Richard Herd, Jr. (born September 26, 1932) is an American character actor in television and film. He is well known in the science fiction community for his role in the 1983 NBC mini-series V and the 1984 sequel V: The Final Battle, as John, the Visitors' Supreme Commander. Other major genre roles include recurring parts on the NBC series seaQuest DSV as Admiral William Noyce, and on Star Trek: Voyager as Admiral Owen Paris, the father of Tom Paris. In two guest appearances on Quantum Leap, he played children's show host "Captain Galaxy" (Moe Stein), a would-be time traveler, and a miner named Ziggy Ziganovich. Herd has appeared at a number of fan conventions on the basis of his science fiction roles.
Herd was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Katherine and Richard Herd Snr., who was a train engineer. He made his film debut in Hercules in New York (1970), and at one point served as 3rd National Vice President of the Screen Actors Guild. Herd's first major film role was in the thriller The China Syndrome alongside Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, where he played the character Evan McCormick, the corrupt Chairman of the California Gas & Electric Board. This role helped make him well-known outside of the United States.
Outside of science fiction, he was a regular as Captain Dennis Sheridan on T.J. Hooker from 1982 to 1985, and appeared on Seinfeld as Mr. Wilhelm, George Costanza's boss at the Yankees. Guest appearances included The Rockford Files, Starsky and Hutch, Quantum Leap, The A-Team, NYPD Blue, and JAG.
3rd. National Vice President of the Screen Actors Guild.
Often mistaken for actor Karl Malden.
