employed nearly forty actors. The play premiered successfully in 1986, and is still performed today at various theaters, drama workshops and colleges. Acting career While serving as artistic director of the Melrose Theater, Kent also acted in many of its plays, and continued acting in film and television. One of Kent's acting appearances in the 1970s was a small part in the television miniseries Helter Skelter. The part was notable because Kent later played a different character in the 2004 adaptation directed by John Gray. Gray later bought Kent back to play a spirit in the episode "Mended Hearts", of his TV seriesGhost Whisperer. In addition, Kent often played different characters in multiple episodes of a series, including his appearances in Lou Grant, T. J. Hooker and Falcon Crest. In 1982, Kent portrayed Commander Beach, the helmsman and third-in-command of the Starship USS Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. When the ill-fated starship was commandeered by Ricardo Montalban's Khan, the character of Beach would be marooned on a desolate planet along with the majority of the ship's crew until rescued by the USS Enterprise. In 1987 Kent played Harry M. Daugherty in a biographical TV movie of J. Edgar Hoover, produced by Showtime. In 1999, he became the third actor to play the character of Doctor Noel Clinton in Port Charles, a spinoff of General Hospital, succeeding actors Dean Harens and Ron Husmann. He had a lead starring role as the character of Miles Mason in Viagra Falls, a television pilot. One of his final acting roles was his portrayal of Mack Sennett in Return to Babylon, an independent film released in 2013. In 1975, Kent reflected on his craft to Los Angeles Times reporter Lawrence Christon: Personal life Kent was the father of several children. At the time of his death he was married to actress and author Madelyn Cain. Death Kent died on October 7, 2011, six days before his 81st birthday, in Hollywood Hills, California from multiple myeloma. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. Partial filmography Film Television References External links Obituary - Variety 1930 births 2011 deaths American male film actors American people of Italian descent American male soap opera actors American male television actors Male actors from New York City Deaths from multiple myeloma Deaths from cancer in California People from Brooklyn 20th-century American male actors 21st-century