Brain: Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is the outer layer depicted in dark violet.
Golgi-stained neurons in the cortex.
Latin	cortex cerebri
Part of	Telencephalon
NeuroLex ID	birnlex_1494

The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. This is the gray area of the brain hence the name. This is caused by the nerves that lack insulation. The cerebral cortex covers the cerebrum and cerebellum. The cerebral cortex is divided into left and right hemisphere. The cerebral cortex is where the information processing takes place. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness. It is constituted of up to six horizontal layers, each of which has a different composition in terms of neurons and connectivity. The human cerebral cortex is 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 inches) thick.^[1]

In preserved brains, it has a gray color, hence the name "grey matter". In contrast to gray matter that is formed from neurons and their unmyelinated fibers, the white matter below them is formed predominantly by myelinated axons interconnecting neurons in different regions of the cerebral cortex with each other and neurons in other parts of the central nervous system.

The surface of the cerebral cortex is folded in large mammals, such that more than two-thirds of it in the human brain is buried in the grooves, called "sulci". The phylogenetically most recent part of the cerebral cortex, the neocortex (also called isocortex), is differentiated into six horizontal layers; the more ancient part of the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus (also called archicortex), has at most three cellular layers, and is divided into subfields. Neurons in various layers connect vertically to form small microcircuits, called columns. Different neocortical architectonic fields are distinguished upon variations in the thickness of these layers, their predominant cell type and other factors such as neurochemical markers.

Development[link]

The cerebral cortex develops from the most anterior part of the neural plate, a specialized part of the embryonic ectoderm. The neural plate folds and closes to form the neural tube. From the cavity inside the neural tube develops the ventricular system, and, from the epithelial cells of its walls, the neurons and glia of the nervous system. The most anterior (frontal) part of the neural tube, the telencephalon, gives rise to the cerebral hemispheres and cortex.

Cortical neurons are generated within the ventricular zone, next to the ventricles. At first, this zone contains "progenitor" cells, which divide to produce glial and neuronal cells.^[2] The glial fibers produced in the first divisions of progenitor cells are radially oriented, spanning the thickness of the cortex from the ventricular zone to the outer, pial surface, and provide scaffolding for the migration of neurons outwards from the ventricular zone. The first divisions of the progenitor cells are symmetric, which duplicates the total number of progenitor cells at each mitotic cycle. Then, some progenitor cells begin to divide asymmetrically, producing one postmitotic cell that migrates along the radial glial fibers, leaving the ventricular zone, and one progenitor cell, which continues to divide until the end of development, when it differentiates into a glial cell or an ependymal cell. The migrating daughter cells become the pyramidal neurons of the cerebral cortex.^[3]

The layered structure of the mature cerebral cortex is formed during development. The first pyramidal neurons generated migrate out of the ventricular zone and subventricular zone, together with Cajal-Retzius cells from the preplate. Next, a cohort of neurons migrating into the middle of the preplate divides this transient layer into the superficial marginal zone, which will become layer one of the mature neocortex, and the subplate, forming a middle layer called the cortical plate. These cells will form the deep layers of the mature cortex, layers five and six. Later born neurons migrate radially into the cortical plate past the deep layer neurons, and become the upper layers (two to four). Thus, the layers of the cortex are created in an inside-out order. The only exception to this inside-out sequence of neurogenesis occurs in the layer I of primates, in which, contrary to rodents, neurogenesis continues throughout the entire period of corticogenesis.^[4]

Evolution[link]

The cerebral cortex is derived from the pallium, a layered structure found in the forebrains of all vertebrates. The basic form of the pallium is a cylindrical layer enclosing fluid-filled ventricles. Around the circumference of the cylinder are four zones, the dorsal pallium, medial pallium, ventral pallium, and lateral pallium, which are thought respectively to give rise to the neocortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and olfactory cortex.

