Spock

Species	Half-Vulcan (paternal) Half-Human (maternal)
Affiliation	Starfleet Vulcan Government
Posting	USS Enterprise science officer/first officer and commanding officer USS Enterprise-A science officer/first officer Federation Ambassador-at-Large
Rank	Lieutenant commander Commander Captain
Portrayed by	Leonard Nimoy Zachary Quinto

Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise.^[1] First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek books, comics, and video games.^[1][2] In the 2009 film Star Trek, Nimoy reprised his role alongside Zachary Quinto, who played a younger, alternate-timeline version of the character and Jacob Kogan playing Spock as a child.^[2]

Spock serves aboard the starship Enterprise, serving as science officer and first officer, and later as commanding officer of two iterations of the vessel. Spock's mixed human-Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with James T. Kirk and Leonard McCoy, he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series and its films. After retiring from Starfleet, Spock serves as a Federation ambassador, contributing toward the détente between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. In his later years, he serves as Federation ambassador to the Romulan Empire and becomes involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus from a supernova.^[3]

Depiction[link]

Original series television and films[link]

The character was initially depicted as the USS Enterprise's science officer for the original pilot, "The Cage" (1964). Although "The Cage" did not air, Spock's eleven years of service under the command of Captain Christopher Pike are referenced and depicted in "The Menagerie" (1966) and other episodes.^[4] The character's first broadcast appearance is in "The Man Trap" (1966), which introduces him as the ship's science officer and first officer under Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).^[4] Star Trek depicts a "troika" of Spock, Kirk, and Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley); while McCoy often acts as Kirk's conscience, Spock offers the captain an emotionally detached, logical perspective.^[4] The character also offers an "outsider's" perspective on "the human condition".^[4]

Star Trek also presents elements of Spock's upbringing and family. "Journey to Babel" (1967) depicts his parents: Sarek (Mark Lenard), the Vulcan ambassador to the Federation, and Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt), a human.^[1] Spock's decision to join Starfleet, rather than attend the Vulcan Science Academy, ran contrary to his father's wishes.^[5] The relationship between Spock and Sarek is strained and often turbulent, although rooted in an underlying respect and carefully restrained love for each other.^[4][6] The 1973 animated series episode "Yesteryear" shows seven-year-old Spock choosing to pursue a Vulcan lifestyle devoted to logic and suppressing emotion.

At the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Spock is no longer in Starfleet, having resigned and returned home to pursue the Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr. Spock is unable to complete the Kolinahr ritual after he senses the coming of V'ger, and rejoins Starfleet to aid the Enterprise crew in their mission.^[1] Spock, promoted to captain, is commanding officer of the Enterprise at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).^[1] At the film's end, he transfers his "katra" – the sum of his memories and experience – to McCoy, and then sacrifices himself to save the ship and its crew from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán).^[1] The sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), focuses on his crewmates' quest to recover Spock's body, resurrected by the Genesis matrix in the previous film. At the film's conclusion, Spock's revived body is reunited with his katra.^[1] Spock is next seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), which depicts his recovery from the after-effects of his resurrection. In the film's final scene, he joins the crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A under Kirk's command.^[1] In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Spock and the Enterprise crew confront the renegade Sybok, Spock's half-brother.^[1] Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) reunites the Enterprise crew on a mission to prevent war from erupting between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Spock serves as a special envoy to broker peace with the Klingons after a natural disaster devastates their homeworld.

[edit] Star Trek: The Next Generation

Spock appears in "Unification" (1991), a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set 75 years after the events of The Undiscovered Country, the episode focuses on Federation Ambassador Spock's attempt to reunite the Romulans with their Vulcan brethren.^[6] Filming of The Undiscovered Country overlapped with production of this episode, and the episode references Spock's role in the film.^[6]

[edit] Star Trek (2009)

Spock's next appearance in the live action Star Trek franchise is the 2009 Star Trek film. In the film's prologue (set 19 years after the events of Unification, and as depicted in the graphic novel Star Trek: Countdown^[3]), Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) promises the Romulans he will use Vulcan technology to save them from a rogue supernova that threatens to destroy their Empire. The mission is only partially successful, and in the aftermath Spock is pursued into the past by Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan driven mad by the loss of his homeworld and family, setting into motion the events of the film.

In the film's opening act, Nero's ship emerges in the year 2233, and through its interaction with the inhabitants, inadvertently creates an "alternate, parallel 'Star Trek' universe".^[7][8] Stranded in the alternate past, the prime version of Spock helps alternate, younger versions of himself and Kirk (Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, respectively) thwart Nero's attempt to destroy the Federation.

The film also features Jacob Kogan in several scenes depicting Spock's childhood, including his abuse at the hands of other Vulcan children due to his half-Human heritage, and his relationship with his parents (Ben Cross and Winona Ryder). The film also depicts Kirk and Spock's initial clashes at Starfleet Academy, and the gradual development of their friendship based on shared mutual respect,^[7] what the elder Spock calls "... a friendship that will define [them] both in ways [they] cannot yet realize."^[9] A major change in characterization from the primary timeline is alternate Spock's involvement with alternate Uhura (Zoe Saldana), his former student. At the end of the film, the young Spock opts to remain in Starfleet, while his older self stays in the altered universe to aid the few surviving Vulcan refugees, as Nero had destroyed Vulcan, Spock's home planet.

