Leonard Nimoy

LEONARD NIMOY

The term living legend is often overused ... but regarding Leonard Nimoy, it could not be more logical.

Leonard Simon Nimoy was born on March 26th, 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Izyaslav, Ukraine.  His father, Max, was a barber -- his mother, Dora, a homemaker.  Leonard grew up enthralled by radio plays like The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, and I Love a Mystery.  His first acting experience came at age 8, though he would be 17 before he got his first major role as Ralphie in the play Awake and Sing.  Leonard studied photography at UCLA, but he moved back to Boston before completing his degree.  Attending Boston University, he eventually received an MA in education.  He dabbled in drama while there, but quickly realized that if he wanted to act, he needed to leave school and go where the action was.

After a brief stint in the U.S. Army Reserve, Leonard headed to Los Angeles to seek work as a film actor.  After appearing on a talent show called Lights, Camera, Action (not unlike a dramatic American Idol), Leonard went on to bit parts in films like Queen For a Day, Zombies of the Stratosphere, Francis Goes to West Point, and Them!  Much TV work followed on Highway Patrol, Dragnet, Sea Hunt, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, The Lieutenant, The Outer Limits, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (where Leonard first worked with a young actor named William Shatner), Daniel Boone, Get Smart, and Gunsmoke (to name only a few), although he was usually stuck playing dark, brooding, and/or ethnic parts.

LEONARD NIMOY AS SPOCK

In early 1965, writer Gene Roddenberry hired Leonard to play an alien character named Spock on a new pilot he was producing entitled Star Trek.  Conceived as a “Wagon Train to the stars,” the extremely well written and produced episode was considered “too cerebral” by the network suits -- however, in an unheard of act, they asked Roddenberry to try again ... with the caveat that he “get rid of the guy with the pointy ears.”

Roddenberry did try again, but he did not evict Leonard.  He rather promoted the “Vulcan” to first officer and gave him a new captain: James Kirk played by William Shatner.

The unique interplay between Spock’s cool intelligence and Kirk’s cocky swagger was palpable, and this rapport was one of the major things which helped sell the show to the network.  The ship was called Enterprise, its mission was to “boldly go where no man had gone before,” and a phenomenon was born -- although it would be many years before any of the cast or producers realized how BIG the show was.

Between 1966 and 1969, Star Trek produced 79 episodes, many of which told morality tales regarding taboo subjects like racism, addiction, and war, all the while selling the messages as science fiction.

NBC would eventually cancel Star Trek due to low ratings.

NIMOY AS SPOCK - EARLY PUBLICITY SHOT

Putting away Spock’s pointy ears (for good, he thought), Leonard went on to join the cast of the CBS series Mission: Impossible, replacing the exiting Martin Landau.  Leonard portrayed The Great Paris, whose specialties were languages, voice mimicry, disguises, and sleight of hand -- he was also considered a ladies man.  Leonard played Paris from 1969 - 1971, on the show’s fourth and fifth seasons.

After some more television work (Night Gallery, Columbo), Leonard reunited with William Shatner, DeForest Kelley and other Trek alumni in doing voice work for Star Trek: The Animated Series, produced by Filmation Studios.  The Saturday morning cartoon show ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974.  While the animation was (very) cheaply produced, many of the writers from The Original Series, like D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, and Paul Schneider, penned episodes for the half-hour show.

In 1978, Leonard played a New-Age psychologist in director Phillip Kaufman’s remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  During this period, Leonard also hosted and narrated a television series entitled In Search Of ..., which investigated paranormal or unexplained events.  He appeared in the miniseriesMarco Polo and A Woman Called Golda, and such plays as Vincent (which he wrote), Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, Camelot, One Flew OVer the Cuckoo’s Nest, The King and I, Caligula, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes, Equus and My Fair Lady.

NIMOY AND SHATNER AS SPOCK AND KIRK

Though Leonard thought he was through with Star Trek, fan conventions and astronomical syndication numbers were causing a rising fervor for more.  In 1976, NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, which, thanks to a massive letter campaign, was christened Enterprise.  After the success of Star Wars, Paramount announced that it was producing a new series called Star Trek Phase II.  It was soon scrapped in favor of rebooting Star Trek as a theatrical film.  Though Leonard was dubious, he signed on.

In 1979, Oscar-winner Robert Wise directed Star Trek: The Motion Picture -- despite some legitimate criticism that the film celebrated spectacle at the expense of character, it was a phenomenal success.  Such problems were entirely absent from 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Writer/director Nicholas Meyer took over the helm after being hired by producer Harve Bennett -- their take on the material was intimate, character-driven, funny, action-packed and operatic.  A lot of fun ... even if Spock’s character died (heroically) at the film’s climax.  This being science fiction, a “logical” way of bringing Spock back was found and played to good effect in 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which Leonard also directed.  Two years later, Leonard directed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which brought the series back round to its oft underplayed comedic roots.  After two more Star Trek films, 1989’s The Final Frontier, and 1991’s The Undiscovered Country (not to mention a two-part Next Generation episode where he played Spock), Leonard hung up his ears for good ... again, he thought.

LEONARD NIMOY

Leonard’s other directorial efforts include 1987’s Three Men and a Baby, and 1988’s The Good Mother.  He also did voice work as Galvatron in 1986’s animated feature film, The Transformers: The Movie.

Leonard has written two autobiographies – the first was 1977’s I Am Not Spock, the title of which many Star Trek fans took as an insult.  Leonard later stated that he was merely trying to remind overzealous fans that he and Spock were not the same person.  In 1995, he would appease such criticism with a second autobiography, aptly titled I Am Spock (highly recommended).  In 2002, Leonard published a book of poetry called A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life.  He has also returned to his love of photography, and published two books regarding such: Shekhina and The Full Body Project.

Leonard has been married twice.   First, to actress Sandra Zober in 1954 –  they have two children, Adam Nimoy (a director) and Julie Nimoy – Leonard and Sandra divorced in 1987.  In 1988, Leonard married actress Susan Bay (incidentally, the aunt of director Michael Bay).

Though Leonard officially retired from acting in 2002, he was coaxed out of such by director J.J. Abrams who convinced him that his 2009 reboot of Star Trek could not be made without him.  Indeed, the script by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman was so respectful of Roddenberry’s original intent, and the character of Spock so integral to the story, Leonard was reportedly “overwhelmed and misty-eyed” by what they had done.  He agreed to pull the ears out of the moth balls and play Spock one more time.  In the film, another actor, Zachary Quinto, plays young Spock.  Leonard worked closely with Zach, and raved about the young man’s performance.  Star Trek opened in May of 2009 to record box-office.

For an intimate (and fascinating) interview between Nimoy and his best friend (really) Shatner, click here.

For Leonard's own thoughts on Star Trek, see 1983's Leonard Nimoy's Star Trek Memories (posted below).

Live long and prosper.