Ralph Senensky dead: Star Trek and The Twilight Zone star dies as tributes flood in

Ralph Senensky has sadly died at the age of 102, after shooting to fame directing episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, The Twilight Zone and The Waltons. Ralph died on Saturday (November 1) in a California hospital, his niece - costume designer Lisa Lupo-Silvas - has confirmed.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "He was 100% sharp until the end. He may have been 102, but he had a mind like he was 30." The Waltons star Mary McDonough also paid tribute on social media, writing: "Sad to share our much loved director has passed. He directed many, many episodes. I wrote about lessons he taught me in my book. RIP Ralph."

Senensky directed more than six episodes of Star Trek, including fan favourite This Side of Paradise. But after directing The Tholian Web in series three, he was quickly fired from the show.

The episode sees Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Chekov wearing shiny silver spacesuits - but the costumes had no zips, meaning the actors needed to be unsewn from the outfits when they needed to use the toilet.

This in turn meant that Senensky was four scenes behind schedule by day three, and he was called into producer Fred Freiberger's office and fired.

Tributes have been flooding in from fans online, with one writing on social media: "The last surviving TOS director is gone. He gave us This Side of Paradise, Return to Tomorrow and others. He also worked on some of my other favourite shows, The Big Valley and The Wild Wild West. RIP Ralph Senensky."

Someone else said: "Very saddened at the passing of Ralph Senensky. He was so inspirational and such a kind fellow. I had the honour of getting to see him reconnect with William Shatner after so many years. He was incredibly gracious and we chatted for a wonderfully long time."

A third X user tweeted: "RIP Ralph Senensky. What a great long life. One of my favourite episodes of Star Trek was Metamorphosis."