Arthur Batanides

He was in Star Trek, for Kirk's sake!

I entered Stadium in January 1941 as one of those mid term people who no longer exist. As a 10th grader I was of course very impressed with everything that went on including the antics of some in the upper grades. One of those was a guy named Arthur Batanides, who as I recall was in some drama productions, and was a class cutup. I can't remember which class it was or the teacher but one day Art was doing his usual thing and the teacher spoke up in a loud voice. He said:

"Arthur---I am sure that someday you will amount to something-----I just can't tell you what"

Well Art Batanides must have graduated in 1941 or 1942. He went on to being a very busy character actor mainly in TV, some stage work and a few movies having appeared in hundreds of TV presentations mostly in dramatic and comedy supporting roles. He used his real name in his profession. He died in Los Angeles in 2000 at age 77.

I was a little disappointed when he was not listed on the notable list of Stadium grads.

Ed Cook, class of 1944

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