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Samuel Colt
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For other uses, see Samuel Colt (disambiguation).
Samuel Colt
Colt c. 1855
Born
(1814-07-19)July 19, 1814
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Died
January 10, 1862(1862-01-10) (aged 47)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation
Inventor, industrialist, businessman, hunter
Net worth
$15 million at time of death[1]
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth Hart Jarvis
Relatives
John C. Colt (brother)
Caldwell Hart Colt (son)
Awards
Telford Medal
Signature
Samuel Colt (/koʊlt/; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, businessman, and hunter. He founded Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (today Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of the revolver commercially viable.
Colt's first two business ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey and making underwater mines; both ended in disappointment. But his business expanded rapidly after 1847, when the Texas Rangers ordered 1,000 revolvers during the American war with Mexico. During the American Civil War, his factory in Hartford supplied firearms both to the North and the South. Later, his firearms were prominent during the settling of the western frontier. Colt died in 1862 as one of the wealthiest men in America.
Colt's manufacturing methods were at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. His use of interchangeable parts helped him become one of the first to use the assembly line efficiently. Moreover, his innovative use of art, celebrity endorsements, and corporate gifts to promote his wares made him a pioneer in the fields of advertising, product placement, and mass marketing.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early years (1814–1835)
2 Colt's early revolver (1835–43)
3 Early problems and failures
4 Mines and tinfoil
5 Colt's Patent Manufacturing Company (1847–1860)
5.1 Patent extension
5.2 Colt's armories
5.2.1 Hartford
5.2.2 London
5.3 Marketing
6 Later years and death
7 Legacy
8 Footnotes
9 Bibliography
10 Further reading
11 External links
Early years (1814–1835)[edit]
Colt coat of arms
Samuel Colt was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Sarah (née Caldwell) and Christopher Colt (1777–1850), a farmer who had moved his family to the city after he became a businessman. His maternal grandfather, Major John Caldwell,[2] had been an officer in the Continental Army; one of Colt's earliest possessions was John's flintlock pistol. Colt's mother died from tuberculosis when Colt was six years old, and his father remarried two years later, to Olivia Sargeant. Colt had three sisters, one of whom died during her childhood. His oldest sister, Margaret, died of tuberculosis at 19, and the other, Sarah Ann, later committed suicide. One brother, James, became a lawyer; another, Christopher, was a textile merchant. A third brother, John C. Colt, a man of many occupations, was convicted of an 1841 murder and committed suicide on the day he was to be executed.[citation needed]
At age 11, Colt was indentured to a farmer in Glastonbury, where he did chores and attended school. Here he was introduced to the Compendium of Knowledge, a scientific encyclopedia that he preferred to read rather than his Bible studies. Its articles on Robert Fulton and gunpowder motivated Colt throughout his life. He discovered that other inventors in the Compendium had accomplished things that were once deemed impossible, and he wanted to do the same. Later, after hearing soldiers talk about the success of the double-barreled rifle and the impossibility of a gun that could shoot five or six times without reloading, Colt decided that he would create the "impossible gun".[citation needed]
In 1829, at the age of 15, Colt began working in his father's textile plant in Ware, Massachusetts, where he had access to tools, materials, and the factory workers' expertise. Following the encyclopedia, Samuel built a homemade galvanic cell and advertised as a Fourth of July event in that year that he would blow up a raft on Ware Pond using underwater explosives; although the raft was missed, the explosion was still impressive.[3] Sent to boarding school, he amused his classmates with pyrotechnics. In 1830, a July 4 accident caused a fire that ended his schooling, and his father sent him off to learn the seaman's trade.[3] On a voyage to Calcutta on board the brig Corvo, he noticed that regardless of which way the ship's wheel was spun, each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch that could be set to hold it. He later said that this gave him the idea for the revolver. On the Corvo, Colt made a wooden model of a pepperbox revolver out of scrap wood. It differed from other pepperbox revolvers at the time in that it would allow the shooter to rotate the cylinder by the action of cocking the hammer with an attached pawl turning the cylinder which is then locked firmly in alignment with one of the barrels by a bolt, a great improvement over the pepperbox designs which required rotating the barrels by hand and hoping for proper indexing and alignment.[citation needed]
When Colt returned to the United States in 1832, he went back to work for his father, who financed the production of two guns, a rifle and a pistol. The first completed pistol exploded when it was fired, but the rifle performed well. His father would not finance any further development, so Samuel needed to find a way to pay for the development of his ideas.[4] He had learned about nitrous oxide (laughing gas) from the factory chemist in his father's textile plant, so he took a portable lab on the road and earned a living performing laughing gas demonstrations across the United States and Canada, billing himself as "the Celebrated Dr. Coult of New-York, London and Calcutta".[5] Colt conceived of himself as a man of science and thought if he could enlighten people about a new idea like nitrous oxide, he could in turn make people more receptive to his new idea concerning a revolver. He started his lectures on street corners and soon worked his way up to lecture halls and museums. As ticket sales declined, Colt realized that "serious" museum lectures were not what the people wanted to pay money to see and that it was dramatic stories of salvation and redemption the public craved. While visiting his brother, John, in Cincinnati, he partnered with sculptor, Hiram Powers, for his demonstrations with a theme based on The Divine Comedy. Powers made detailed wax sculptures and paintings based on demons, centaurs and mummies from Dante. Colt constructed fireworks to complete the show, which was a success.[6] According to Colt historian Robert Lawrence Wilson, the "lectures launched Colt's celebrated career as a pioneer Madison Avenue-style pitchman".[7] His public speaking skills were so prized that he was thought to be a doctor and was pressed into service to cure an apparent cholera epidemic on board a riverboat by giving his patients a dose of nitrous oxide.[citation needed]
Having some money saved and, still wanting to be an inventor as opposed to a "medicine man", Colt made arrangements to begin building guns using proper gunsmiths from Baltimore, Maryland. He abandoned the idea of a multiple barreled revolver and opted for a single fixed barrel design with a rotating cylinder. The action of the hammer would align the cylinder bores with the single barrel. He sought the counsel of a friend of his father, Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, who loaned him $300 and advised him to perfect his prototype before applying for a patent.[5] Colt hired a gunsmith by the name of John Pearson to build his revolver. Over the next few years Colt and Pearson fought over money, but the design improved and in 1835 Colt was ready to apply for his U.S. patent. Ellsworth was now the superintendent of the U.S. Patent Office and advised Colt to file for foreign patents first as a prior U.S. patent would keep Colt from filing a patent in Great Britain. In August 1835, Colt left for England and France to secure his foreign patent.[citation needed]
Colt's early revolver (1835–43)[edit]
Portrait of Col. Samuel Colt, engraving by George Catlin after a painting by Charles Loring Elliott (Wadsworth Atheneum), Hartford
In 1835, Samuel Colt traveled to the United Kingdom, following in the footsteps of Elisha Collier, a Bostonian who had patented a revolving flintlock there that achieved great popularity.[8] Despite the reluctance of English officials to issue a patent to Colt, no fault could be found with the gun and he was issued his first patent (Number 6909). Upon his return to America, he applied for his U.S. patent for a "revolving gun"; he was granted the patent on February 25, 1836 (later numbered 9430X).[9] This instrument and patent No. 1304, dated August 29, 1836, protected the basic principles of his revolving-breech loading, folding trigger firearm named the Colt Paterson.[10][11]
With a loan from his cousin, Dudley Selden, and letters of recommendation from Ellsworth, Colt formed a corporation of venture capitalists in April 1836 to bring his idea to market. Through the political connections of these venture capitalists, the Patent Arms Manufacturing of Paterson, New Jersey, was chartered by the New Jersey legislature on March 5, 1836. Colt was given a commission for each gun sold in exchange for his dam of patent rights, and stipulated the return of the rights if the company disbanded.[12]
Colt never claimed to have invented the revolver; his design was a more practical adaption of Collier's earlier revolving flintlock incorporating a locking bolt to keep the cylinder in line with the barrel.[8] The invention of the percussion cap made ignition more reliable, faster, and safer than the older flintlock design. Colt's great contribution was to the use of interchangeable parts. Knowing that some gun parts were made by machine, he envisioned that all the parts on every Colt gun to be interchangeable and made by machine, later to be assembled by hand. His goal was the assembly line.[13] This is shown in an 1836 letter that Colt wrote to his father in which he said,
The first workman would receive two or three of the most important parts and would affix these and pass them on to the next who would add a part and pass the growing article on to another who would do the same, and so on until the complete arm is put together.[14]
Colt's U.S. revolver patent gave him a monopoly on revolver manufacture until 1857.[15] His was the first practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm, thanks to progress made in percussion technology. No longer a mere novelty arm, the revolver became an industrial and cultural legacy as well as a contribution to the development of war technology, ironically personified in the name of one of his company's later innovations, the "Peacemaker".[14]
Early problems and failures[edit]
Although by the end of 1837 the Arms Company had made over 1,000 weapons, there were no sales. Following the Panic of 1837, the company's underwriters were reluctant to fund the new machinery that Colt needed to make interchangeable parts, so he went on the road to raise money. Demonstrating his gun to people in general stores did not generate the sales volume he needed, so with another loan from his cousin, Selden, he went to Washington, D.C., and demonstrated it to President Andrew Jackson. Jackson approved of the gun and wrote Colt a note saying so. Presidential approval in hand, Colt pushed a bill through Congress endorsing a demonstration for the military, but failed to obtain an appropriation for military purchase of the weapon. A promising order from the state of South Carolina for fifty to seventy-five pistols was canceled when the company did not produce them quickly enough.[15]
Constant problems for Colt were the provisions of the Militia Act of 1808 which stated that any arms purchased by a State militia had to be in current service in the United States Military.[16] This Act prevented state militias from allocating funds towards the purchase of experimental weapons or foreign weapons.[17]
Colt undermined his own company by his reckless spending. Selden constantly chastised him for using corporate funds to buy an expensive wardrobe or making lavish gifts to potential clients. Selden twice cut off Colt from company money for spending it on liquor and fancy dinners; Colt thought getting potential customers inebriated would generate more sales.[18]
The company was briefly saved by the war against the Seminoles in Florida which provided the first sale of Colt's revolvers and his new revolving rifles. The soldiers in Florida praised the new weapon, but the unusual hammerless design, sixty years ahead of its time, led to difficulty in training men who were used to exposed-hammer guns. Consequently, many curious soldiers took the locks apart. This resulted in breakage of parts, stripped screw heads and inoperable guns.[19] Colt soon reworked his design to leave the firing hammer exposed, but problems continued. In late 1843, after the loss of payment for the Florida pistols, the Paterson plant closed and a public auction was held in New York City to sell the company's most liquid assets.[20][21]
Mines and tinfoil[edit]
Colt did not refrain long from manufacturing, and turned to selling underwater electrical detonators and waterproof cable of his own invention. Soon after the failure of the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, he teamed up with Samuel Morse to lobby the US government for funds. Colt's waterproof cable, made from tar-coated copper, proved valuable when Morse ran telegraph lines under lakes, rivers, bays, and in his attempts to lay a telegraph line under the Atlantic Ocean.[22] Morse used the battery from one of Colt's mines to transmit a telegraph message from Manhattan to Governors Island when his own battery was too weak to send the signal.[23]
When tensions with Great Britain prompted Congress to appropriate funds for Colt's project toward the end of 1841, he demonstrated his underwater mines to the US government. In 1842 he used one of the devices to destroy a moving vessel to the satisfaction of the United States Navy and President John Tyler. However, opposition from John Quincy Adams, who was serving as a US Representative from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district scuttled the project as "not fair and honest warfare" and called the Colt mine an "unchristian contraption".[24]
After this setback, Colt turned his attention to perfecting tinfoil cartridges he had originally designed for use in his revolvers. The standard at the time was to have powder and ball contained in a paper or skin envelope or "cartridge" for ease of loading. However, if the paper got wet it would ruin the powder. Colt tried alternate materials such as rubber cement, but settled on a thin type of tinfoil. In 1841 he made samples of these cartridges for the army. During tests of the foil cartridges, 25 rounds were fired from a musket without cleaning. When the breech plug was removed from the barrel no fouling from the tin foil was evident. The reception was lukewarm and the army purchased a few thousand rounds for further testing. In 1843 the army returned to Colt with an order for 200,000 of the tinfoil cartridges packed 10 to a box for use in muskets.[21]
With the money made from the cartridges Colt turned back to Morse and his cable for ideas other than detonating mines. Colt concentrated on manufacturing his waterproof telegraph cable, believing the business would prosper alongside Morse's invention. He began promoting the telegraph companies so he could create a wider market for his cable, for which he was to be paid $50 per mile.[25] Colt tried to use this revenue to resurrect the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company, but could not secure funds from other investors or even his own family. This left Colt time to improve his earlier revolver design and have a prototype built by a gunsmith in New York for his "New and improved revolver". This new revolver had a stationary trigger and was in a larger caliber. Colt submitted his single prototype to the War Department as a "Holster revolver".[21]
Colt's Patent Manufacturing Company (1847–1860)[edit]
Main article: Colt's Manufacturing Company
Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817–1847)
Captain Samuel Walker of the Texas Rangers had acquired some of the first Colt revolvers produced during the Seminole War and saw first-hand their effective use as his 15-man unit defeated a larger force of 70 Comanche in Texas. Walker wanted to order Colt revolvers for use by the Rangers in the Mexican–American War, and traveled to New York City in search of Colt. He met Colt in a gunsmith's shop on January 4, 1847, and placed an order for 1,000 revolvers.[26][27] Walker asked for a few changes; the new revolvers would have to hold 6 shots instead of 5, have enough power to kill either a man or a horse with a single shot and be quicker to reload. The large order allowed Colt to establish a new firearm business. Colt hired Eli Whitney Blake, who was established in the arms business, to make his guns.[28] Colt used his prototype and Walker's improvements as the basis for a new design. From this new design, Blake produced the first thousand-piece order known as the Colt Walker. The company then received an order for a thousand more; Colt took a share of the profits at $10 per pistol for both orders.[28]
With the money he made from the sales of the Walkers and a loan from his cousin, banker Elisha Colt, Colt bought the machinery and tooling from Blake to build his own factory: Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company factory at Hartford.[29] The first revolving-breech pistols made at the factory were called "Whitneyville-Hartford-Dragoons" and became so popular that the word "Colt" was often used as a generic term for the revolver.[27] The Whitneyville-Hartford Dragoon, largely built from leftover Walker parts, is known as the first model in the transition from the Walker to the Dragoon series. Beginning in 1848, more contracts followed for what is today known as the Colt Dragoon Revolvers. These models were based on the Walker Colt, and in three generations slight changes to each model showed the rapid evolution of the design. The improvements were 7 1⁄2-inch (190 mm) barrels for accuracy, shorter chambers and an improved loading lever.[27] The shorter chambers were loaded to 50 grains of powder, instead of 60 grains in the earlier Walkers, to prevent the occurrence of ruptured cylinders.[27] Finally, a positive catch was installed at the end of the loading lever to prevent the lever from dropping under recoil.[27][30]
Besides being used in the war with Mexico, Colt's revolvers were employed as a sidearm by both civilians and soldiers. Colt's revolvers were a key tool in the westward expansion. A revolver which could fire six times without reloading helped soldiers and settlers fend off larger forces which were not armed in the same way. In 1848, Colt introduced smaller versions of his pistols known as Baby Dragoons that were made for civilian use. In 1850 General Sam Houston and General Thomas Jefferson Rusk lobbied Secretary of War William Marcy and President James K. Polk to adopt Colt's revolvers for the U.S. military. Rusk testified: "Colt's Repeating Arms are the most efficient weapons in the world and the only weapon which has enabled the frontiersman to defeat the mounted Indian in his own peculiar mode of warfare." Lt. Bedley McDonald, who served under Walker when Walker was killed in Mexico, stated that 30 Rangers used Colt's revolvers to keep 500 Mexicans in check.[31] Colt followed this design with the Colt 1851 Navy Revolver which was larger than the Baby Dragoon, but not quite as large as the full-sized version. The gun became the standard sidearm for U.S. military officers and proved popular among civilian buyers. After the testimony by Houston and Rusk, the next issue became how quickly Colt could supply the military.[32] Ever the opportunist, when the War with Mexico was over, Colt sent agents south of the border to procure sales from the Mexican government.[33]
Patent extension[edit]
Colt 1851 Navy Revolver
During this period, Colt received an extension on his patent since he did not collect on it in the early years. In 1852, gun makers James Warner and Massachusetts Arms infringed on the patent. Colt sued the companies and the court ordered that Warner and Massachusetts Arms cease revolver production. Colt then threatened to sue Allen & Thurber over the cylinder design of their double-action pepperbox revolver. However, Colt's lawyers doubted that this suit would have been successful and the case was resolved with a settlement of $15,000. Production of Allen pepperboxes continued until the expiration of Colt's patent in 1857.[34] In 1854 Colt fought for his patent extension with the U.S. Congress, who launched a special committee to investigate charges that Colt had bribed government officials in securing this extension. By August he was exonerated and the story became national news when Scientific American reported that the fault was not with Colt, but with Washington politicians.[33] With a virtual monopoly, Colt sold his pistols in Europe, where demand was high due to tense international relations. By telling each nation that the others were buying Colt's pistols, Colt was able to get large orders from many countries who feared falling behind in the arms race.[35]
A key element to Colt's success was vigorous protection of his patent rights. Even though he lawfully held the only patent on a revolver, scores of imitators copied his work and Colt found himself constantly in litigation.[36] In each one of these cases, Colt's lawyer, Edward N. Dickerson, deftly exploited the patent system and successfully shut down Colt's competitors.[36][37] However, Colt's zealous protection of his patents greatly impeded firearms development as a whole in the United States. His preoccupation with patent infringement suits slowed his own company's transition to the cartridge system and blocked other firms from pursuing revolver designs. At the same time, Colt's policies forced some competing inventors to greater innovation by denying them key features of his mechanism; as a result they created their own.[38]
Colt knew he had to make his revolvers affordable, as the death of many great inventions was a high retail price. Colt fixed his prices at a level below his competition to maximize sales volume. From his experience in haggling with government officials, he knew what numbers he would have to generate to make enough profit to invest money in improving his machinery, thereby limiting imitators' ability to produce a comparable weapon at a lower price. Although successful at this, for the most part, his preoccupation with marketing strategies and patent protection caused him to miss a great opportunity in firearms development when he dismissed an idea from one of his gunsmiths, Rollin White. White had an idea of a "bored-through" revolver cylinder to allow the use of metallic cartridges in a handgun. After Colt fired White for suggesting an improvement to his revolver, White took his idea to Colt's competitor, Smith & Wesson, who patented his invention and kept Colt from being able to build cartridge firearms for almost 20 years.[39]
Colt's armories[edit]
Hartford[edit]
Colt's Armory, viewed from the east; from an 1857 engraving.
