John Wheeler (20 June 1930–6 February 2026; age 95) was an actor who played Gav in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Journey to Babel". He filmed his scenes on Friday 22 September 1967 and Monday 25 September 1967 at Desilu Stage 9.
Prior to acting, during the early 1960s, Wheeler sang as a member of the The Belafonte Folk Singers.
His first TV role following his Star Trek appearance was that of a bartender in a 1968 episode of Bonanza which also featured fellow Trek guest actor George Murdock. The following year, Wheeler appeared with fellow Original Series guest actor Victor Tayback on an episode of The Outsider. He also appeared with Frank Corsentino and Skip Homeier on Then Came Bronson that same year. His other TV credits include Green Acres, The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple (with Stanley Adams, Bill Quinn, and Garry Walberg), Mission: Impossible, Adam-12 (1972, with Peter Brocco and Nehemiah Persoff), Love, American Style (including one episode with William Windom), Happy Days (with Ed Begley, Jr.), Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, The Golden Girls, Night Court (starring John Larroquette and also guest-starring Gregory Itzin), and ER. He also co-starred with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine regular Armin Shimerman in an episode of Good Grief, starring Wendy Schaal.
In 1979, Wheeler appeared in the TV special The Wild Wild West Revisited along with René Auberjonois and Skip Homeier. In 1983, Wheeler portrayed "Chief Clipper" in the short-lived children's series The Kid-a-Littles. In 1991, Wheeler played I Love Lucy actor William Frawley in Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter. Co-starring in this movie were Don Keefer and Alan Oppenheimer. Previous TV movie credits include With This Ring (1978, with Jon Lormer), Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978, with Richard Herd), and Rescue from Gilligan's Island (1978, featuring Vincent Schiavelli).
In film, Wheeler made his debut with an uncredited bit part in Elvis Presley's Live a Little, Love a Little (1968, with Paul Sorensen and fellow Original Series guest performer Celeste Yarnall). This was followed with roles in Sweet Charity (1969, with Ricardo Montalban, Ben Vereen, and Lance LeGault), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), Mame (1974, starring Lucille Ball, with Bruce Davison and Barbara Bosson), Bad Georgia Road (1977, with Gary Lockwood), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978, with Keith Carradine and Carel Struycken), The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979, with Kenneth Mars, John Arndt, Rex Holman, Ed McCready, Robert Pine, and Nick Ramus), Banzai Runner (1987, starring Dean Stockwell and Biff Yeager), and Cold Steel (1987, with Jonathan Banks and Anne Haney). Wheeler can also be seen portraying a lawyer in 1974's Big Bad Mama, starring his Original Series co-star William Shatner, and as a reporter in Apollo 13 (1995, with David Andrews, Googy Gress, Max Grodénchik, Clint Howard, Brian Markinson, Andy Milder, Steve Rankin, and Bruce Wright).
In 2012, Wheeler presented a special showing of "Journey to Babel" at the Blaisdell Senior Center in Claremont, California. [1]
Wheeler died on 6 February 2026 at his home. [2]