Ralph Senensky, Director on ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Waltons,’ Dies at 102

Ralph Senensky, the prolific TV director who called the shots for the emotional return of Ellen Corby on The Waltons, the three-part pilot for Dynasty and, before he was fired, 6 1/2 episodes of the original Star Trek, has died. He was 102.

Senensky died Saturday in a hospital in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, his niece, costume designer Lisa Lupo-Silvas, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was 100 precent sharp until the end,” she said. “He may have been 102, but he had a mind like he was 30.”

The Iowa native also helmed multiple episodes of Dr. Kildare, Naked City, 12 O’Clock High, The Fugitive, The F.B.I., Ironside, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Dan August, Nanny and the Professor, The Partridge Family, Barnaby Jones, Insight, Hart to Hart and The Paper Chase.

And in 1963 for the ABC medical drama Breaking Point, he handled one of the earliest gay storylines for television.

Among Star Trek fans, Senensky is synonymous…