Ralph Senensky, a television director and screenwriter best known for his work on The Waltons, Star Trek, and The Partridge Family, has passed away. He was 102.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Senensky died on Saturday at a hospital in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. His niece, costume designer Lisa Lupo-Silvas, confirmed the news. “He was 100 percent sharp until the end,” she explained. “He may have been 102, but he had a mind like he was 30.”
Born on May 1, 1923, in Mason City, Iowa, Ralph Senensky started his directing career in 1940. However, he was drafted into World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served in Belgium.
Following Robert Butler’s 2023 death, Seneksy was the last surviving person to direct an episode of Star Trek, which he did in 1966. He directed 12 episodes of The Waltons over five years, starting in 1973. His most well-known episode was Grandma Comes Home, which was the sixth-season finale.
Although he retired in 1988, Senensky continued to do small stints in theatre production and in film shorts.
He is survived by his niece.
Ralph Senensky Once Opened Up About First Being Approached to Direct ‘Star Trek’
During a 2012 interview with StarTrek.com, Ralph Senensky recalled being approached for the first time to direct Star Trek.
“They sent me the script for ‘The Devil in the Dark,'” he recalled. “It was a script by Gene Coon. I knew Gene because I’d directed two episodes of Wild Wild West, which he produced.”
After the holiday season, Senensky headed to the studio, where he was presented with a different script, which was for the episode titled “This Side of Paradise.”
“They said they’d switched the episodes. I never knew why they switched,” he said. “I wondered at the time – and later, too—if maybe Joe Pevney had been assigned to it and didn’t like it. That was just a thought that had come to mind.”
Noting what really stood out from the shooting, Sevensky said, “One of them was Jerry Finnerman, the cameraman, who was marvelous. I liked the fact that so much of it was done on location. I had broken into location work doing Route 66 and Naked City, and I liked that.”
He then added, “I liked working on a soundstage, but I really did like getting outside, and ‘This Side of Paradise’ just adapted well to being out in the terrain we found to do it.”