Development[link]

Spock, as originally described in Gene Roddenberry's 1964 pitch for Star Trek, is "probably half Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears".^[10] Early versions had the character ingest energy through a plate in his stomach. Writer Samuel A. Peeples told Roddenberry these attributes made Spock too alien, and suggested "he should at least be half-human and have the problems of both sides",^[11] believing the human traits made the character more interesting and able to comment on the human condition more believably. Spock's home planet was changed because Roddenberry thought if the show was a success, humans might actually walk on Mars during the series' run.^[12]

Roddenberry sought an alien-sounding name when he created "Spock", and did not know until later of Dr. Benjamin Spock, the famous pediatrician and author.^[13] In the initial, rejected pilot, "The Cage" (1964), Spock is greenish yellow and from the planet Vulcan. After DeForest Kelley in 1964 stated his non-interest in playing the role,^{[14]:133,147[15]} Roddenberry cast Nimoy because he knew him from a guest appearance in his pilot The Lieutenant; after Roddenberry saw Nimoy's thin face and sharp features, no other actors were considered^[16] - Kelley, on the other hand, would later be cast as Dr. McCoy, the highly emotional human who became Spock's frequent foil. Had Nimoy turned down the role, Roddenberry would have approached Martin Landau.^[17]

The "pointy ears" worn by Nimoy while portraying Spock are a form of facial prosthesis, mainly composed from molded and painted syntactic foam.^[18] The foam was created by filling a ceramic matrix with hollow particles called microballoons, which result in a low density prosthesis that is easily worn. However, the process of ungluing the ears was painful for Nimoy, and meant that he had to come in an hour and a half early before filming, and stay behind for a half hour each day after filming, to apply and remove the glued pieces. The pain and inconvenience were so great that when producer Robert H. Justman jokingly proposed plastic surgery, Nimoy momentarily considered doing so.^[19] NBC was concerned about Spock's satanic appearance, however, and asked for the character to be dropped; according to Oscar Katz, the network was worried "the 'guy with the ears' would scare the shit out of every kid in America". Publicity shots of the character were airbrushed so Spock had normal eyebrows and round ears. With Katz's help, Roddenberry was able to keep the character.^[12] Throughout the character's television and movie appearances, the shape of Spock's ears has varied, due in part to the different makeup artists applying them.^[20]

Spock did not originally have the logical manner which would become associated with the character, this instead being a trait of the character Number One (Majel Barrett). However, Number One was dropped in developing the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966). This episode presents a more fully formed Spock, with his trademark logic.^[21] Nimoy liked the character's newly logical nature, observing the character is "struggling to maintain a Vulcan attitude, a Vulcan philosophical posture and a Vulcan logic, opposing what was fighting him internally, which was human emotion".^[22] Spock's behavior has been described as representing, in part, a type of normative judgment.^[23] Spock's Vulcan salute references a sacred hand position used by the ancient Jewish priestly class. Desilu vice president Herbert Solow believes Nimoy was the key contributor to the character's depiction.^[24] Nimoy recalled, "As a Jew from Catholic Boston, I understood what it was like to feel alienated, apart from the mainstream...There were a number of values in 'Star Trek' that I felt very comfortable with as a Jew".^[25]

[edit] Death in The Wrath of Khan

Nimoy had not intended to join the cast of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but was enticed back with the promise that his character would be given a dramatic death scene.^[26] Nimoy reasoned that since The Wrath of Khan would be the final Star Trek film, having Spock "go out in a blaze of glory" seemed like a good way to resolve the character's fate.^[27] In an earlier draft of the script, Spock had died in the first act in a shocking demise that the movie's producer Harve Bennett compared to Janet Leigh's early death in Psycho.^[28] Fan reaction to leaked news that Spock would be killed was overwhelmingly negative,^[29] and one fan paid for trade-paper advertisements urging Paramount to abandon the plan.^[30] Some fans even went so far as to issue death threats against Leonard Nimoy's family. According to Bennett:

For some reason fans got the impression that he [Nimoy] wanted Spock dead. He'd written a book "I Am Not Spock," and that gave people the idea. Anyway, when a fringe group of Trekkies learned that we were going to kill the Spock character, it was like we'd taken a child of theirs onto the Brooklyn Bridge with the intention of throwing it off. And their reaction was, "Let's get Leonard."^[31]

By April 1981, a revised script was completed that moved the character's death to the movie's final act.^[32][33] Spock's death scene was shot over three days, during which no visitors were allowed on set.^[33]

Spock's death was intended to be irrevocable, but Nimoy had such a positive experience during filming that he asked if he could find a way for Spock to return in a later film. The scene showing Spock's mind meld with McCoy was filmed without actor DeForest Kelley's prior knowledge of its true meaning.^[34] Test audience reaction to Spock's death and the film's ending (the tone of which was dark and final) was poor,^[27] so Bennett made it more uplifting by adding a final scene revealing Spock's casket on the Genesis planet. During this scene, Nimoy reads the famous "These are the voyages" monologue—which, till then, was used only to begin Star Trek stories, thus implying Spock's "story" might not be over.

