Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Benjamin Sisko

8. He's Not Gabriel Bell?

Star Trek Deep Space Nine The Sisko
CBS Media Ventures

September 2024 will mark the real-time intersection of our lives with DS9's Past Tense. 

During the episode, Sisko takes the place of ill-fated Gabriel Bell when the historical figure is killed in a street brawl. What fans may not know is that the person portraying Bell in that scene is John Lendale Bennett who was not unfamiliar with Sisko. He was Avery Brooks' stand-in, photo double and stunt double. Bennett had also portrayed Klingon Kozak earlier in the third season The House of Quark and would go on to appear as another member of the warrior race in Apocalypse Rising. 

Bennett had first appeared back in The Next Generation's second season The Icarus Factor and was notably used for the desert scenes in DS9's Shadows and Symbols. Bennett would be hit by a taxi in Far Beyond the Stars and stunt double again for Brooks as Sisko in Rocks and Shoals.  While he would "not" portray Sisko in Past Tense, he would also stand in for Brooks during the fight scene in Q-Less where the station commander infamously stated that he was not Picard!

Over on Voyager Bennett acted as Tim Russ' stunt double. Sadly he passed away at the age of 54 in 2006 suffering a heart attack. 

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A Star Trek fan from birth, I love to dive into every aspect of the franchise in front and behind the screen. There's something here that's kept me interested for the best part of four decades! Now I'm getting back into writing and using Star Trek as my first line of literary attack. If I'm not here on WhatCulture then you're more than welcome to come and take a look at my blog, Some Kind of Star Trek at http://SKoST.co.uk or maybe follow me on Twitter as @TheWarpCore. Sometimes I force myself not to talk about Star Trek.