Skip to footer

'Star Trek' director, co-star pay tribute to actor Anton Yelchin

Yelchin was likely best known for starring as Pavel Chekov, the young navigator on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, in the new 'Star Trek' films. 'He was a true artist – curious, beautiful, courageous,' 'Trek' co-star John Cho wrote of the actor.

|
Tony Gentile/Reuters
Anton Yelchin attends the Venice Film Festival in 2014.
  • By Kevin Murphy Reuters

Actor Anton Yelchin, best known for playing the young Russian starship navigator Chekov in the rebooted series of "Star Trek" movies, has died.

A number of actors and others who worked with Yelchin took to social media with tributes.

"Still in shock. Rest in peace, Anton," Justin Lin, who directed Yelchin in his third "Star Trek" movie, wrote on Twitter. "Your passion and enthusiasm will live on with everyone that had the pleasure of knowing you."

The Russian-born Yelchin was best known for assuming the role of Pavel Chekov, the young navigator on the bridge of the starship Enterprise, for the 2009 re-launch of the "Star Trek" film franchise and two sequels – 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness" and the upcoming "Star Trek Beyond," set to open on July 22.

The Chekov character was originally played on television in the 1960s "Star Trek" series, and in the first seven big-screen adaptations of the show, by Walter Koenig.

[An earlier version of this story misstated information about Koenig.]

"I loved Anton Yelchin so much," wrote John Cho, who played fellow Enterprise crew member Sulu in the new "Star Trek" films. "He was a true artist – curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins."

Yelchin was born in St. Petersburg, the son of two figure skaters, and emigrated to the United States as an infant.

He has appeared in numerous films and was in the TV series "Huff," starring Hank Azaria, who wrote on Twitter that he was devastated. "He was a very sweet kid. My heart goes out to his family."

Early in his career as a teenager, Yelchin gained wide attention appearing with Anthony Hopkins in the 2001 film "Hearts in Atlantis" and with Robin Williams in 2004's "House of D."

Yelchin played Jacob Clarke in the Steven Spielberg miniseries "Taken" and also appeared in the films "Terminator Salvation," "Charlie Bartlett," "Fright Night," "Like Crazy," and "Only Lovers Left Alive" between 2007 and 2013.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'Star Trek' director, co-star pay tribute to actor Anton Yelchin
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2016/0620/Star-Trek-director-co-star-pay-tribute-to-actor-Anton-Yelchin
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe