Susan Denberg (born 2 August 1944 in Bad Polzin, Germany (now Połczyn-Zdrój, Poland)) is the stage name of an Austrian model and actress, born Dietlinde Zechner.
After becoming immersed in the 60s high life of drugs and sex, Denberg left show business and returned to Austria. News interviews at the time show a depressed Denberg in the company of her mother, at home in Klagenfurt. These news items, repeated in fan periodicals for years, gave the impression Denberg was suicidal or had already died. Actually, she is still alive.
In 1965, Denberg landed a co-starring role as a German girl on the ABC war drama series 12 O’Clock High. Her fellow TOS guest star Frank Overton was a regular on this series (Robert Lansing had been a regular, as well, but he left the series the previous year).
The following year, Denberg made her feature film debut with a supporting role in the drama An American Dream. Star Trek regular George Takei and TOS guest actors Richard Derr and Warren Stevens also had roles in this film, which was directed by Robert Gist. While working on this film, Warner Bros. held a contest to find Susan a new screen name, offering a $500 award to whoever came up with the best one, but all of the entries were ultimately rejected.
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Denberg was featured Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine’s August 1966 issue. In her profile, Denberg stated that she had ambitions to become an actress. Denberg was later one of the finalists for the title of 1967′s Playmate of the Year, though the title ultimately went to Lisa Baker.
Denberg’s most famous acting role outside of Star Trek was in Hammer Film‘s cult 1967 science fiction/horror film Frankenstein Created Woman, opposite Peter Cushing. However, Denberg’s voice in the film was dubbed as her Austrian accent was considered too strong.
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After Frankenstein Created Woman, Denberg returned to Austria. Over the years, rumors surfaced that she had died of a drug overdose in 1967 or that she had become mentally unstable as a result of using the drug LSD. In actuality, Denberg is currently alive and well, and is living in Klagenfurt, Austria, under her real name, Dietlinde Zechner.
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Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, memory-alpha and Internet Movie Database