Director Nicholas Meyer objected to but did not obstruct the changes,^[35] and even Nimoy didn't know about the new scene until he viewed the film.^[36] Before the film opened, the media reassured worried fans that Spock would "live again".^[30]

Reaction to Spock's death[link]

The Wrath of Khan had its first public screening at a science-fiction convention in Overland Park, Kansas on May 8, 1982, almost a month before general release. Although Paramount executives were concerned that Spock's death would set fans against the movie, the audience actually applauded after Spock's death scene. "It was sensational. I hate to be given to superlatives but it absolutely reached everything we wanted it to. I couldn't ask for anything better," said co-producer Robert Sallin of the advance audience's reaction.^[37]

Critical reaction to Spock's death was mixed. Film critic Roger Ebert lauded Spock's death: "He makes a choice in STAR TREK II that would be made only by a hero, a fool, or a Vulcan. And when he makes his decision, the movie rises to one of its best scenes, because the 'Star Trek' stories have always been best when they centered on their characters."^[38] On the other hand, The Washington Post's Gary Arnold stated Spock's death "feels like an unnecessary twist, and the filmmakers are obviously well-prepared to fudge in case the public demands another sequel."^[39]

25 years later, Spock's death in The Wrath of Khan ranks number 2 on Total Film's list of 25 greatest Star Trek movie moments,^[40] and number 1 on IGN Movie's top 10 Star Trek movie moments.^[41]

Recasting[link]

Zachary Quinto was cast in the role of a young alternate-timeline Spock for the 2009 Star Trek film, directed by J. J. Abrams.^[42][43] Quinto mentioned he heard about the new film and revealed his interest in the role in a December 2006 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.^[44] The article was widely circulated and he attracted Abrams' interest.^[45] Quinto expressed interest in the role because of the duality of Spock's half-human, half-Vulcan heritage,^[46] and how the character "is constantly exploring that notion of how to evolve in a responsible way and how to evolve in a respectful way. I think those are all things that we as a society, and certainly the world, could implement."^[47] Nimoy subsequently befriended Quinto. Although Quinto watched some episodes of the show during breaks in filming, Nimoy was his main resource in playing Spock.^[48]

Reception[link]

From early on, the public's reaction to Spock was strongly positive, even fanatical. Headshots of Spock became popular fan souvenirs, with the rare ones of the actor laughing the most valuable.^[49] To Nimoy's great surprise Spock became a sex symbol,^[50] and teenagers asked questions about current events such as the Vietnam War and LSD as if he were the Vulcan scientist.^[51] A fan even asked the actor to lay his hands on a friend's eyes to heal them.^[52] Nimoy recalled, more than a decade after the show's cancellation:

The "Star Trek" phenomenon continues to amaze and confound me. It was incredible, and it still is, although it is gentler now than it used to be. For a time, it was hysterical – it was so wild I had to be very careful where I went. If I went to a restaurant, I had to plan my entrances and my exits so I wouldn't be mobbed and hurt. Same thing in hotels and airports – any public place. It isn't that hysterical any more, but it is still a potent force.^[53]

NASA made Spock an informal mascot of the space agency. Nimoy was invited to be guest of honor at the March 1967 National Space Club dinner, and to take an extensive tour of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The actor concluded from the warm and intense reception he received that astronauts like John Glenn and aerospace industry engineers, secretaries, and shareholders alike all regarded Star Trek, and especially the character of Spock, as a "dramatization of the future of their space program".^[10]

The character proved inspirational to many budding scientists and engineers. Nimoy has said that many of them, on meeting him, are eager to show him their work and discuss it with him as if he were a scientific peer, as opposed to an actor, photographer, and poet. His stock response in these situations is "it certainly looks like you're headed in the right direction".^[54]

UGO named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters.^[55] According to Shatner, much of Star Trek's acting praise and media interest went to Nimoy.^[56]

[edit] Star Trek (2009)

The Boston Globe described Quinto's performance in the 2009 film as "something special", and that Nimoy's appearance "carries much more emotion than you'd expect".^[57] Slate.com said Quinto played Spock "with a few degrees more chill" than Nimoy brought to the original character.^[58] Entertainment Weekly said that Quinto "... invests Spock with a new layer of chilly-smoldering sex appeal, [and] Quinto does a fantastic job of maintaining Spock's calm, no-sweat surface but getting quietly hot and bothered underneath."^[59]

Cultural impact[link]

Spock has been parodied by, and has also been the inspiration for, pop culture works in various media. Composer/keyboardist George Duke's 1976 Solo Keyboard Album features two tracks which pay homage to Spock: "Spock Gets Funky" and "Vulcan Mind Probe". Rock guitarist Paul Gilbert wrote the song "Mr. Spock" on his Space Ship One album. Swedish synthpop band S.P.O.C.K makes music heavily influenced by the Star Trek universe. Even Nimoy got in on the act; assuming the Spock character, Nimoy recorded a number of novelty songs, the first being "Highly Illogical", in which Spock pointed out the foibles of human thought, such as relationships, automobiles, and greed. The second song, "A Visit to a Sad Planet", was darker in tone and told the story of Spock visiting Earth in the future and discovering it had been ruined by war, violence, and environmental irresponsibility. According to comic book writer and editor Bob Budiansky, The Transformers character Shockwave was inspired by Spock.^[60] Spock's utilitarian perspective that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"^[61] is cited in a legal decision rendered by the Texas Supreme Court.^[62]

