Andreas Katsulas was one of those actors whose face you recognize instantly without having a clue who they are. Its no exaggeration to call his cohort the backbone of Hollywood.

On the other hand, Katsulas was actually a face you might not recognize because his best known role required such extensive makeup. The voice though was unmistakable. While I liked him in "The Fugitive" and some of his other work, the reason I remark his passing was his role as Citizen G'Kar, the St. Paul-like figure of Babylon 5 who in counterpoint to Ambassador Londo Mollari, was one of the most remarkable characters ever seen on television. While Mollari was a weak man who found strength, G'Kar was a bad man (OK, Narn) who became good.

"Let me pass on to you the one thing I've learned about this place: No one here is exactly what he appears. Not Mollari, not Delenn, not Sinclair .. and not me." (G'Kar, Mind War)

Katsulas died on Monday after a long illness. He was not the only Babylon 5 alumnus to have died before his time--Richard Biggs, who played Dr. Stephen Franklin on the series, died in 2004 at the age of 43 of unspecified causes.