Colt purchased a large tract of land beside the Connecticut River, where he built his first factory in 1848, a larger factory called the Colt Armory in 1855, a manor that he called Armsmear in 1856, and employee tenement housing.[29] He established a ten-hour day for employees, installed washing stations in the factory, mandated a one-hour lunch break, and built the Charter Oak Hall, where employees could enjoy games, newspapers, and discussion rooms. Colt ran his plant with a military-like discipline, he would fire workers for tardiness, sub-par work or even suggesting improvements to his designs.[40]
Colt hired Elisha K. Root as his chief mechanic in setting up the plant's machinery. Root had been successful in an earlier venture automating the production of axes and made, bought, or improved jigs, fixtures and profile machinery for Colt. Over the years he developed specialized machinery for stock turning or cutting the rifling in gun barrels. Historian Barbara Tucker credits Root as "the first to build special purpose machinery and apply it to the manufacture of a commercial product".[41] Colt historian Herbert G. Houze, wrote, "had it not been for Root's inventive genius, Colt's dream of mass production would never have been realized".[42]
Thus, Colt's factory was the first to make use of the concept known as the assembly line.[43] The idea was not new but was never successful in industry at the time because of the lack of interchangeable parts. Root's machinery changed that for Colt, since the machines completed as much as 80% of the work and less than 20% of the parts required hand fitting and filing.[42] Colt's revolvers were made by machine, but he insisted on final hand finishing and polishing of his revolvers to impart a handmade feel. Colt turned to artisan gun makers from Bavaria and developed a commercial use for Waterman Ormsby's grammagraph to produce "roll-die" engraving on steel, particularly on the cylinders.[33] He hired Bavarian engraver Gustave Young for fine hand engraving on his more "custom" pieces. In an attempt to attract skilled European-immigrant workers to his plant, Colt built a village near the factory away from the tenements which he named Coltsville and modeled the homes after a village in Potsdam. In an effort to stem the flooding from the river he planted German osiers, a type of willow tree, in a 2-mile-long dike. He subsequently built a factory to manufacture wicker furniture made from these trees.[40]
On June 5, 1856, Colt married Elizabeth Jarvis, the daughter of the Rev. William Jarvis, who lived downriver from Hartford.[44] The wedding was lavish and featured the ceremony on a steamship overlooking the factory as well as fireworks and rifle salutes. The couple had four children: two daughters and a son who died in infancy and a son born in 1858: Caldwell Hart Colt.[45]
London[edit]
Colt Model 1855 Carbine produced in London
Soon after establishing his Hartford factory, Colt set out to establish a factory in Europe and chose London. He organized a large display of his firearms at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Hyde Park, London and ingratiated himself by presenting cased engraved Colt revolvers to such appropriate officials as Britain's Master General of the Ordnance.[46] At one exhibit Colt disassembled ten guns and reassembled ten guns using different parts from different guns. As the world's leading proponent of mass production techniques, Colt went on to deliver a lecture on the subject to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in London.[47] The membership rewarded his efforts by awarding him the Silver Telford Medal.[48] With help from ICE secretary, Charles Manby,[49] Colt established his London operation near Vauxhall Bridge on the Thames River and began production on January 1, 1853.[50] On a tour of the factory, Charles Dickens was so impressed with the facilities that he recorded his favorable comments of Colt's revolvers in an 1852 edition of Household Words.[51] The factory's machines mass-produced its parts that were completely interchangeable and could be put together on assembly lines using standardized patterns and gauges by unskilled labor as opposed to England's top gun makers making each part by hand.[52] Colt's London factory remained in operation for only four years. Unwilling to alter his open-top single-action design for the solid frame double-action revolver that the British asked for; Colt scarcely sold 23,000 revolvers to the British Army and Navy. In 1856 he closed the London plant and had the machinery, tooling, and unfinished guns shipped to Hartford.[53]
Marketing[edit]
When foreign heads of state would not grant him an audience, as he was only a private citizen, he persuaded the governor of the state of Connecticut make him a lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp in the state militia. With this rank, he toured Europe again to promote his revolvers.[54] He used marketing techniques which were innovative at the time. He frequently gave custom engraved versions of his revolvers to heads of state, military officers, and personalities such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth.[55] Colt commissioned western artist George Catlin to produce a series of paintings depicting exotic scenes in which a Colt weapon was prominently used against Indians, wild animals, or bandits in the earliest form of "product placement".[56] He placed numerous advertisements in the same newspapers; The Knickerbocker ran as many as eight in the same edition. Lastly, he hired authors to write stories about his guns for magazines and travel guides.[40] One of Colt's biggest acts of self-promotion was the payment to the publishers of United States Magazine $1,120 ($61,439 by 1999 standards) to run a 29-page fully illustrated story showing the inner workings of his factory.[31]
After his revolvers had gained acceptance, Colt looked for unsolicited news stories containing mention of his guns that he could excerpt and reprint. He went so far as to hire agents in other states and territories to find such samples, to buy hundreds of copies for himself and to give the editor a free revolver for writing them, particularly if such a story disparaged his competition.[31] Many of the revolvers Colt gave away as "gifts" had inscriptions such as "Compliments of Col. Colt" or "From the Inventor" engraved on the back straps. Later versions contained his entire signature which was used in many of his advertisements as a centerpiece, using his celebrity to guarantee the performance of his weapons. Colt eventually secured a trademark for his signature.
Later years and death[edit]
As the American Civil War approached, Colt supplied both the North and the South with firearms.[57] He had been known to sell weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and saw no difference with respect to the war in America. In 1859 Colt considered building an armory in the South and as late as 1861 had sold 2,000 revolvers to Confederate agent John Forsyth.[58] Although trade with the South had not been restricted at that time, newspapers such as the New York Daily Tribune, the New York Times and the Hartford Daily Courant labeled him a Southern sympathizer and traitor to the Union.[59] In response to these charges, Colt was commissioned as a colonel by the state of Connecticut on May 16, 1861, in the 1st Regiment Colts Revolving Rifles of Connecticut armed with the Colt revolving rifle.[60] Colt envisioned this unit as being staffed by men over six feet tall and armed with his weapons. However, the unit never took the field and Colt was discharged on June 20, 1861.[59]
Samuel Colt died of gout in Hartford on January 10, 1862, and was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery. At the time of his death, Colt's estate, which he left to his wife and three-year-old son Caldwell Hart Colt, was estimated to be valued at around $15 million ($350 million by 2009 standards). His professional responsibilities were turned over to his brother-in-law, Richard Jarvis.[61] The only other person mentioned in Colt's will was Samuel Caldwell Colt, the son of his brother, John.[62]
Colt historian William Edwards wrote that Samuel Colt had married Caroline Henshaw (who later married his brother, John) in Scotland in 1838, and that the son she bore later was Samuel Colt's and not his brother John's.[62] In a 1953 biography about Samuel Colt based largely on family letters, Edwards wrote that John Colt's marriage to Caroline in 1841 was a way to legitimize her unborn son as the real father, Samuel Colt, felt she was not fit to be the wife of an industrialist and divorce was a social stigma at the time.[62] After John's death, Samuel Colt took care of the child, named Samuel Caldwell Colt, financially with a large allowance and paid for his tuition in what were described as "the finest private schools." In correspondence to and about his namesake, Samuel Colt referred to him as his "nephew" in quotes. Historians such as Edwards and Harold Schechter have said this was the elder Colt's way of letting the world know that the boy was his own son without directly saying so.[63] After Colt's death in 1862, he left the boy $2 million by 2010 standards. Colt's widow, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt, and her brother, Richard Jarvis contested this. In probate Caroline's son Sam produced a valid marriage license showing that Caroline and Samuel Colt were married in Scotland in 1838 and that this document made him a rightful heir to part of Colt's estate, if not to the Colt Manufacturing Company.[62][63]