Until recently, no counterpart to the cerebral cortex had been recognized in invertebrates. However, a study published in the journal Cell in 2010, based on gene expression profiles, reported strong affinities between the cerebral cortex and the mushroom bodies of ragworms.^[5] Mushroom bodies are structures in the brains of many types of worms and arthropods that are known to play important roles in learning and memory; the genetic evidence indicates a common evolutionary origin, and therefore indicates that the origins of the earliest precursors of the cerebral cortex date back to the early Precambrian era.

Layered structure[link]

Three drawings of cortical lamination by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, each showing a vertical cross-section, with the surface of the cortex at the top. Left: Nissl-stained visual cortex of a human adult. Middle: Nissl-stained motor cortex of a human adult. Right: Golgi-stained cortex of a 1½ month old infant. The Nissl stain shows the cell bodies of neurons; the Golgi stain shows the dendrites and axons of a random subset of neurons.

Micrograph showing the visual cortex (predominantly pink). Subcortical white matter (predominantly blue) is seen at the bottom of the image. HE-LFB stain.

The different cortical layers each contain a characteristic distribution of neuronal cell types and connections with other cortical and subcortical regions. One of the clearest examples of cortical layering is the Stria of Gennari in the primary visual cortex. This is a band of whiter tissue that can be observed with the naked eye in the fundus of the calcarine sulcus of the occipital lobe. The Stria of Gennari is composed of axons bringing visual information from the thalamus into layer four of visual cortex.

Staining cross-sections of the cortex to reveal the position of neuronal cell bodies and the intracortical axon tracts allowed neuroanatomists in the early 20th century to produce a detailed description of the laminar structure of the cortex in different species. After the work of Korbinian Brodmann (1909), the neurons of the cerebral cortex are grouped into six main layers, from outside (pial surface) to inside (white matter):

1. Layer I, the Molecular layer, contains few scattered neurons and consists mainly of extensions of apical dendritic tufts of pyramidal neurons and horizontally oriented axons, as well as glial cells.^[6] Some Cajal-Retzius and spiny stellate cells can be found here. Inputs to the apical tufts are thought to be crucial for the ‘‘feedback’’ interactions in the cerebral cortex involved in associative learning and attention.^[7] While it was once thought that the input to layer I came from the cortex itself,^[8] it is now realized that layer I across the cerebral cortex mantle receives substantial input from ‘‘matrix’’ or M-type thalamus cells^[9] (in contrast to ‘‘core’’ or C-type that go to layer IV).^[10]
2. Layer II, the External granular layer, contains small pyramidal neurons and numerous stellate neurons.
3. Layer III, the External Pyramidal layer, contains predominantly small and medium-size pyramidal neurons, as well as non-pyramidal neurons with vertically oriented intracortical axons; layers I through III are the main target of interhemispheric corticocortical afferents, and layer III is the principal source of corticocortical efferents.
4. Layer IV, the Internal Granular layer, contains different types of stellate and pyramidal neurons, and is the main target of thalamocortical afferents from thalamus type C neurons.^[10] as well as intra-hemispheric corticocortical afferents.
5. Layer V, the Internal Pyramidal layer, contains large pyramidal neurons (such as the Betz cells in the primary motor cortex); it is the principal source of subcortical efferents, as such, there are large pyramidal cells which give rise to axons leaving the cortex and running down through the basal ganglia, the brain stem and the spinal cord.
6. Layer VI, the Polymorphic or Multiform layer, contains few large pyramidal neurons and many small spindle-like pyramidal and multiform neurons; layer VI sends efferent fibers to the thalamus, establishing a very precise reciprocal interconnection between the cortex and the thalamus.^[11] These connections are both excitatory and inhibitory. Neurons send excitatory fibers to neurons in the thalamus and also from collateral to them ones via the thalamic reticular nucleus that inhibit these thalamus neurons or ones adjacent to them.^[12] Since the inhibitory output is reduced by cholinergic input to the cerebral cortex, this provides the brainstem with adjustable "gain control for the relay of lemnsical inputs".^[12]

It is important to note that the cortical layers are not simply stacked one over the other; there exist characteristic connections between different layers and neuronal types, which span all the thickness of the cortex. These cortical microcircuits are grouped into cortical columns and minicolumns, the latter of which have been proposed to be the basic functional units of cortex.^[13] In 1957, Vernon Mountcastle showed that the functional properties of the cortex change abruptly between laterally adjacent points; however, they are continuous in the direction perpendicular to the surface. Later works have provided evidence of the presence of functionally distinct cortical columns in the visual cortex (Hubel and Wiesel, 1959),^[14] auditory cortex and associative cortex.