Spock's physical appearance in the Original Series episode "Mirror, Mirror" (1967) has itself spawned a trope of the "evil twin" archetype found in various fictional genres. In that episode, several members of the Enterprise travel to a parallel universe inhabited by evil versions of themselves. The parallel universe version of Spock is distinguished physically by his goatee.^[63] io9 said Spock's beard in the episode introduced "the best shorthand ever for evil parallel universe duplicates".^[64] Examples of the evil goatee's appearances in other media include Bender's "evil twin" Flexo in Futurama and a 2009 episode of The Colbert Report featuring Stephen Colbert and (former) congressman Dan Maffei wearing fake goatees while pretending to be evil versions of themselves.^[65] The name of progressive rock band Spock's Beard is a direct reference to Spock's goatee in this episode.

Fan productions[link]

In addition to television, feature films, books, and parodies, Spock has also been portrayed in fan fiction. Since 2004, the online fan production Star Trek: Phase II has continued the further voyages of the cancelled initial series. The fan-series' creators feel "Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest should be treated as 'classic' characters like Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, or even Hamlet, Othello, or Romeo. Many actors have and can play the roles, each offering a different interpretation of said character."^[66]

Spock was portrayed by Jeffrey Quinn for the first three episodes of Star Trek: Phase II. Brandon Stacy, who succeeded Jeffrey Quinn and Ben Tolpin in portraying Spock, also served as a stand-in for Zachary Quinto in the 2009 Star Trek film.^[67]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Asherman, Allan (1988). The Star Trek Interview Book. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-61794-X 
• Dillard, J. M. (1994). Star Trek: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" – A History in Pictures. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-51149-1 
• Rioux, Terry Lee (2005). From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5762-5. 

External links[link]

Star Trek portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Star Trek: The Original Series

• StarTrek.com: Spock
• Spock at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy in 2011.
Born	Leonard Simon Nimoy (1931-03-26) March 26, 1931 (age 81) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, film director, poet, photographer, singer, songwriter
Years active	1951–present
Home town	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Television	the original Star Trek series
Spouse	Sandra Zober (1954–1987) Susan Bay (1988–present)

Leonard Simon Nimoy ( /ˈniːmɔɪ/ NEE-moy; born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series (1966–1969), and in multiple film, television, and video-game sequels.

Nimoy began his career in his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood and making minor film and television appearances through the 1950s, as well as playing the title role in Kid Monk Baroni. In 1953, he served in the United States Army. In 1965, he made his first appearance in the rejected Star Trek pilot, "The Cage", and would go on to play the character of Mr. Spock until 1969, followed by seven feature films and guest slots in various sequels. His character of Spock had a significant cultural impact and garnered Nimoy three Emmy Award nominations; TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters.^[1][2] After the original Star Trek series, Nimoy starred in Mission: Impossible for two seasons, hosted the documentary series In Search of..., and narrated Civilization IV, as well as making several well-received stage appearances.

Nimoy's fame as Spock is such that both his autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1977) and I Am Spock (1995) detail his existence as being shared between the character and himself.^[3][4]

Early life[link]

Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the West End,^[5] to Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Soviet Union (now Ukraine).^[6][7][8][9] His father, Max Nimoy, owned a barbershop in the Mattapan section of the city. His mother, Dora Nimoy (née Spinner), was a homemaker.^[10][11] Nimoy began acting at the age of eight in children's and neighborhood theater. His parents wanted him to attend college and pursue a stable career, or even learn to play the accordion—which, his father advised, Nimoy could always make a living with—but his grandfather encouraged him to become an actor.^[12] His first major role was at 17, as Ralphie in an amateur production of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing!.^[13] Nimoy took drama classes at Boston College in 1953 but failed to complete his studies,^[14] and in the 1970s studied photography at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[12] He has an MA in Education from Antioch College, an honorary doctorate from Antioch University in Ohio ^[15], and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Boston University. ^[16]

Nimoy served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1953 through 1955,^[17] alongside fellow actor Ken Berry and architect Frank Gehry.

Career[link]

Stage and screen[link]

Nimoy's film and television acting career began in 1951, but after receiving the title role in the 1952 film Kid Monk Baroni, a story about a street punk turned professional boxer, he played more than 50 small parts in B movies, TV shows such as Dragnet, and serials such as Republic Pictures' Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952). To support his family Nimoy often worked other jobs, such as delivering newspapers in the morning.^[18]

He played an Army sergeant in the 1954 science fiction thriller, Them!, a professor in the 1958 science fiction movie The Brain Eaters, and had a role in The Balcony (1963), a film adaptation of the Jean Genet play. Together with Vic Morrow, he produced a 1966 version of Deathwatch, an English language film version of Genet's play Haute Surveillance, adapted and directed by Morrow and starring Nimoy.

