She’s been around Hollywood long enough to have acted in television classics, including Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, I Spy, The Mod Squad, Marcus Welby, MD, Hawaii Five-O, and the original Star Trek in which she played Science Officer, Dr. Ann Mulhall (she would return to space by appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation). Her illustrious career has had her acting alongside heavyweights like Raymond Burr, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston, William Shatner, John Wayne,  Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, George Peppard, and Ben Gazzarra, but what Diana Muldaur may most be remembered for is the scene below:

In this scene from the hit TV series, L.A. Law, Muldaur played lawyer, Rosalind Shays,  the character everyone loved to hate. Of that character, television writer, David E. Kelley, said: “We didn’t think of [Rosalind] as an evil wench at the time. I don’t think they knew, and I don’t think I knew, what she was going to evolve into. Obviously, they wanted her to stir things up in the office. I don’t think they quite understood how she was going to stir things up in America … The hardest part is having to gear up to play her because some of the things she does are so horrifying…”

It’s difficult to say whether TV viewers were more shocked at her sudden disappearance down an elevator shaft, or delighted to see her character get her comeuppance, but it was a Television Moment people spoke of for a long time.

Diana, now eight-three years old, has always been a huge dog-lover. She owned, bred, and showed her Airedale Terriers, and also served as a judge at various dog competitions. In fact, an Airedale Terrier she co-owned won Best of Breed at Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 2018. The dog’s name: Reydaleterrydale Star Trek aka “Pulaski,” as in Muldaur’s character in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

You can read more about Diana Muldaur’s life today here. 

Sadly, we don’t have a photo of Ms. Muldaur with her Airedale Terrier, but our image is by Nina Scott Langley and appeared on a carefully removed page from a vintage 1930’s book. The page is offered here by Ginny, owner of plaindealing