thumb|Martel as T'Pring from the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek episode "Amok Time" (1967)]]
Arlene Martel (born Arline Greta Sax; April 14, 1936 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. Before 1964, she was frequently billed as Arline Sax or Arlene Sax. Casting directors, among other Hollywood insiders, called Martel the Chameleon because her appearance and her proficiency with accents and dialects enabled her to portray characters of a wide range of races and ethnicities.
Early life and education
Martel was born Arline Sax in The Bronx and attended the Performing Arts High School in New York. a Hungarian immigrant on The Fugitive episode "The Blessings of Liberty" (1966); the French Resistance contact Tiger in five episodes of Hogan's Heroes (1965–71); and the evil witch Malvina on the Bewitched episode "How Not to Lose Your Head to King Henry VIII (Part 1)" (1971).
Martel's science fiction roles include The Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand" (1964) and the Star Trek episode "Amok Time" (1967) as the scheming and duplicitous, but extremely logical, T'Pring, who is betrothed to Mr. Spock (thus, cast again with Leonard Nimoy) and expected to become his consort.
In 1973 Arlene played a movie actress turned princess on the 3rd episode of Banacek entitled "The Three Million Dollar Piracy".
On Columbo, Martel played Gloria West, the “pretend girlfriend” of the murder victim Tony Goodland (Bradford Dillman), in season 2, episode 2, "The Greenhouse Jungle" (1972), and the salesgirl in the episode "A Friend in Deed" (1974).
In 1977, she was billed as "Tasha Martelle" for the role of secretary Marty Bach in The Rockford Files episode "Trouble in Chapter 17." She appeared as the title character in the Gunsmoke episode "The Squaw" (1975).
Other shows on which Martel appeared included The Restless Gun (episode "A Bell for Santo Domingo"), The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, Here Come the Brides, The Wild Wild West, The Flying Nun, Battlestar Galactica, The Monkees, Mannix, The Rookies, and The Six Million Dollar Man. In the fourth season of "Mission: Impossible" she was reunited with Leonard Nimoy in the episode "Terror," where she played an imprisoned terrorist's ruthless wife.
Martel also appeared in feature films, including The Glass Cage (1964), in the starring role. In Angels from Hell
(1968), she played the owner of a go-go bar frequented by members of a biker gang. She received top billing as the commandant in charge of a Russian road crew in Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (1978), although it was only a bit part, lasting less than five minutes.
Late-life roles included a Vulcan priestess in the Star Trek fan film "Of Gods and Men" in a scene with her "Amok Time" suitor Lawrence Montaigne reprising his role as Stonn, and as one of the narrators of the 2015 documentary film Unity, which was released a year after her death.
Personal life and death
Martel was a regular at Star Trek conventions worldwide from 1972 to 2014. Her last convention appearance was at TrekTrax Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 25–27, 2014, four months before her death.
Martel had breast cancer for the last five years of her life.