On television Nimoy appeared as "Sonarman" in two episodes of the 1957–1958 syndicated military drama, The Silent Service, based on actual events of the submarine section of the United States Navy. He had guest roles in the Sea Hunt series from 1958 to 1960 and had a minor role in The Twilight Zone episode "A Quality of Mercy" in 1961. He also appeared in Highway Patrol.

Nimoy appeared three times on NBC's Wagon Train, the No. 1 program of 1962. He portrayed as Bernabe Zamora in "The Estaban Zamora Story" (1959), "Cherokee Ned" in "The Maggie Hamilton Story" (1960), and Joaquin Delgado in "The Tiburcio Mendez Story" (1961). Susan Oliver played Maggie Hamilton, a young runaway who loathes life on the trail. In the episode Nimoy's Cherokee Ned gets into a fight with scout Flint McCullough, played by Robert Horton, who is searching for Maggie. ^[19]

Throughout the 1960s, Nimoy appeared in a number of other TV series including Bonanza (1960),The Rebel (1960), Two Faces West (1961), Rawhide (episode, Incident Before Black Pass. 1961), The Untouchables (1962), The Eleventh Hour (1962), Combat! (1963, 1965), The series Daniel Boone, and Perry Mason (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), The Virginian (1965) and Get Smart (1966). He appeared again in the 1995 Outer Limits series, again in the episode "I, Robot".

On the stage, Nimoy played the lead-role alien of a short run of Gore Vidal's A Visit to a Small Planet in 1968, shortly before the end of the Star Trek series. This play was staged at the now-folded Pheasant Run Playhouse in St. Charles, Illinois.^[20]

Nimoy as Spock with William Shatner as Kirk, 1968.

Nimoy and William Shatner first worked together on an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Project Strigas Affair" (1964). Their characters were from either side of the Iron Curtain, though with his saturnine looks, Nimoy was predictably the villain, with Shatner playing a reluctant U.N.C.L.E. recruit.

Nimoy first worked with DeForest Kelley in an episode of The Virginian from season two titled "Man of Violence", with Kelley as the doctor and Nimoy as the patient.

[edit] Star Trek

Nimoy's greatest prominence came from his role in the original Star Trek series. As the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock—a role he chose instead of one on the soap opera Peyton Place—Nimoy became a star, and the press predicted that he would "have his choice of movies or television series."^[18] He formed a long-standing friendship with Shatner, who portrayed his commanding officer, saying of their relationship, "We were like brothers."^[22] Star Trek: The Original Series was broadcast from 1966 to 1969. Nimoy earned three Emmy nominations for his work on the iconic program that has defined American television science fiction, both for fans of science fiction, and beyond.

He went on to reprise the Spock character in a voice-over role in Star Trek: The Animated Series (so much so, that the episode "Yesteryear" is the only ST:TAS episode to have been accepted as Star Trek canon). Two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and six Star Trek movies feature the original Star Trek cast. He played the elder Spock in the 2009 Star Trek movie, directed by J. J. Abrams, the film being widely credited with revitalizing the franchise.

Nimoy giving the Vulcan salute in 2011

Spock's Vulcan salute became a recognized symbol of the show identified with him. Nimoy created the sign himself from his childhood memories of the way kohanim (Jewish priests) held their hand when giving blessings. During an interview, he translated the Priestly Blessing which accompanied the sign^[23] and described it during a public lecture:^[24]

May the Lord bless and keep you and may the Lord cause his countenance to shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious unto you and grant you peace.

Nimoy was asked to read these verses as part of his narration for Civilization IV.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] After Star Trek

Following Star Trek in 1969, Nimoy immediately joined the cast of the spy series Mission: Impossible, which was seeking a replacement for Martin Landau. Nimoy was cast in the role of Paris, an IMF agent who was an ex-magician and make-up expert 'The Great Paris'. He played the role during the fourth and fifth seasons of the show from 1969 to 1971.

Nimoy in 1972

He co-starred with Yul Brynner and Richard Crenna in the Western movie Catlow (1971). He also had roles in Night Gallery (1972) and Columbo (1973) where he played a murderous doctor who was one of the few criminals with whom Columbo became angry. Nimoy appeared in various made for television films such as Assault on the Wayne (1970), Baffled (1972), The Alpha Caper (1973), The Missing Are Deadly (1974), Seizure: The Story Of Kathy Morris (1980), and Marco Polo (1982). He received an Emmy award nomination for best supporting actor for the TV film A Woman Called Golda (1982).

In 1975, Leonard Nimoy filmed an opening introduction to Ripley's World of the Unexplained museum located at Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Fisherman's Wharf at San Francisco, California. In the late 1970s, he hosted and narrated the television series In Search of..., which investigated paranormal or unexplained events or subjects. He also has a memorable character part as a psychiatrist in Philip Kaufman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

During this time, Nimoy also won acclaim for a series of stage roles. He appeared in such plays as Vincent, Fiddler on the Roof, The Man in the Glass Booth, Oliver!, Six Rms Riv Vu, Full Circle^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Camelot, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The King and I, Caligula, The Four Poster, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes, Equus and My Fair Lady.

