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Janos Prohaska (born János Prohászka; October 10, 1919 – March 13, 1974) was a Hungarian-born American actor and stunt performer. He appeared on American television from the 1960s and usually played the roles of animals (mostly bears and gorillas) or monsters.
He played a recurring comic role as The Cookie Bear on The Andy Williams Show from 1969 to 1971. Prohaska also appeared in multiple roles on TV series including The Outer Limits, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Lost in Space, and a few episodes of Gilligan's Island, where he plays a gorilla. His only credited role on that series appears in the episode "Our Vines Have Tender Apes." He also played the title role in the 1965 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla". In 1967 he appeared as a white gorilla in the "Fatal Cargo" episode of the ABC-TV sci-fi series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
He was in the first Star Trek pilot, , as an ape and as a humanoid bird. (1999). 9780671536091, Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671536091 "Prohaska, Janos: Anthropoid ape and Humanoid bird, 'Cage, The' (TOS); Horta; mugato; Yarnek, costumed" Later he was in three episodes of the , wearing alien costumes he himself designed and made as the Horta in "The Devil in the Dark" (1999). 9780671536091, Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671536091 " Horta (Janos Prohaska)... The Horta was designed, built, and performed by Janos Prohaska, who reportedly wore the costume into Star Trek producer Gene Coon's office. Coon liked the creature so much he wrote "Devil in the Dark" to feature it." and the mugato in "A Private Little War". (1999). 9780671536091, Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671536091 " mugato (Janos Prohaska)... Janos Prohaska was also the Horta from "Devil in the Dark" and the Excalbian from "The Savage Curtain"... Prohaska designed and built the mugato from an ape suit he had previously built for another project."
He also stunt-doubled for both Arnold Stang and Peter Falk in the 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in which Stang, a small and lightweight man, wore shoulder pads under his costume so that his appearance would match the bulky appearance of Prohaska.
Prohaska made an appearance on an episode of What's My Line? in 1969, where he wore one of his ape costumes.
| Episode: "The Architects of Fear" (Uncredited) |
| Episode: "The Sixth Finger" (Uncredited) |
| Uncredited |
| Episode: "The Probe" |
| Episode: "The Case of the Grinning Gorilla" |
| Episode: "Lucy and The Monkey" |
| Episode: "The Devil in the Dark" (Uncredited) |
| Episode: "A Private Little War" |
| Episode: "The Savage Curtain" (Uncredited) |
| Episode: "Comeback" |
| Episode: "The Marionettes" |
| Uncredited |
| Uncredited |
| Episode: "" (Uncredited); First pilot (1965) not released until 1986 |
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