A former homeless man with a talent for sketching and a love of “Star Trek,” Mike Quinn mustered up the courage Saturday to boldly go where almost no estranged cousin has gone before.
Quinn, who will turn 50 this week, got an early birthday hug from Denise Crosby, a brief star on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” who was invited by the Santa Cruz comic book haunt Atlantis Fantasyworld to sign autographs during the opening weekend of the new “Star Trek” movie. Though the two had never met, Quinn handed Crosby a wicker basket full of peach-colored flowers and told her that, well, they are cousins.
Taken aback, Crosby, the granddaughter of legendary crooner Bing Crosby who briefly attended Cabrillo College, delightedly gave her long-lost relative a big hug and said she saw the family resemblance as Quinn explained that his late grandmother was Bing Crosby’s sister.
“What do you do with this?” the actress told the Sentinel, explaining that cousins and other relatives occasionally come out of the woodwork at Trekkie conventions or other gigs. “How do you pick up from there and start a relationship?”
Quinn said he wasn’t nervous about meeting Crosby until he was actually started talking to her — “kind of like the night before you say, I do.’” he said. As he walked away from the table where Crosby was signing pictures featuring her “Next Generation” character, Lt. Tasha Yar, Quinn couldn’t resist telling her, “You’re a hottie.”
Quinn, who said he grew up in Watsonville and attended school in Salinas, has had a roof over his head since October. But before that, he said has drifted all over the place, from Los Angeles’ Skid Row to Albuquerque and Washington state. He said he has permanent disabilities in his back and left leg that he said stemmed from a work injury.
Despite his rough road, Quinn said, “I really am thankful for everything I have.”
And he was thankful that comic book store owner Joe Ferrara was willing to introduce him personally to Crosby, who has not yet seen the new movie. Director J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the franchise explores the early days of cornerstone characters Capt. James Kirk and Spock.
Ferrara was able to snag Crosby for a six-hour appearance because she once starred in a play in New York with his cousin, an actor named John Cirigliano, who was on an episode of “Star Trek: Voyager,” which started the season after “Next Generation” went off air in 1994.
“Anybody who met her here, they will always remember it,” Ferrara said.
As fans lined up outside the store to chat with Crosby, Ferrara, a big Trek fan who has owned his Cedar Street store for 33 years, said he respected Crosby’s decision to leave the show.
“She made a choice creatively that creative people understand,” he said.
Crosby, 51, said she attended Cabrillo College’s drama program for just one year in 1976. Although mostly a Los Angeles area resident, Crosby said she had moved up to Santa Cruz County — some of the Crosby clan lived in Carmel — because “I fell in love with the area.”
Crosby left the “Next Generation” after just one season because she wanted a bigger part, but briefly reprised the role a few years later. In 1989, she appeared in the adaptation of Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary” and nabbed a small role in 1997’s “Jackie Brown.”
But it was during her appearance in the documentary “Trekkies” about Star Trek fans that she met Ken and Pat Krob of Salinas. The couple, who themselves met more than 20 years ago at a Trek convention, trekked to Santa Cruz on Saturday with their three “Starfleet” poodles — one of whom is named Tasha Yar — to greet Crosby.
“Her character was a strong woman and basically didn’t take any stuff from anyone,” said Pat Krob, 56. “And I’m a strong woman and I don’t take anything from anyone.”
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