[edit] Star Trek films

Nimoy signing autographs at a Star Trek convention, c. 1980

When a new Star Trek series was planned in the late 1970s, Nimoy was to be in only two out of eleven episodes, but when the show was elevated to a feature film, he agreed to reprise his role. After directing a few television show episodes, Nimoy started film directing in 1984 with the third installment of the film series. Nimoy would go on to direct the second most successful film (critically and financially) in the franchise after the 2009 Star Trek film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Three Men and a Baby, the highest grossing film of 1987, made him a star director.^[21] At a press conference promoting the 2009 Star Trek movie, Nimoy made it clear that he had no further plans or ambition to direct:

No. No, I'm done with all that, thank you. I never set out to be a director. After Spock had died, sort of, in Star Trek II, they brought me in for a meeting and asked if I'd like to be involved in Star Trek III, in the making of it, and I had been told that I should be directing. I took it as an insult because I thought, "what's wrong with my acting?" But I thought maybe now I should do that and I said I'd like to direct the movie, and I suddenly found myself with a directing career which I had enjoyed and I had enough of it. I directed I think five or six films – I had a good time.^[25]

[edit] Other work after Star Trek

In 1978, Nimoy played Dr. David Kibner in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He also did occasional work as a voice actor in animated feature films, including the character of Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie in 1986.

Nimoy was featured as the voice-over narrator for the CBS paranormal series Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories in 1991.

In 1991, Nimoy teamed up with Robert B. Radnitz to produce a movie for TNT about a pro bono publico lawsuit brought by public interest attorney William John Cox on behalf of Mel Mermelstein, an Auschwitz survivor, against a group of organizations engaged in Holocaust denial. Nimoy also played the Mermelstein role and believes: "If every project brought me the same sense of fulfillment that Never Forget did, I would truly be in paradise."^[26]

Nimoy performed as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in The Pagemaster in 1994. In 1998, he had a leading role as Mustapha Mond in the made-for-television production of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Together with John De Lancie, another ex-actor from the Star Trek series, Nimoy created Alien Voices, an audio-production venture that specializes in audio dramatizations. Among the works jointly narrated by the couple are The Time Machine, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, The Invisible Man, and The First Men in the Moon, as well as several television specials for the Sci-Fi Channel. In an interview published on the official Star Trek website, Nimoy said that Alien Voices was discontinued because the series didn't sell well enough to recoup costs.

From 1994 until 1998, Nimoy narrated the Ancient Mysteries series on A&E including "The Sacred Water of Lourdes" and "Secrets of the Romanovs". He also appeared in advertising in the United Kingdom for the computer company Time Computers in the late 1990s. In 1997, Nimoy played the prophet Samuel, alongside Nathaniel Parker, in The Bible Collection movie "David". He had a central role in Brave New World, a 1998 TV-movie version of Aldous Huxley's novel where he played a character reminiscent of Spock in his philosophical balancing of unpredictable human qualities with the need for control. Nimoy has also appeared in several popular television series — including Futurama and The Simpsons — as both himself and Spock.

Nimoy appeared in Hearts of Space program number 142 – "Whales alive."

In 1999, he voiced the narration of the English version of the Sega Dreamcast game Seaman and promoted Y2K educational films.^[27]

In 2000, he provided on-camera hosting and introductions for 45 half-hour episodes of an anthology series entitled Our 20th Century on the AEN TV Network. The series covers world news, sports, entertainment, technology, and fashion using original archive news clips from 1930 to 1975 from the National Archives in Washington D.C. and other private archival sources.

In 2003, he announced his retirement from acting to concentrate on photography, but subsequently appeared in several television commercials with William Shatner for Priceline.com. He appeared in a commercial for Aleve, an arthritis pain medication, which aired during the 2006 Super Bowl.

Nimoy provided a comprehensive series of voiceovers for the 2005 computer game Civilization IV. He did the TV series Next Wave where he interviewed people about technology. He is the host in the documentary film The Once and Future Griffith Observatory currently running in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater located at the recently reopened Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.

In 2007, he produced the play, Shakespeare's Will by Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen. The one-woman show starred Jeanmarie Simpson as Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The production was directed by Nimoy's wife, Susan Bay.^[28][29][30]

Nimoy was given casting approval over who would play the young Spock in the newest film.^[31]

On January 6, 2009, he was interviewed by William Shatner on Biography Channel's Shatner's Raw Nerve.

In May 2009, he made an appearance as the mysterious Dr. William Bell in the season finale of Fringe, which explores the existence of a parallel universe. Nimoy returned as Dr. Bell in the autumn for an extended arc, and according to Roberto Orci, co-creator of Fringe, Bell will be "the beginning of the answers to even bigger questions."^[32][33] This choice led one reviewer to question if Fringe's plot might be a homage to the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror", which featured an alternate reality "Mirror Universe" concept and an evil version of Spock distinguished by a goatee.^[34]

On the May 9, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live, Nimoy appeared as a surprise guest on the skit "Weekend Update". During a mock interview, Nimoy called old Trekkies who did not like the new movie "dickheads". In the 2009 Star Trek movie, he plays the older Spock from the original Star Trek timeline; Zachary Quinto portrays the young Spock.