Cortical areas that lack a layer IV are called agranular. Cortical areas that have only a rudimentary layer IV are called dysgranular.^[15] Information processing within each layer is determined by different temporal dynamics with that in the layers II/III having a slow 2 Hz oscillation while that in layer V having a fast 10–15 Hz one.^[16]

Connections[link]

The cerebral cortex is connected to various subcortical structures such as the thalamus and the basal ganglia, sending information to them along efferent connections and receiving information from them via afferent connections. Most sensory information is routed to the cerebral cortex via the thalamus. Olfactory information, however, passes through the olfactory bulb to the olfactory cortex (piriform cortex). The vast majority of connections are from one area of the cortex to another, rather than to subcortical areas; Braitenberg and Schüz (1991) put the figure as high as 99%.^[17]

The cortex is commonly described as comprising three parts: sensory, motor, and association areas.

Sensory areas[link]

The sensory areas are the areas that receive and process information from the senses. Parts of the cortex that receive sensory inputs from the thalamus are called primary sensory areas. The senses of vision, audition, and touch are served by the primary visual cortex, primary auditory cortex and primary somatosensory cortex. In general, the two hemispheres receive information from the opposite (contralateral) side of the body. For example the right primary somatosensory cortex receives information from the left limbs, and the right visual cortex receives information from the left visual field. The organization of sensory maps in the cortex reflects that of the corresponding sensing organ, in what is known as a topographic map. Neighboring points in the primary visual cortex, for example, correspond to neighboring points in the retina. This topographic map is called a retinotopic map. In the same way, there exists a tonotopic map in the primary auditory cortex and a somatotopic map in the primary sensory cortex. This last topographic map of the body onto the posterior central gyrus has been illustrated as a deformed human representation, the somatosensory homunculus, where the size of different body parts reflects the relative density of their innervation. Areas with lots of sensory innervation, such as the fingertips and the lips, require more cortical area to process finer sensation.

Motor areas[link]

The motor areas are located in both hemispheres of the cortex. They are shaped like a pair of headphones stretching from ear to ear. The motor areas are very closely related to the control of voluntary movements, especially fine fragmented movements performed by the hand. The right half of the motor area controls the left side of the body, and vice versa.

Two areas of the cortex are commonly referred to as motor:

• Primary motor cortex, which executes voluntary movements
• Supplementary motor areas and premotor cortex, which select voluntary movements.

In addition, motor functions have been described for:

• Posterior parietal cortex, which guides voluntary movements in space
• Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which decides which voluntary movements to make according to higher-order instructions, rules, and self-generated thoughts.

Buried deep in the white matter of the cerebral cortex are interconnected subcortical masses of cerebral gray matter called basal nuclei. The basal nuclei receive input from the substantia nigra of the midbrain and motor areas of the cerebral cortex, and send signals back to both of these locations. They are involved in motor control. They are found lateral to the thalamus. They are often called basal ganglia, but the word ganglion is best restricted to clusters of neurons outside the Central Nervous System (CNS). Most neuroanatomists disagree on how many brain centers to classify basal nuclei, but agree on at least three: the caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus. The putamen and globus pallidus are also collectively known as the lentiform nucleus, because together they form a lens-shaped body. The putamen and caudate nucleus are also collectively called the corpus striatum after their striped appearance.^[18][19]

Association areas[link]

