JohnBillingsley.Net
October 2002
Magazine: TV Zone
Issue: #144
Cuckoo Phlox
The veteran actor brushes up on his bedside manner for his tour of duty aboard the Enterprise.
When it comes to the medical profession, Star Trek has always been an equal opportunity employer. Its chief medical officers have included a Southern gentleman, a beautiful and brainy woman, a genetically engineered human and even a hologram. In the newest Trek incarnation, Enterprise, the crew’s health and wellbeing are the responsibility of the very capable Doctor Phlox.
An alien of as yet an unnamed species, Phlox appears to be in his mid-forties, has big blue eyes, a distinctive bone structure and an eccentric sense of humour. Not one to get flustered, the physician’s approach to medicine can, at times, seem a bit too relaxed. He is neither an optimist nor a pessimist but more a realist. Phlox will do whatever it takes to save a patient’s life, which can include using some unconventional remedies. To John Billingsley, who plays Phlox, the character is an enigma and one whose background he is eager to explore.
"I was having a conversation with someone recently in which I suggested that Doctor Phlox comes from a race of highly intellectual philosophers," says the actor. "Of course, this is my own backstory. It could very well be contradicted by what [series creators and executive producers] Rick Berman and Brannon Braga come up with. However, it’s my sense that his people are incredible navel gazers who have essentially become monks. As such, they really haven’t had a great deal of exposure to other species. Conversely, my character is, at least to a certain extent, anomalous in that he considers it vital to be an extrovert as opposed to an introvert.
"Doctor Phlox is as much an anthropologist as he is a doctor," continues Billingsley. "He’s Eastern in his view of the world, or should I say universe. The character has a deep understanding as well as respect for the cycles of life and continuity in the universe. You can see this in the way he approaches his work and his life. Phlox is an extremely balanced individual. He isn’t going to buckle under. Whatever happens he’s going to ride the wave.
"On the surface he may seem to behave much like a Vulcan, but, in fact, he’s quite different from them. Although he’s a very smart person, Phlox hasn’t had to stifle his sense of playfulness or joy in order to feed his intellectual craving. He’s not someone who subsumes his enthusiasm for life in his logical outlook. Again, I think he brings a bit of balance to the Enterprise crew. He’s not as hyper-impetuous as Earthlings are because he’s been around the block a few times. Phlox has knowledge of other life forms and a respect for them. Unlike most humans, he’s met other alien species. He realizes how important it is to keep an open mind and at the same time be somewhat cautious. Also, whereas Vulcans are overly concerned with what the appropriate response to a situation should be, Phlox isn’t. He hasn’t lost the ability to roll the dice, and that’s what I hope is going to make him challenging and fun for me to play."
A native of Pennsylvania, Billingsley’s family travelled around quite a bit while he was growing up. They eventually settled in Weston, Connecticut and, after graduating from high school, he enrolled in Bennington College in Vermont to study writing. "I chose that school primarily because it had a higher female to male ratio," he jokes. "No, seriously, it had a wonderful writing programme and I had the privilege of studying with such writers as Nick Delbanco, Harry Matthews and Bernard Mallamo. However, I felt a little like a novice actor taking a master class with Sir Laurence Olivier. I was incredibly impressed and at the same time incredibly humbled. Consequently, I started to shy away from writing and concentrate more on acting, which was something I’d always loved."
Upon receiving his degree from Bennington, the actor moved to Seattle, Washington and began to hone his craft working in regional theatre. "My first job was a play called Creeps, which was about people with cerebral palsy," recalls Billingsley. "I played a retarded boy with CP. Everyone involved in the show studied the effects of this disease and we got to know the residents at the local CP home, all of whom were incredibly supportive of the production. I still remember that first night walking on stage. My character revealed himself to the audience, relieved himself in a sink and then ate a cigarette. It was a splashy entrance," laughs the actor, "no pun intended."
In 1989, Billingsley founded Book-It Repertory, a Seattle-based theatre company devoted to adapting fiction to the stage, and spent the next five years directing and performing shows. During this time he also co-founded the acting studio Freehold. The actor eventually went to Los Angeles where he continued his theatre work. He also began to get roles on the small and big screens. His feature film credits include Seven Hours to Judgement, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and I Love You to Death. On TV Billingsley has guest-starred in such shows as NYPD Blue, Martial Law, The Pretender and The X-Files. Although he had to read for the part of Doctor Phlox on Enterprise, he later discovered that he was Rick Berman’s and Brannon Braga’s first choice for the role.
