Remembering Bruce Hyde, Star Trek's Lt. Riley

Professor Bruce Hyde died on October 13, after battling throat cancer for years. He was 74.

Bruce Hyde played many roles. He acted on broadway and on a number of network shows. He was the Artistic Director for Theatre L’Homme Dieu, where he helped hundreds of young actors hone their craft. He was a professor of Mass Communication at Saint Cloud State University. He authored many books and academic papers.

But the one role students always asked about was Lt. Kevin Riley, the troubled young officer aboard Captain Kirk's Enterprise. Hyde appeared onscreen twice during the original series' three year run. His first appearance, in The Naked Time, saw Riley playing a whimsical young crewman infected with an unknown compound that impaired the entire crew's judgment and nearly destroyed the ship. On his return in The Conscience of the King, we saw deeper into Riley's traumatic past as he sought revenge for his family's murder at the hands of the galactic criminal, Kodos.

Professor Hyde lives on in his writing, and in the work of countless actors and broadcasters who saw him as a mentor and role model during the time he taught in Saint Cloud. Kevin Riley's adventures continued in the Star Trek original novels The Galactic Whirlpool, Probe, and Foul Deeds Will Rise. Hyde also returned to the screen for Star Trek the Experience: The Klingon Encounter.