Starring with Will Ferrell in the TV-based movie Land of the Lost in June 2009, he voiced the part of "The Zarn", an Altrusian.

Nimoy is also a frequent and popular reader for "Selected Shorts", an ongoing series of programs at Symphony Space in New York City (that also tours around the country) which features actors, and sometimes authors, reading works of short fiction. The programs are broadcast on radio and available on websites through Public Radio International, National Public Radio and WNYC radio. Nimoy was honored by Symphony Space with the renaming of the Thalia Theater as the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater.

Nimoy has also provided voiceovers for the Star Trek Online massively multiplayer online game, released in February 2010,^[35] as well as Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as Master Xehanort, the series' leading villain. Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Birth by Sleep, stated that he chose Nimoy for the role specifically because of his role as Spock.

Retirement[link]

In April 2010, Leonard Nimoy announced that he is retiring from playing the signature character of Star Trek's Spock, citing both his advanced age and the desire to give Zachary Quinto the opportunity to enjoy full media attention with the Spock character.^[36] Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was to be his final performance. However, in February 2011, he announced his definite plan to return to Fringe and reprise his role as William Bell.^[37] His retirement from acting has not included voice acting, as his appearance in the third season of Fringe includes his voice (his character appears only in animated scenes), and he provided the voice of Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In May 2011 Nimoy starred in the alternate version music video of Bruno Mars' The Lazy Song. Aaron Bay-Schuck, the Atlantic Records executive who signed Bruno Mars to the label, is Nimoy's stepson.^[38] Nimoy provided the voice of Spock as a guest star in a Season 5 episode of the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. The episode is titled "The Transporter Malfunction" and aired on March 29, 2012.^[39] He also lent his voice as narrator to the free documentary "Destiny in Space" showcasing video and images of space from nine shuttle missions over four years time. In Spring 2012, Nimoy reprised his role of William Bell on Fringe, in the fourth season episodes "Letters of Transit" and "Brave New World".^[40] Nimoy is confirmed to be reprising his role as Master Xehanort in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

Photography[link]

Nimoy's interest in photography began in childhood; he still owns a camera which he rebuilt at the age of 13. His photography studies at UCLA occurred after Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, when Nimoy seriously considered changing careers. His work has been exhibited at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts^[12] and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Writing[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (November 2008)

Nimoy has written two volumes of autobiography. The first was called I Am Not Spock (1977) and was controversial, as many fans incorrectly assumed that Nimoy was distancing himself from the Spock character. In the book, Nimoy conducts dialogues between himself and Spock. The contents of this first autobiography also touched on a self-proclaimed "identity crisis" that seemed to haunt Nimoy throughout his career. It also related to an apparent love/hate relationship with the character of Spock and the Trek franchise.

The second volume, I Am Spock (1995), saw Nimoy communicating that he finally realized his years of portraying the Spock character had led to a much greater identification between the fictional character and himself. Nimoy had much input into how Spock would act in certain situations, and conversely, Nimoy's contemplation of how Spock acted gave him cause to think about things in a way that he never would have thought if he had not portrayed the character. As such, in this autobiography Nimoy maintains that in some meaningful sense he has merged with Spock while at the same time maintaining the distance between fact and fiction.

Nimoy has also written several volumes of poetry, some published along with a number of his photographs. His latest effort is titled A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life (2002). His poetry can be found in the Contemporary Poets index of The HyperTexts.^[42] In the mid-1970s Nimoy wrote and starred in a one-man play called Vincent based on the play Van Gogh by Phillip Stephens.

In 1995, Nimoy was involved in the production of Primortals, a comic book series published by Tekno Comix about first contact with aliens, which had arisen from a discussion he had with Isaac Asimov. There was a novelization by Steve Perry.

Music[link]

During and following Star Trek, Nimoy also released five albums of vocal recordings on Dot Records,^[43] including Trek-related songs such as "Highly Illogical", and cover versions of popular tunes, such as "Proud Mary". He has described how his recording career got started:

Charles Grean of Dot Records had arranged with the studio to do an album of space music based on music from Star Trek, and he has a teenage daughter who's a fan of the show and a fan of Mr. Spock. She said, 'Well, if you're going to do an album of music from Star Trek, then Mr. Spock should be on the album.' So Dot contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in either speaking or singing on the record. I said I was very interested in doing both. ...That was the first album we did, which was called Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space. It was very well received and successful enough that Dot then approached me and asked me to sign a long-term contract.^[44]

The albums were popular and resulted in numerous live appearances and promotional record signings that attracted crowds of fans in the thousands. The early recordings were produced by Charles Grean, who may be best known for his version of "Quentin's Theme" from the mid-sixties goth soap opera Dark Shadows. These recordings are generally regarded as unintentionally camp, though his tongue-in-cheek performance of "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" received a fair amount of airplay when Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films were released.

In addition to his own music career he directed a 1985 music video for The Bangles' "Going Down to Liverpool". He makes a brief cameo appearance in the video as their driver. This came about because his son Adam Nimoy (now a frequent television director) was a friend of Bangles lead singer Susanna Hoffs from college. He released a version of Johnny Cash's song "I Walk the Line".