Legacy[edit]
It is estimated that in its first 25 years of manufacturing, Colt's company produced over 400,000 revolvers. Before his death, each barrel was stamped: "Address Col. Samuel Colt, New York, US America", or a variation using a London address. Colt did this as New York and London were major cosmopolitan cities and he retained an office in New York at 155 Broadway where he based his salesmen.[64]
A Dragoon revolver, Colt's gift to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Colt was the first American manufacturer to use art as a marketing tool when he hired Catlin to prominently display Colt firearms in his paintings. He was awarded numerous government contracts after making gifts of his highly embellished and engraved revolvers with exotic grips such as ivory or pearl to government officials. On a trip to Constantinople he gave a custom-engraved and gold inlaid revolver to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Abdülmecid I, informing him that the Russians were buying his pistols, thus securing a Turkish order for 5,000 pistols; he neglected to tell the Sultan he had used the same tactic with the Russians to elicit an order.[64]
Apart from gifts and bribes, Colt employed an effective marketing program which comprised sales promotion, publicity, product sampling, and public relations.[55] He used the press to his own advantage by giving revolvers to editors, prompting them to report "all the accidents that occur to the Sharps & other humbug arms", and listing incidents where Colt weapons had been "well used against bears, Indians, Mexicans, etc".[65] Colt's firearms did not always fare well in standardized military tests; he preferred written testimonials from individual soldiers who used his weapons and these were what he most relied on to secure government contracts.[66]
Colt felt that bad press was just as important as good press; provided that his name and his revolvers received mention. When he opened the London armory he posted a 14-foot sign on the roof across from Parliament reading "Colonel Colt's Pistol Factory" as a publicity stunt which created a stir in the British press. Eventually the British government forced him to take down this sign.[40] Colt historian Herbert Houze wrote that Colt championed the concept of modernism before the word was coined, he pioneered the use of celebrity endorsements to promote his products, he introduced the adjective "new and improved" to advertising and demonstrated the commercial value of brand-name recognition as the word for "revolver" in French is Le Colt.[67] Barbara M. Tucker, professor of history and director of the Center for Connecticut Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University, wrote that Colt's marketing techniques transformed the firearm from a utilitarian object into a central symbol of American identity. Tucker added that Colt tied his revolvers to American patriotism, freedom and individualism while asserting America's technological supremacy over Europe's.[40]
In 1867, his widow, Elizabeth, had an Episcopal church designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter built as a memorial to Samuel Colt and the three children they lost. The church's architecture contains guns and gun-smithing tools sculpted in marble to commemorate Colt's life as an arms maker. In 1896 a parish house was built on the site as a memorial to their son, Caldwell who died in 1894. In 1975 the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[68]
Colt set up libraries and educational programs within his armories for his employees which were seminal training grounds for several generations of toolmakers and other machinists, who had great influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century.[69] Prominent examples included Francis A. Pratt, Amos Whitney, Henry Leland, Edward Bullard, Worcester R. Warner, Charles Brinckerhoff Richards, William Mason and Ambrose Swasey.[70]
In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.[71]
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ Klepper & Gunther 1996, p. vii
Jump up ^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 225.
^ Jump up to: a b Hosley 1996, p. 25
Jump up ^ Wilson 1991, p. 8
^ Jump up to: a b Soule 1961, p. 89
Jump up ^ Gibby 2011, p. 47
Jump up ^ Wilson 1991, p. 4
^ Jump up to: a b Bowman 1963, p. 94
Jump up ^ Colt, S. (February 25, 1836). "Improvement in Fire-Arms". United States Patent Office; Google. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
Jump up ^ Serven & Metzger 1946, p. 5
Jump up ^ Colt, S. (August 1, 1839). "Improvement in fire-arms and in the apparatus used therewith". United States Patent Office; Google. Retrieved September 2, 2008.
Jump up ^ Carey 1953, p. 20
Jump up ^ Rohan 1935, p. 41
^ Jump up to: a b Hosley 1996, p. 12
^ Jump up to: a b Wilson 1991, p. 10
Jump up ^ Rohan 1935, p. 74
Jump up ^ Edwards 1953, pp. 88–89
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 43
Jump up ^ Rohan 1935, p. 77
Jump up ^ Mappen 2004, p. 164
^ Jump up to: a b c Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, pp. 67–68
Jump up ^ Edwards 1953, pp. 191–193
Jump up ^ Gibby 2011, p. 88
Jump up ^ Schiffer 2008, p. 124
Jump up ^ Hosley 1999, p. 55
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 73
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Sapp 2007, pp. 35–40
^ Jump up to: a b Adler 2008, p. 62
^ Jump up to: a b Hounshell 1984, p. 47
Jump up ^ Adler 2008, p. 67
^ Jump up to: a b c Hosley 1999, p. 66
Jump up ^ Foster-Harris 2007, p. 128
^ Jump up to: a b c Hosley 1999, p. 72
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 144
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 153
^ Jump up to: a b Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 125
Jump up ^ Gibby 2011, pp. 115–122
Jump up ^ Adler 2008, p. 146
Jump up ^ Hosley 1999, p. 70
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Tucker & Tucker 2008, pp. 79–82
Jump up ^ Tucker & Tucker 2008, p. 74
^ Jump up to: a b Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 173
Jump up ^ Lehto & Buck 2008, p. 30
Jump up ^ Schechter 2010, p. 308
Jump up ^ National Americana Society; American Historical Society (1914). Americana. New York: The American Historical Company. p. 889. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
Jump up ^ Auerbach 1999, p. 123
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 83
Jump up ^ Institution of Civil Engineers (1853). "Annual Report". Minutes of proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Great Britain: The Institution. 12: 115–117, 169, 178. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
Jump up ^ The Shootists: London Archived June 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine., retrieved 22 July 2013
Jump up ^ Haven & Belden 1940, p. 86
Jump up ^ Dickens (1854). "Pistols and Revolvers". Household Words: 583. Among the pistols, we saw Colt's revolver; and we compared it with the best English revolver. The advantage of Colt's over the English is, that the user can take a sight; and the disadvantage is, that the weapon requires both hands to fire
Jump up ^ Great stories of American businessmen, from American heritage: the magazine of history. Madison, Wisconsin: American Heritage. 1972. p. 95.
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 184
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 59
^ Jump up to: a b Sapp 2007, pp. 13–14
Jump up ^ Tucker & Tucker 2008, p. 80
Jump up ^ Tucker & Tucker 2008, p. 87
Jump up ^ Warshauer 2011, p. 49
^ Jump up to: a b Tucker & Tucker 2008, p. 88
Jump up ^ Mann 1982, p. 123
Jump up ^ Tucker, Pierpaoli & White 2010, p. 123
^ Jump up to: a b c d Edwards 1953, p. 181
^ Jump up to: a b Schechter 2010, p. 310
^ Jump up to: a b Evans, Buckland & Lefer 2004, pp. 59–64
Jump up ^ Smith 2004, p. 45
Jump up ^ Hosley 1999, p. 61
Jump up ^ Houze, Cooper & Kornhauser 2006, p. 11
Jump up ^ "Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House" (pdf). US Department of the Interior. p. 2. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
Jump up ^ Roe 1916, p. 164
Jump up ^ Lendler 1997, p. 17
Jump up ^ "Samuel Colt". National Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
Bibliography[edit]
Adler, Dennis (2008). Colt Single Action: From Patersons to Peacemakers. Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-7858-2305-6.
