Fontaine essentially being a facsimile of Sinatra, he remains immortalized within the series, in a way.
Legendary musicians aside, Hollywood is packed full of Star Trek fans. Tom Hanks, Mila Kunis, Robin Williams, and Daniel Craig all harbored a love for the many Star Trek movies and shows, and Whoopi Goldberg only got her role in the Star Trek The Next Generation cast because she begged creator Gene Roddenberry for a role due to how much she loved the original series with Shatner and Nimoy.
Now, go find out our picks for the best Star Trek starships before finding out which Star Trek captains would survive a zombie apocalypse.