Nimoy's voice appeared in sampled form on a song by the pop band Information Society in the late Eighties. The song, "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)" (released in 1988), reached No. 3 on the US Pop charts, and No. 1 on Dance charts. The group's self-titled LP contains several other samples from the original Star Trek television series.

Nimoy also appears in the alternate music video for the song "Lazy Song" by pop artist Bruno Mars.^[45]

Personal life[link]

Nimoy has long been active in the Jewish community, and he can speak and read Yiddish. In 1997, he narrated the documentary A Life Apart: Hasidism in America, about the various sects of Hasidic Orthodox Jews. In October 2002, Nimoy published The Shekhina Project, a photographic study exploring the feminine aspect of God's presence, inspired by Kabbalah.

Nimoy has been married twice. In 1954, he married actress Sandra Zober (1927–2011), whom he divorced in 1987.^[12] He had two children with her, director Adam Nimoy and Julie Nimoy, who both appeared in an Oldsmobile commercial, with the tagline "This is not your father's Oldsmobile". In 1988, he married actress Susan Bay, who is a cousin of director Michael Bay.^[46]

In a 2001 DVD,^[47] Nimoy revealed that he became an alcoholic while working on Star Trek and ended up in rehab.^[48] William Shatner, in his 2008 book Up Till Now: The Autobiography, speaks about how later in their lives Nimoy tried to help Shatner's alcoholic wife.

Nimoy still has the last pair of Spock's ears he wore on the series, as a memento. He has said that the character of Spock, which he played twelve to fourteen hours a day, five days a week, influenced his personality in private life. Each weekend during the original run of the series, he would be in character throughout Saturday and into Sunday, behaving more like Spock than himself: more logical, more rational, more thoughtful, less emotional and finding a calm in every situation. It was only on Sunday in the early afternoon that Spock's influence on his behavior would fade off and he would feel more himself again – only to start the cycle over Monday morning.^[49]

Nimoy also introduced the Vulcan nerve pinch in an early Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within".^[50] Initially, Spock was supposed to knock out an evil Kirk in the Engineering room by striking him on the back of the head. Nimoy felt that the action was not in keeping with the nature of Spock's character, so he suggested the "pinch" as a non-violent alternative, suggesting that Vulcans have the ability to emit energy from their fingertips, which, if applied to the correct nerve cluster, could render a human unconscious.^[50] Nimoy explained this to the episode's director and according to Nimoy, the director had no idea what he was talking about. However, Nimoy would express relief in later interviews and appearances that when he explained the concept to William Shatner, he understood it immediately, and Nimoy credits Shatner's reaction to the nerve pinch in the episode as what really sold it. In early scripts for Star Trek, the nerve pinch was referred to as the "F.S.N.P.," which stood for "Famous Spock Neck Pinch."^[51][52]

He has remained good friends with co-star William Shatner (also of Ukrainian-Jewish descent) and was best man at Shatner's third marriage in 1997. Shatner is only four days older than Nimoy. He also remained good friends with DeForest Kelley until Kelley's death in 1999.

The Space Foundation named Nimoy as the recipient of the 2010 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award^[53] for creating a positive role model that inspired untold numbers of viewers to learn more about the universe. An honor Nimoy did not receive, however, was the naming of asteroid 2309 Mr. Spock after his character, at least not directly. The asteroid was named by discoverer James B. Gibson after his pet cat, "Mr. Spock," said feline indeed being named after the Star Trek character.

In 2009, Nimoy was honored by his childhood hometown when the Office of Mayor Thomas Menino proclaimed the date of November 14, 2009 as Leonard Nimoy Day in the City of Boston.^[54]

Filmography[link]

Director[link]

• Vincent: Based on the play "Van Gogh" by Phillip Stephens (1978–1981)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
• Three Men and a Baby (1987)
• The Good Mother (1988)
• Funny About Love (1990)
• Holy Matrimony (1994)
• episodes of Night Gallery, T.J. Hooker, The Powers of Matthew Star and Deadly Games

Videography[link]

Music videos[link]

• "Bilbo Baggins" by Leonard Nimoy
• "Going Down to Liverpool" by The Bangles (1985)
• "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars (2011)

Writer[link]

Bibliography[link]

• I Am Not Spock (1977)
• Vincent: Based on the play "Van Gogh" by Phillip Stephens (1978)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (Contributions uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) (Contributions uncredited)^{[citation needed]}
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• I Am Spock (1995)
• Shekhina photography (2005) (ISBN 978-1-884167-16-4)
• The Full Body Project (2008)

Poetry[link]

• You & I (1973) (ISBN 978-0-912310-26-8)
• Will I Think of You? (1974) (ISBN 0912310701)
• We Are All Children Searching for Love: A Collection of Poems and Photographs (1977) (ISBN 978-0-88396-024-0)
• Come be With Me (1978) (ISBN 978-0-88396-033-2)
• These Words are for You (1981) (ISBN 978-0-88396-148-3)
• Warmed by Love (1983) (ISBN 978-0-88396-200-8)
• A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life (2002) (ISBN 978-0-88396-596-2)