Auerbach, Jeffrey A. (1999). The Great Exhibition of 1851: a nation on display. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08007-0.
Barnard, Henry (1866). Armsmear: the home, the arm, and the armory of Samuel Colt: A memorial. New York: Alvord Printer.
Bowman, H.W. (1963). Lucian Cary, ed. Antique Guns (Abridged Edition Fawcett Book 553)|format= requires |url= (help) (4th printing ed.). Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett Publications.
Carey, Arthur Merwyn (1953). American firearms makers: When, where, and what they made from the Colonial period to the end of the nineteenth century. Springfield, Ohio: Crowell.
Dickens, Charles (1854). "Guns and Pistols". Household Words. 4: 583.
Edwards, William B. (1953). The Story of Colt"s Revolver: The Biography of Col. Samuel Colt. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Company.
Evans, Harold; Buckland, Gail; Lefer, David (2004). They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 0-316-27766-5.
Foster-Harris, William (2007). The Look of the Old West: A Fully Illustrated Guide. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60239-024-9.
Gibby, Darin (2011). Why America Has Stopped Inventing. Hampton, Virginia: Morgan James Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61448-049-5.
Haven, Charles Tower; Belden, Frank A. (1940). A history of the Colt revolver: and the other arms made by Colt's patent fire arms manufacturing company from 1836 to 1940. New York: W. Morrow & company.
Hosley, William (1996). Colt: The Making of an American Legend. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-55849-042-0.
Hosley, William (1999). "Guns Gun Culture and the Peddling of Dreams". In Jan E. Dizard, Robert M. Muth, Stephen P. Andrews. Guns in America: a reader. New York: NYU Press. pp. 47–85. ISBN 978-0-8147-1879-7. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269
Lundeberg, Philip K., Samuel Colt's submarine battery: the secret and the enigma. Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974.
Houze, Herbert G.; Cooper, Carolyn C.; Kornhauser, Elizabeth Mankin (2006). Samuel Colt: arms, art, and invention. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11133-0.
Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996). The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates—A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present. Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8. OCLC 33818143.
Lehto, Mark R.; Buck, James R. (2008). Introduction to human factors and ergonomics for engineers. New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-8058-5308-7.
Lendler, Marc (1997). Crisis and political beliefs: the case of the Colt Firearms strike. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06746-0.
Mann, E.B. (1982). "Colt: the man behind the gun". Field & Stream. 86 (4).
Mappen, Marc (2004). "Colt, Samuel". In Maxine N. Lurie. Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3325-4. CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916), English and American Tool Builders, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, LCCN 16011753 . Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (LCCN 27-24075); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley, Illinois, (ISBN 978-0-917914-73-7).
Rohan, Jack (1935). Yankee Arms Maker: the incredible career of Samuel Colt (1st ed.). New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers.
Sapp, Rick (2007). Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms. Iola, Wisconsin: F+W Media, Inc,. ISBN 978-0-89689-534-8.
Schechter, Harold (2010). Killer Colt: Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-345-47681-4.
Schiffer, Michael B. (2008). Power struggles: scientific authority and the creation of practical electricity before Edison. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-19582-9.
Serven, J.E.; Metzger, C. (1946). Paterson Pistols, First of the Famous Repeating Firearms patented and promoted by Samuel Colt. New York: Foundation Press.
Smith, Anthony (2004). "From Whittling to Peacemaking". Machine Gun: The Story of the Men and the Weapon That Changed the Face of War. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-93477-4.
Soule, Gardner (1961). "The Story of Sam Colt's Equalizer". Popular Science. 179 (6): 89.
Tucker, Barbara M.; Tucker, Kenneth H. (2008). Industrializing antebellum America: the rise of manufacturing entrepreneurs in the early republic. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-8480-7.
Tucker, Spencer C.; Pierpaoli, Paul G.; White, William E. (2010). The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-338-5.
Warshauer, Matthew (2011). Connecticut in the American Civil War: slavery, sacrifice, and survival|. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0-8195-7138-0.
Wilson, R. L. (1991). Colt: An American Legend. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 978-0-89659-953-6.
Further reading[edit]
Bern, Keating (1978). The Flamboyant Mr. Colt and His Dealy Six-Shooter. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-12371-6.
Edmund, Pearson (1930). Instigation of the Devil. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons.
Grant, Ellsworth S. (1982). The Colt Legacy. Providence, Rhode Island: Mowbray Company. ISBN 978-0-917218-17-0.
External links[edit]
The Colt Revolver in the American West at the Autry National Center
Samuel Colt biography at Netstate.com
Samuel Colt at Find a Grave
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Brent Spiner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Fresh Hell" redirects here. For the Penny Dreadful episode, see List of Penny Dreadful episodes § Season 2 (2015).
Brent Spiner
Spiner at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International promoting the returning Star Trek series on CBS
Born
Brent Jay Spiner
(1949-02-02) February 2, 1949 (age 69)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Other names
Brent Jay Mintz (1955–1975)
Alma mater
University of Houston
Occupation
Actor, comedian, musician, singer
Years active
1970–present
Website
www.therealbrentspiner.com
Brent Jay Spiner (/ˈspaɪnər/; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor, comedian, and singer best known for his portrayal of the android Lieutenant Commander Data in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and four subsequent films. In 1997, he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Data in Star Trek: First Contact, and was nominated in the same category for portraying Dr. Brackish Okun in Independence Day, a role he reprised in Independence Day: Resurgence. He has also enjoyed a career in the theatre and as a musician.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Early work
2.2 Star Trek
2.2.1 Album
2.3 After Star Trek
3 Filmography
3.1 Film
3.2 Television
3.3 Theatre
4 References
5 External links
Early life[edit]
Brent Jay Spiner was born on February 2, 1949, in Houston, Texas, to Sylvia and Jack Spiner, a Jewish family[1][2] who owned a furniture store.[3][4] After his father's death, Spiner was adopted by Sylvia's second husband, Sol Mintz, whose surname he used between 1955 and 1975.[5]
He attended Bellaire High School in Bellaire, Texas.[6] Spiner became active on the Bellaire speech team, winning the national championship in dramatic interpretation.[7] He attended the University of Houston, where he performed in local theatre.[8]
Career[edit]
Early work[edit]
Spiner moved to New York City in the early '70s,[9] where he became a stage actor, performing in several Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including The Three Musketeers and Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. He had a brief nonspeaking role in the film Stardust Memories, credited as "Fan in Lobby", the one with a Polaroid.
