Arnold Moss

Character actor Arnold Moss was born on January 28, 1910. Given his aristocratic bearing, perfect diction and resounding bass voice, it's not hard to believe that he was an experienced Shakespearean stage actor. It's quite rather harder to believe that he was born in Brooklyn, not London, but that's where he was from. An extremely well-educated man--Phi Beta Kappa, a Master's degree in French and a Ph. D in theater--he had originally planned to become a teacher, but the acting bug bit him and he headed for a career on the stage, eventually starting his own Shakespearean company. His stage training, and that remarkable voice, guaranteed him steady employment on radio, where he spent many years writing as well as acting.

Was one of the major crossword puzzle constructors, or "cruciverbalists", in America from the 1940s into the 1980s, constructing a great number of "New York Times" Sunday crossword puzzles.

He made his film debut in 1946, and specialized in urbane villainy in the manner of George Macready, playing everything from Arab chieftains to Mexican bandits to Indian maharajahs over his career, and did much television work from the early 1950s onward.

He appeared on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) as mysterious actor Anton Karidian, alter-ego of the tyrannical Kodos the Executioner, in the episode "The Conscience of the King". He also appeared in the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies", playing impresario Dimitri Weissman.

Received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1973, at age 63.

Was a regular performer and writer for the CBS Radio "Mystery Theater" from 1974-82.