Ongaro

Ongaro is a fictional mutant featured in the Planet of the Apes multimedia franchise. Played by actor Don Pedro Colley, he appeared in the second installment of the original series, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. The character has also appeared, in some capacity or another, in all adaptations of the film.

Biography
Ongaro was one of the mutants that lived beneath the ruins of St. Patrick's Cathedral in the latter half of the 40th century. He was also one of the elder members of the Fellowship of the Holy Fallout.

A self-proclaimed pacifist, Ongaro did not believe in direct physical violence. Rather, he preferred to use his mental prowess to manipulate his foes into killing each other. Like all members of the Fellowship, Ongaro possessed the ability to project his thoughts directly into the minds of others. He could also exert control over select individuals, forcing them to commit acts of violence. Ongaro could pull abstract mental impressions from a target's mind and visually project them for others to see. His projections were always filtered through a haze of yellow light, oftentimes overlapping psychic impressions created by his fellow mutants. Of all the known members of the Fellowship, Ongaro appeared to harbor a great enmity towards both apes and non-mutant humans.

Ongaro was one of several mutants present at the interrogation of John Brent and the mute human, Nova. The mutants forced Brent to attack Nova, nearly choking her to death, in the hopes of getting him to reveal critical information concerning a nearby community of militant apes.

Later, Ongaro imprisoned Brent in a cell along with another human - the time lost George Taylor. He forced Taylor and Brent to fight one another, but the unexpected presence of Nova distracted the mutant long enough for the others to momentarily break free of the mind control. Taylor and Brent attacked Ongaro and Brent impaled him against the spiked bars of the cell, killing him.

Notes & Trivia

 * The character of Ongaro was played by actor Don Pedro Colley.


 * In the final shooting script of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, as well as in the film's closing credits, Colley's character is credited only as "Negro".


 * All of the elder members of the Fellowship of the Holy Fallout wore liturgical vestments, which were color-coordinated with the visual effects of their thought projection abilities. Ongaro wore a yellow stole over his tunic to match the color of his psychic impressions.

Merchandise
In 2004, Sideshow Collectibles produced a twelve-inch limited edition Ongaro action figure. Labeled as "Mutant Jailor", only 500 models of this Planet of the Apes collectible were put into production. The figure features over thirty points of articulation, as well as a removable face-piece revealing Ongaro's radiation-scarred visage. The "Mutant Jailor" figure was packaged with several accessories including an Alpha-Omega bomb launch command crystal, a Doomsday prayer book, An Alpha-Omega pendant and a figure display stand bearing the Beneath the Planet of the Apes movie logo. The figure was sculpted by artist Mat Falls.

Appearances

 * Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)