Mayor Joseph "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe," is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "The Call of the Simpsons". A member of the Democratic Party,^[3][4] Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a composite parody of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and certain other members of the Kennedy family who have entered politics.

Concept and creation[link]

Joe Quimby is a parody of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy Family,^[5] as well as of corrupt politics in general.^[6] Like the Kennedys, Quimby "speaks with a Boston accent, throws money at political problems, and vacations in a coastal resort called the 'Quimby Compound.'"^[5] Castellaneta voices Quimby with New York and Boston Irish accents, resulting in a voice reminiscent of that of President John F. Kennedy.^[7] The name "Quimby" may or may not be a reference to Fred Quimby, the head of MGM Cartoons (i.e. Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel and Barney Bear shorts).

Appearances[link]

Quimby's full name is Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby^[8] and he has long served as the mayor of the city of Springfield. He appears as a slick, opportunistic politician whose chief priorities seem to be keeping himself in office, womanizing, and various other forms of corruption, including embezzling tax money, taking bribes from Fat Tony, the local Mafia Don, and giving monthly kickbacks to Police Chief Wiggum.^[9] The seal on the wall of his office reads "Corruptus in Extremis",^[10] which means "extremely corrupt".

Like Kennedy, Quimby is known as a womanizer,^[6] and occasionally amuses himself with pornographic playing cards during town meetings. Quimby was once the subject of 27 separate paternity suits. One of the women he impregnated is Cookie Kwan, whose baby is remarkably similar to Quimby in both looks and mannerisms.^[11] Quimby also is frequently noticed in bed with the same or similar blonde woman/women, at least one of whom was Miss Springfield.^[12]

Despite being mayor for such a long time, Quimby does not know or care much about his city, often privately (or even publicly) showing his outright contempt for Springfield's citizens. He frequently takes overseas vacations, which take him out of town for extended periods of time, leading to the headline "Mayor Visits City" in the Springfield Shopper. He once referred to Springfield as Springfeld at a public meeting. However, he makes frequent, albeit short, public appearances for local festivities, events, business openings, etc.

If bending the law will suit Quimby's purposes, he will likely do so. He once arranged Marge Simpson's release after she was arrested for blocking traffic on a bridge after suffering a nervous breakdown, claiming that if she went to jail, Quimby could kiss the "chick vote" goodbye.^[13] He also resorted to bribing witnesses when assault charges were brought against his nephew, leading Bart Simpson to observe that "the system works: just ask Claus von Bülow".^[14]

His catchphrase is "Vote Quimby", which he always finds an opportunity to say, even in situations where it would be disadvantageous to identify himself, like inadvertently being caught by Homer in a motel room with his mistress.

Quimby was elected Mayor of Springfield in 1986 and has been re-elected several times since, despite openly admitting to fraud and wrongdoing. He admits to using taxpayer dollars to fund the murder of his enemies, but thanks to a clever use of a popular Gabbo catchphrase ("I'm a bad wittle boy"), he is re-elected in a landslide.^[15]

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Quimby.

Quimby's political stranglehold on Springfield has earned him the hatred of Springfield's small but vocal Republican elite, themselves portrayed as mostly dark, ghoulish figures who meet in a castle. When the Republicans nominate Sideshow Bob as its mayoral candidate, Bob rigs the election, briefly deposing Quimby. He is re-instated when Bob is found guilty of fraud and imprisoned.^[16] Later, Quimby briefly flees the city thinking his corruption has been exposed and is deemed to have "abandoned office" and is replaced by a short-lived "council of learned citizens" headed by Lisa Simpson, Professor Frink, Comic Book Guy, Lindsey Naegle, Dr. Hibbert, and Principal Skinner.^[17] He also survives a recall election, with no candidate in the race against him (candidates include Rainier Wolfcastle (a Schwarzenegger reference), Kent Brockman, and even Homer Simpson) garnering the five percent necessary to force a recall.^[12]

Reception[link]

During the USA Today.com contest to choose which Springfield would host the release of The Simpsons Movie, Ted Kennedy himself appears in a video in which he invited "Diamond Joe" Quimby and the film to premiere in Springfield, Massachusetts, and even mocked his own oft-mocked pronunciation of the word "Chowder" (as "Chow-Dah"); however, Springfield, Vermont was chosen instead.^[5]

See also[link]

	The Simpsons portal
	Animation portal
	Television portal
	Comedy portal
	Fictional characters portal

• Politics in The Simpsons

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mayor Quimby

• Official site of Joe Quimby's 2000 presidential election campaign
• Mayor Quimby at the Internet Movie Database

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)

Discography[link]

See also: Leonard Nimoy discography (includes compilations and re-issues)

• Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space (Dot Records), (1967).
• Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy (Dot Records), (1968).
• The Way I Feel (Dot Records, Stereo DLP 25883), (1968).
• The Touch of Leonard Nimoy (Dot Records, Stereo DLP 25910), (1969).
• The New World of Leonard Nimoy (Dot Records, Stereo DLP 25966), (1970).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leonard Nimoy

• Leonard Nimoy's personal website
• Leonard Nimoy at the Internet Movie Database
• Leonard Nimoy at AllRovi
• Leonard Nimoy at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Leonard Nimoy's entry at Startrek.com
• Leonard Nimoy at Alien Voices
• Interview with Leonard Nimoy at hossli.com
• Leonard Nimoy Poetry and Photography on The HyperTexts
• Interview with Leonard Nimoy by the Archive of American Television (2000)
• 2010 Interview with Nimoy about his "Secret Selves" show at Mass MoCA

Media[link]

• Newsmaker of the Week: Leonard Nimoy (30-min. interview, free)
• Archive of American Television Interview with Leonard Nimoy Nov 2, 2000
• Interview with Leonard Nimoy about photography, on The Callie Crossley Show