Association areas function to produce a meaningful perceptual experience of the world, enable us to interact effectively, and support abstract thinking and language. The parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes - all located in the posterior part of the cortex - organize sensory information into a coherent perceptual model of our environment centered on our body image. The frontal lobe or prefrontal association complex is involved in planning actions and movement, as well as abstract thought. In the past it was theorized that language abilities are localized in the left hemisphere in areas 44/45, the Broca's area, for language expression and area 22, the Wernicke's area, for language reception. However, language is no longer limited to easily identifiable areas. More recent research suggests that the processes of language expression and reception occur in areas other than just the perisylvian structures, such as the prefrontal lobe, basal ganglia, cerebellum, pons, caudate nucleus, and others. The association areas integrate information from different receptors or sensory areas and relate the information to past experiences. Then the brain makes a decision and send nerve impulses to the motor areas to give responses. ^[20]

Lateral surface of the human cerebral cortex

Medial surface of the human cerebral cortex

Classification[link]

Based on the differences in lamination the cerebral cortex can be classified into two major groups:

• Isocortex (neocortex or homogenetic cortex), the part of the mature cerebral cortex with six distinct layers (homotypic cortex), or that passes through a six-layered stage during development to have more or less than six layers (heterotypic cortex) in the mature brain. Examples of heterotypic isocortex are agranular area 4 of Brodmann and striate area 17 of Brodmann.
• Allocortex (or heterogenetic cortex), the part of the cerebral cortex with less than six layers (varying in number). Examples of allocortex are the olfactory cortex and the hippocampus.

Auxiliary classes are:

• Mesocortex, classification between isocortex and allocortex where layers 2, 3, and 4 are merged
• Proisocortex, Brodmann areas 24, 25, 32
• Periallocortex, comprising cortical areas adjacent to allocortex.

Based on supposed developmental differences the following classification also appears:

• Neocortex or Neopallium, which corresponds to the isocortex.
• Archicortex, which phylogenetically is the oldest cortex
• Paleocortex

In addition, cortex may be classified on the basis of gross topographical conventions into four lobes: the Temporal lobe, Occipital lobe, Parietal lobe and Frontal lobe:

Frontal lobe

Temporal lobe

Parietal lobe

Occipital
lobe

Cortical thickness[link]

For mammals, species with larger brains (in absolute terms, not just in relation to body size) tend to have thicker cortices.^[21] The range, however, is not very great — only a factor of 7 between the thickest and thinnest cortices. The smallest mammals, such as shrews, have a neocortical thickness of about 0.5 mm; the ones with the largest brains, such as humans and fin whales, have thicknesses of 2.3—2.8 mm. There is an approximately logarithmic relationship between brain weight and cortical thickness; dolphins, however, have considerably thinner cortices than the overall relationship would predict.^[21]

With magnetic resonance brain scanners, it is possible to get a measure for the thickness of the human cerebral cortex and relate it to other measures. The thickness of different cortical areas varies. In general, sensory cortex is thinner and motor cortex is thicker.^[22] One study has found some positive association between the cortical thickness and intelligence.^[23] Another study has found that the somatosensory cortex is thicker in migraine sufferers.^[24]

See also[link]

• Cortical column
• Frontal lobe
• Limbic system
• List of regions in the human brain
• Microgyrus
• Occipital lobe
• Parietal lobe
• Temporal lobe
• Cerebral hemisphere
• Neocortex
• Subplate
• Brain-computer interface
• EMX1

References[link]

External links[link]

• NeuroNames hier-20
• BrainMaps at UCDavis cerebral cortex

• Webvision - The primary visual cortex Comprehensive article about the structure and function of the primary visual cortex.
• Webvision - Basic cell types Image of the basic cell types of the monkey cerebral cortex.
• Development of the Cerebral Cortex Different topics on cortical development in the form of columns written by leading scientists.
• Cerebral Cortex - Cell Centered Database
• NIF Search - Cerebral Cortex via the Neuroscience Information Framework

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