Spiner appeared as a media technician in "The Advocates", a second-season episode of the Showtime cable series The Paper Chase.[10] In 1984, he moved to Los Angeles, where he appeared in several pilots and made-for-TV movies. He played a recurring character on Night Court, Bob Wheeler, patriarch of a rural family. In 1986, he played a condemned soul in "Dead Run", an episode of the short-lived revival of Rod Serling's series The Twilight Zone on CBS. He made two appearances in season three (1986) of the situation comedy Mama's Family, playing two different characters. Spiner's first and only starring film role was in Rent Control (1984). In the Cheers episode "Never Love a Goalie, Part II", he played acquitted murder suspect Bill Grand. Spiner also appeared in the Tales from the Darkside episode, "A Case of the Stubborns", as a preacher. He portrayed Jim Stevens in the made-for-TV movie Manhunt for Claude Dallas.
Star Trek[edit]
In 1987, Spiner started his 15-year run portraying Lieutenant Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, which spanned seven seasons and four feature films. As a main character, he appeared in all but one of the series' 178 episodes; he was not in the episode "Family". He reprised his role in the spin-off films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Although billed as the final Trek movie for the TNG cast, the ambiguous ending of Star Trek: Nemesis suggested a possible avenue for the return of Data. However, Spiner has opined that he is too old to continue playing the part, as Data embodies a "childlike innocence" that Spiner can no longer credibly exhibit, as his appearance had already begun to lose that quality by the time he filmed his last Trek films.[11][12] In addition to the series and films, he voiced his character in several Star Trek video games, such as Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity, Star Trek: Hidden Evil, and Star Trek: Bridge Commander.[13] After appearing in several episodes as Arik Soong, the ancestor of Data's creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, Spiner also recorded dialogue as Data that was heard in the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "These Are the Voyages...", which aired in 2005, bringing the Star Trek TV franchise Spiner had helped establish 18 years earlier to a close.
Album[edit]
In 1991, Spiner recorded an album of 1940s pop standards entitled Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back, the title of which was a play on the yellow contact lenses Spiner wore as Data, and the title of a Frank Sinatra record, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back. In 1997, he returned to Broadway, playing John Adams in the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the musical 1776. The production was nominated for a Tony Award. A cast recording was released of the revival production.[14]
After Star Trek[edit]
Spiner has appeared in the television series Deadly Games, Dream On, Frasier, Friends, Gargoyles, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Mad About You and The Outer Limits. In the series The Big Bang Theory and Joey, he appeared as himself. He has acted in the movies The Aviator, Dude, Where's My Car?, I Am Sam, Independence Day, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Master of Disguise,[15] Out to Sea, Phenomenon, The Ponder Heart and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.[16] His television-movie appearances during this period include the 2000 musical Geppetto and the role of Dorothy Dandridge's manager and confidant, Earl Mills, in the HBO production Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.
In 2004, Spiner returned to Star Trek when he appeared as Dr. Arik Soong, an ancestor of Data's creator Dr. Noonien Soong, whom he also played, in a three-episode story arc of Star Trek: Enterprise: "Borderland", "Cold Station 12", and "The Augments". He also briefly reprised the role of Data for the series, providing a voice-only cameo in the Enterprise finale "These Are the Voyages...". Spiner guest-starred in Friends as a man who interviews Rachel for Gucci, and later cameoed as himself in the Friends spin-off Joey.
In 2005, Spiner appeared in a short-lived science-fiction television series Threshold, which was canceled in November of that year after 13 episodes. In 2006, he appeared in a feature film comedy, Material Girls, with Hilary and Haylie Duff.
During the 10th season of the situation comedy Frasier, in the episode "Lilith Needs a Favor", Spiner made two brief cameos as a fellow airline passenger with Frasier Crane's ex-wife, Lilith Sternin.
In March 2008, Spiner performed alongside Maude Maggart in a radio show/musical, Dreamland, which was released as a CD album.[17]
In 2008, Spiner played Dr. Strom in the feature film parody Superhero Movie. In February 2009, he played William Quint in "The Juror #6 Job", an episode of the drama series Leverage directed by his Next Generation co-star Jonathan Frakes. That same year, he voiced himself in the Family Guy episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven".
Spiner with William Shatner and LeVar Burton in July 2010
In 2010, Spiner and fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton appeared on TWiT.tv's coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show.[18]
In April 2011, Spiner began starring in Fresh Hell, a comic webseries in which he plays a version of himself, attempting to put his career back together after falling out of the limelight.[19]
He appeared as Dr. Kern in the September 12, 2011, episode of the Syfy channel program Alphas entitled "Blind Spot". In October 2011, he appeared as himself in the episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction" of The Big Bang Theory. The day after his guest appearance, it was announced that Spiner would guest-star in the Young Justice episode "Revelation", providing the voice of the Joker.[20] Spiner has also guest-starred on the Syfy program Warehouse 13 as Brother Adrian in the third and fourth seasons. In episode seven of season four, the character Pete Lattimer jokingly describes another obsessively tidy character in this episode as "Commander Data".
Spiner's web site is at therealbrentspiner.com He selected that domain name because someone else bought the domain name brentspiner.com before he could do so, and he was not amenable to paying the price the owners demanded for it, which Spiner called "inflated".[21]
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1970 My Sweet Charlie Local Uncredited
1980 Stardust Memories Fan in lobby
1982 Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains Corinne Burns's Boss Uncredited
1984 Rent Control Leonard Junger
1985 Crime of Innocence Hinnerman
1986 Sunday in the Park with George Franz/Dennis
1986 Sylvan in Paradise Clinton C. Waddle
1986 Manhunt for Claude Dall Jim Stevens
1987 Family Sins Ken McMahon
1989 Miss Firecracker Preacher Mann
1994 Corrina, Corrina Brent Witherspoon
1994 Star Trek Generations Lt. Commander Data
1995 Kingfish: A Story of Huey Long N/A Uncredited
1996 Pie in the Sky Upscale Guy
1996 Independence Day Dr. Brackish Okun Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1996 Phenomenon Dr. Rob Niedorf
1996 Star Trek First Contact Lt. Commander Data Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1997 Out to Sea Gil Godwyn
1998 Star Trek Insurrection Lt. Commander Data
1999 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Conan O'Brien Voice
2000 Dude, Where's My Car? Pierre Uncredited
2001 I Am Sam Shoe Salesman
2002 The Master of Disguise Devlin Bowman
2002 Star Trek Nemesis Lt. Commander Data/B-4
2004 The Aviator Robert Gross
2006 Material Girls Tommy Katzenbach
2008 Superhero Movie Dr. Strom
2010 Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey Coach Mackey Voice
