- Born
- Died
- Birth nameRalph Abbott Senensky
- Ralph Senensky was born on May 1, 1923 in Mason City, Iowa, USA. He was a director and production manager, known for Star Trek (1966), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Mannix (1967). He died on November 1, 2025 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA.
- ParentsJennie WoldmanWilliam Senensky
- RelativesErvin Bernard Senensky(Sibling)
- Began his career directing community theater and summer stock.
- According to his official website "Ralph's Cinema Trek," one project Senensky directed, Mission: Impossible: The Train (1967), was submitted for Emmy consideration in 1967 and won the award for Outstanding Dramatic Series that year. In addition, Senensky directed two performers to Emmy wins in 1977: Gary Frank for Family: Lovers and Strangers (1977) and Beulah Bondi for The Waltons: The Pony Cart (1976).
- Was a typist in CBS Radio's mimeograph department in the early 1950s.
- With the death of Robert Butler on November 3, 2023, he was the last surviving person to have directed an episode of Star Trek (1966).
- He was the last surviving person to have directed an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959).
- Directing episodic television is like jumping on a freight train in motion. As a director, you have to jump on and not break your legs. Once you've boarded it, you must climb on top of the train and run across, get into the engine and take over running it. Much of what happens is that before you can bring anything personal to a story -- which you have to do -- you have to get acquainted with who the people are. That's not in terms of who you want them to be but who they already are, because you catch them as ongoing, already established characters. You do that and then you can start to find the warts and different things to do, finding outlets and ways that you can extend and expand.
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