With his intelligent manner and subdued yet saturnine expression, actor Leonard Nimoy was often cast as intense cerebral types. Nimoys incisive manner served him especially well in his most famous role the unflappable Vulcan, Mr. Spock, on the classic sci-fi TV series "Star Trek" (NBC, 1966-69). While the role of Spock would come to define him for the remainder of his long career, Nimoy actually wore many other hats over the course of his professional life. On stage, Nimoy starred on Broadway in "Full Circle" and "Equus" and toured the country in musical productions of "Fiddler on the Roof," before winning acclaim for his one-man show "Vincent," based on the life of painter Vincent van Gogh. He tried his hand behind the camera, helming two of the most popular of the Star Trek films, as well as the 1987 hit comedy, Three Men and a Baby. Nimoy's rich, somber voice and interest in science and environmental issues also made him much in demand as a narrator of such TV documentaries as "The Coral Jungle" (1976), "Snakes: Eden's Deadly Charmers" (1988) and "Greenhouse Gamble" (1992). Later in life, Nimoy turned his passions elsewhere. An accomplished poet and photographer, the actor published a number of books the last being 2002s The Shekhina Project, a photographic study of Kabbalah mysticism. Largely retired from acting since the early 2000s, Nimoy was lured back in front of the cameras one last time for a cameo as Spock in director J.J. Abrams much anticipated Trek feature franchise re-boot titled simply Star Trek (2008).
Leonard Simon Nimoy was born on Mar. 26, 1931 in Boston, MA. The son of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants Max and Dora Nimoy, young Leonard began acting when he was just eight years old. At the age of 17, Nimoy landed his first major role as Ralphie in Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing." Nimoy's earliest features were singularly undistinguished, including the serial "Zombies of the Stratosphere" and "Francis Goes to West Point" (both 1952), which continued the thrilling adventures of the famed talking mule. Nimoy did, however, do his level best in the title role of a low-budget boxing flick with religious overtones, "Kid Monk Baroni" (1952). After serving a brief stint in the U.S. Army Reserve, Nimoy returned to acting in the mid-1950s, receiving training under esteemed dramatic coach, Jeff Corey. For the next several years, Nimoy eked out a living with sporadic TV guest appearances and stage roles including as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" in Atlanta.
Nimoys most celebrated role however was that of the emotionless, half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock on "Star Trek." His characters iconic status was doubtlessly indebted to its clever conception: Spock was a half alien who dedicated himself to the pursuit of logic, yet could be bedeviled by moments of "all too human" emotion. The role of Spock was a tall order to be sure, but Nimoy's thoughtful acting proved more than equal to the challenge. Hiding behind an expressive often amusing deadpan mask, Nimoys Spock spoke volumes to legions of Star Trek fans. Still, despite its cult popularity, Star Trek" barely hung on in the ratings. By its third season, the shows once smart scripts and thought-provoking themes of tolerance and science as our saving grace had fallen victim to drastically slashed budgets. The show was eventually scuttled after the 1968-69 season.
Even so, Nimoy was luckier than most of his Trek colleagues. After Star Trek was canceled, Nimoy was tapped to replace Martin Landau in the fourth season of the still-popular Mission: Impossible (CBS, 1966-1973). As the Indomitable Paris, Nimoy took over as the teams resident master of disguise and illusionist for two seasons. He left the show after two seasons, however, due to exhaustion. Following a brief respite, Nimoy returned to television as the narrator and host of the paranormal documentary series, In Search Of (NBC, 1976-1982). Around this time, Nimoy also began to explore a second career as a director. After helming an episode of "Rod Serling's Night Gallery" (NBC, 1970-73) in the early 1970s, Nimoy established a reputation as a reliable television director. To keep his feet wet acting-wise, Nimoy concurrently appeared in a string of TV movies and miniseries, ranging from the silly as in the case of 1973s "Baffled!" to the lavish, but middling such as 1982s Marco Polo.