"I thought the first audition went pretty well," he says. "The thing I reacted to the most when I read the sides for the character was his high-spiritedness. After my initial audition, the casting director spoke to my manager and I got the impression that they liked the level of enthusiasm I brought to the part. Believe me, it means a lot for an actor to get an endorsement from those in charge that you’re on the right track. It gives you permission to relax into the choices you’re making. Sometimes you wind up in a situation where the producers keep calling you back in to audition but you really have no clue what it is they liked about you in the first place. Fortunately, I was given a hint as to what they were responding to and it worked in my favour."
Doctor Phlox is chosen by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) to serve as the S.S. Enterprise’s chief medical officer in the two-hour Enterprise premiere Broken Bow. The crew’s first mission is to return an injured Klingon, Klaang (Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr.), to the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS (or Kronos), against the advice of the Vulcans. Shortly after leaving Earth, the vessel is attacked by a group of chameleon-like aliens known as the Suliban, who kidnap the Klingon. Archer and his crew set off in search of their new enemies and to find out why they took Klaang. Because his character appears in just a handful of scenes, Billingsley worked only five days out of the five weeks it took to film the show’s pilot episode. The actor laughs out loud when asked about filming his first scene for Enterprise.
"When I originally read for the role I was told they wanted a character with a slight alien accent," notes Billingsley. "I didn’t quite know what that meant, so I chose to talk with a kind of plumy voice as if Phlox had learnt proper English from listening to tapes. I also decided that whenever he got excited when speaking he would squawk in between sentences. Well, they hired me and I was never sure if it was because of or in spite of the squawks.
"I walked onto the set the first day not knowing whether the squawks were in or out. We rehearsed the scene and, naturally, I squawked in places I thought were appropriate. The director [James L. Conway] came up to me and said, ‘So were you just screwing around?’ I said, ‘Do you mean the squawking? I did it in the audition.’ In the end, they decided they didn’t want me squawking for seven seasons, which was fine by me," chuckles the actor.
Although the good Doctor Phlox prides himself on his superior intellect, Billingsley is hoping to reveal some of his character’s flaws as Enterprise goes on. "An actor tends to define his character by its strengths," he explains. "After that, the next thing you have to do is figure out what his weaknesses are. This is what the scripts are just now beginning to suggest to me. Because Earthlings aren’t as developed as Phlox, this naturally leads him to think that he has all the answers that they don’t have. To me, one of the interesting things will be when he recognizes that he, in fact, may not be as on top of his game or as smart as he thinks he is. We’ve just begun filming an episode now that has Phlox failing, and I think that failure will suggest to me possibilities I hadn’t seen before about where to take my character. It’s very exciting."
Fans of TV sci-fi and fantasy might remember Billingsley from the short-lived Steven Spielberg series The Others. He played Professor Miles Ballard, the facilitator of a group of gifted individuals whose unique powers allowed them to reach over into other dimensions. "I loved working on The Others because all the people involved in it were so wonderful," enthuses the actor. "To be honest, though, the writing was on the wall right from the get-go with the show. We had been promised the Friday night slot, but that ended up going to Dick Wolf’s Law and Order - Special Victims Unit. When I heard we’d been given the Saturday night slot I thought, ‘Forget it, this isn’t going to fly.’ The truth is Dick Wolf has a better track record on TV than Steven Spielberg.
"So it was kind of a deathwatch from the beginning. There were enough good things about the show for it to have weathered the initial storms if we had been given a full season and a better time slot. Unfortunately, that opportunity wasn’t afforded us."
Given the track record of previous Trek series, Billingsley can likely look forward to a long voyage aboard Enterprise, and that is OK with him. "When The Others was cancelled I was primarily sorry because I thought the chances of ever getting together with another such fun group would be slim. Happily, the Enterprise cast and crew are equally as special. I’m having a terrific time."
By Steven Eramo
Submitted by Jo Healy