(written from a Production point of view)
Ron Kinwald (born 10 December 1932; age 91) was a background actor who worked during the 1960s and 1970s including two uncredited roles in Star Trek: The Original Series: a Tantalus V inmate in "Dagger of the Mind" and a Starbase 11 patron in "Court Martial". By the 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a second assistant director on the four Star Trek: The Next Generation first season episodes "Coming of Age", "Heart of Glory", "The Arsenal of Freedom", and "Skin Of Evil".
Among his work as background actor and member of the Screen Extras Guild are episodes of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1960, 1961, and 1963, with Yvonne Craig, Sherry Jackson, Len Felber, Sally Kellerman, and Susan Bay), the Western There Was a Crooked Man... (1970, with Paul Prokop, David Armstrong, Bill Borzage, Dave Cadiente, Vince Cadiente, Lars Hensen, Robert Herron, Henry Kingi, Sr., Jack Perkins, Clark Ross, Jesse Wayne, and Ilona Wilson), the comedy What's Up, Doc? (1972, with Kenneth Mars, Stefan Gierasch, Graham Jarvis, Carl Saxe, Jack Perkins, Gil Perkins, Peter Eastman, Jerry Summers, Tom Anfinsen, Shep Houghton, Monty O'Grady, and Arthur Tovey), and the Western comedy Blazing Saddles (1974, with David Huddleston, Tom Anfinsen, Dave Armstrong, Jimmie Booth, Dave Cadiente, Bill Catching, Dick Crockett, Dick Cherney, Kenny Endoso, Seamon Glass, Robert Hitchcock, Troy Melton, Beans Morocco, Hal Needham, Monty O'Grady, Jack Perkins, Al Roberts, Clark Ross, George Sawaya, David Sharpe, Eddie Smith, Paul Stader, Tom Steele, Jerry Summers, and Bill Zuckert).
Besides background acting, Kinwald worked as stand-in for Charles Bronson on the action drama Breakout (1975, with Jill Ireland and Robert Herron).
Kinwald then worked as second assistant director on the crime comedy Moving Violation (1976, with Stephen McHattie), the television musical Cindy (1978), the television series The Paper Chase (1978-1979), the television drama Orphan Train (1979), the television drama Evita Peron (1981, with assistant property master Alan Sims), the horror film Evilspeak (1981, with Clint Howard and Don Stark), the comedy Six Pack (1982), the television series Remington Steele (1983), the action comedy D.C. Cab (1983, with second unit director Alan Oliney), the television drama Second Sight: A Love Story (1984), the comedy Moving Violations (1985, with Sally Kellerman), and the action comedy Real Men (1987, with second unit director Dick Ziker). Between 1985 and 1986 Kinwald was a second and first assistant director on the final season of the television series Trapper John, M.D..
Following his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kinwald worked as second assistant director on the television drama Circus (1988, with Tony Jay and Thalmus Rasulala), the short drama The Magic Boy's Easter (1989, directed by John Meredyth Lucas and Marc Daniels), the action comedy Rescue Me (1992, with second unit director B.J. Davis), the crime drama Jade (1995), and the drama Red Ribbon Blues (1996, along with David Goldfarb), as first assistant director on the television series The Bradys (1990) and FBI: The Untold Stories (1991), and as assistant director on the drama Backstreet Dreams (1990, with second unit director B.J. Davis) and the documentary Meet John Wooden (2011).