'Voyager' Guest Star Rocket Dies

Star Trek: Voyager guest star Charles Rocket, who played Jippeq in the episode "The Disease" has died of a self-inflicted injury.

CNN reported the death more than ten days after the actor's body was found in a field near his home. Rocket, who was 56 years old, had briefly been infamous for uttering an obscenity on Saturday Night Live in a spoof of Dallas' "Who Shot J.R.?" episode. He later dismissed along with other cast members from the show.

Rocket appeared in the sci-fi comedy Earth Girls are Easy and in Academy Award winner Dances With Wolves. His friend Chris Frantz from the band The Talking Heads said, "I know that Charlie had some pretty big disappointments in his life. The world of Hollywood movies and television can be pretty rough for a person."

StarTrek.com noted that the actor had played the commander of the Varro generational ship which Voyager encountered, inflaming xenophobic beliefs among the aliens. The official site noted other genre credits on Rocket's resume such as Scott Bakula's Quantum Leap, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and the video game Star Wars: Starfighter.

The Internet Movie Database lists over 50 TV guest appearances for Rocket, who was born in Bangor, Maine and died near his home in Canterbury, Connecticut. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.

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