2015 The Midnight Man Ezekiel
2016 Independence Day: Resurgence Dr. Brackish Okun
Television[edit]
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1978 The Dain Curse Tom Fink Unknown episodes
1979 Family Fred Episode: "Prelude"
1981 Ryan's Hope The Doctor Examining Kim Episode: "#1.1442"
1984 The Paper Chase Student in Reeve's Class Episode: "The Advocates"
1984 Tales from the Darkside Reverend Peabody Episode: "A Case of the Stubborns"
1984 One Life to Live Ralph Harley Episode: "17 December 1984"
1985 Robert Kennedy & His Times Allard Lowenstein Unknown episodes
1985 Hill Street Blues Larry Stein Episode: "The Life and Time of Domonic Florio Jr"
1985–1987 Night Court Bob Wheeler 6 episodes
1986 The New Twilight Zone The Draft Dodger Episode: "The Leprechaun-Artist/Dead Run"
1986 American Playhouse Dennis/Franz Episode: "Sunday in the Park with George"
1986 Hunter Willie Vaughn Episode: "The Contract"
1986–1987 Mama's Family Billy Bob Conroy 2 episodes
1987 Cheers Bill Grand Episode: "Never Love a Goalie (Part 2)"
1987 Sledge Hammer! Soldier Episode: "The Spa Who Loved Me"
1987–1994 Star Trek: The Next Generation Lt. Commander Data/Lore/Dr. Noonien Soong 175 episodes
Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series
1988 Reading Rainbow Himself Episode: "The Bionic Bunny Show"
1991 Crazy from the Heart N/A Television movie; uncredited
1995 Mad About You Bob, The Dog Agent Episode: "Just My Dog"
1995 Deadly Games Danny Schlecht Episode: "The Practical Joker"
1995–1996 Gargoyles Puck 4 episodes
1996 Dream On Dr. Strongwater Episode: "The Spirit of 76th & Park"
1996 The Outer Limits Professor Trent Davis Episode: "The Deprogrammers"
1999 Introducing Dorothy Dandridge Earl Parks Television movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
2000 Geppetto Stromboli Television movie
2001 A Girl Thing Bob Television movie
2001 The Ponder Heart Dorris Grabney Television movie
2003 Frasier Albert Episode: "Lilith Needs a Favor"
2003 An Unexpected Love Brad Television movie
2004 Jack Vernon Television movie
2004 Friends James Campbell Episode: "The One with Princess Consuela"
2004 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Graham Barnes Episode: "Shrink-Wrapped"
2004–2005 Star Trek: Enterprise Dr. Arik Soong/Lt. Commander Data 4 episodes
2005 Joey Himself Episode: "Joey and the Premier"
2005–2006 Threshold Dr. Nigel Fenway 13 episodes
2009 Leverage William Quint Episode: "The Juror #6 Job"
2009 Family Guy Himself (voice) Episode: "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven"
2010–2013 Generator Rex Dr. Gabriel Rylander (voice) 4 episodes
2011 The Guild Himself Episode: "Ends and Begins"
2011 Alphas Dr. Kern Episode: "Blind Spot"
2011 The Big Bang Theory Himself Episode: "The Russian Rocket Reaction"
2011 Young Justice The Joker (voice) Episode: "Revelation"
2011 Fresh Hell Brent Spiner 15 episodes
2012 The Simpsons Robots (voice) Episode: "Them, Robot"
2012 The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Purple Man (voice) Episode: "Emperor Stark"
2012 Warehouse 13 Brother Adrian 6 episodes
2013 Wendell & Vinnie Himself Episode: "Swindle & Vinnie"
2014 Ray Donovan Therapist 3 episodes
2014 Star Wars Rebels Gall Trayvis (voice) 2 episodes
2014 Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Silver Surfer (voice) Episode: "Fear Itself"
2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! The Sandman Episode: "Zach Galifianakis Wears Grey Corduroys and Brown Leather Shoes"
2015–2016 Blunt Talk Phil 4 episodes
2016–present Outcast Sidney 10 episodes
2016 Justice League Action Edward Nygma / The Riddler (voice)
2016 The Blacklist The Architect Episode: "The Architect"
Theatre[edit]
Year
Title
Role
Notes
1978 A History of the American Film Hank
1984–1985 Sunday in the Park with George Franz/Denis
1984 The Three Musketeers Aramis
1985–1987 Big River The Duke
1997–1998 1776 John Adams Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical
2003 Life × 3 Hubert
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Jewish Journal: "Top 5 Jewish moments in ‘Trek’" by Adam Wills May 7, 2009
Jump up ^ "Tweens : Celebrities : Brent Spiner". JUF. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
Jump up ^ "Brent Spiner Biography (1949–)". Film Reference. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
Jump up ^ "Brent Spiner". Yahoo! TV. February 2, 1949. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
Jump up ^ Lipton, Michael A. "Can Data Find a Mate-A?" People magazine; vol. 37, No. 22; June 8, 1992Spelling, Ian (July 23, 2012). "Brent Spiner set to return to Warehouse 13". readingeagle.com
Jump up ^ http://www.bellairedebate.com/ChapterHistory.html
Jump up ^ https://www.speechanddebate.org/nationals-history/#h2-1
Jump up ^ "Before Brent Spiner was Famous". National Forensic League. Retrieved June 17, 2011
Jump up ^ <%= data.objectName %> (2002-12-09). "An Interview with Brent Spiner - IGN - Page 2". Uk.ign.com. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
Jump up ^ "The Advocates". The Paper Chase. Season 2. Episode 17. August 7, 1984.
Jump up ^ Thompson, Simon. "Brent Spiner Rules Out Star Trek XI," ComingSoon.net. Retrieved November 16, 2010
Jump up ^ "Brent Spiner on BBC Breakfast" on YouTube, BBC Breakfast, September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2010
Jump up ^ Lee, Luaine (January 9, 2003). "A Data with Star Trek again". 9 January 2003. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
Jump up ^ 1776: The New Broadway Cast Recording (1997). Amazon.com. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
Jump up ^ By Ken P. (2002-12-09). "An Interview with Brent Spiner". IGN. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
Jump up ^ "Brent Spiner". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
Jump up ^ Tenuto, John (April 27, 2008). "Review: Brent Spiner's Dreamland + Interview + Signed CD Giveaway." TrekMovie.com
Jump up ^ Running time: 12:53. "The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte". Twit.tv. Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
Jump up ^ Fresh Hell's channel on YouTube
Jump up ^ "Young Justice Recruits Brent Spiner and Alyssa Milano for the Injustice League – Today's News: Our Take". TV Guide. October 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
Jump up ^ "Brent Spiner Interview". Cinemassacre. May 6, 2012.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brent Spiner.
Official website
Brent Spiner on IMDb
Brent Spiner at the Internet Broadway Database
Brent Spiner at the TCM Movie Database
Brent Spiner at AllMovie
Interview with Brent about his CD 'Dreamland'
Interview from ComicCon 2011.
Brent Spiner on YouTube sings "Oye Como Va" in Out to Sea film
Brent Spiner on Twitter.
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values: برنت اسپاینر – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
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values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-gl
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values: 브렌트 스파이너 – Korean

values:
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values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-it
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values: ברנט ספיינר – Hebrew

values:
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values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-la
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values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nl
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values: ブレント・スパイナー – Japanese

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-no
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values: Спайнер, Брент – Russian

values: Брент Спајнер – Serbian

values: 布伦特·斯派尔 – Chinese

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