In the late 1970s, Nimoy landed his best known non-"Trek" feature role as Dr. David Kibner in director Philip Kaufmans feature thriller, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978). A worthy remake of the 1956 sci-fi classic, Nimoys turn as a touchy-feely, new age pop psychologist was an inspired bit of casting a tongue-in-cheek nod to the emotionless Spock character he played so well, for so long. Meanwhile, as Nimoys career chugged along, Star Trek began to enjoy an enormous resurgence in popularity. Owing to its renaissance to reruns, the demand for new Star Trek project exploded. Following the unprecedented success of Twentieth Century Foxs Star Wars (1977), Paramount quickly put a Star Trek feature on the fast-track. Unfortunately, before filming could commence, the studio had to first overcome a major hurdle Nimoy, himself.
During the mid-1970s, Nimoy and his former employer, Paramount Studios, became embroiled in a long-standing and bitter feud over the use of Nimoys likeness with regard to Trek merchandising. Unwilling to reprise his role for the Star Trek feature until that was resolved, Nimoy played hardball. Proving his business savvy, Nimoy promptly received a long-overdue apology, a handsome settlement, and a $1 million payday from the studio. The result was "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), the uneven but extremely successful first installment of the Trek film franchise. Nimoy subsequently returned to his most famous role for five sequels. Although he requested that his character be killed off at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), the actor was persuaded to resurrect the character two years later for its follow-up, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Perhaps the studio promising him a chance to direct the third installment did the trick. To the delight of Trekkies the world over, Nimoy made a highly anticipated appearance at films end, after Spock had been portrayed by a variety of actors of varying ages through the whole film. Nimoy later refined his technique by helming the next sequel Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) the most commercially successful of the series and the most humorous, as the crew of the Enterprise went back in time to modern day San Francisco to save to whales. Much of the laugh-getting came from to not only having to disguise Spocks pointy ears but to explain modern American slang to a Vulcan who took everything literally. While the fifth installment, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, directed by his co-star and friend William Shatner was the weakest of the franchise, the Enterprise crew bounced back when Nicholas Meyer director of the best loved film, The Wrath of Khan took hold of what would be the original crews final foray into space together Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991) a movie Nimoy also co-produced. The final film while not the strongest of the lot, did not disappoint fans who loved the gadgets and gizmos as much as they did the crew rapport particularly between Shatners Captain Kirk, DeForest Kelleys Dr. Leonard Bones McCoy, and Nimoys green-blooded science officer under Kirks command. To the delight of fans, the cast who themselves could not have escaped the fact that this was possibly their final outing together tapped into the brotherly rivalry and love that had always provided Trek with its true humanity.
Proving a deft touch behind the camera particularly in his own film franchise world, Nimoy stepped out of his interstellar safety net and found surprising success in 1987, with the success of the cutesy if somewhat formulaic comedy, "Three Men and a Baby" (1987). A box office smash, Three Men and a Baby opened the doors for Nimoy the director, though his subsequent off-camera ventures the earnest drama "The Good Mother" (1988) and the little-seen comedies "Funny About Love" (1990) and "Holy Matrimony" (1994), foundered around their middling conceptions.
Ever diligent Trekkies continued to hope for cast reunions in whatever new Trek off-shoot came on the scene. In 1994, Nimoy declined an invitation to make a cameo as Spock in Star Trek: Generations the seventh Trek film and the first to exclusively feature the new cast of ST: The Next Generation (syndicated, 1987-1994). Explaining his decision in a 1995 interview, Nimoy stated: Quite frankly, the script didnt need me. It was a nothing role with just a few lines for Spock to pass the torch to the new cast. I wasnt interested in that as far as I was concerned, Spock had a grand exit in Star Trek VI and I didnt want to disrespect that in any way.
With the dawn of the new millennium, Nimoy significantly scaled back his Hollywood duties; preferring to focus mainly on his photography. Limiting himself to the occasional voice-over gig, Nimoy provided narration for various documentary series and animated projects such as Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001). He also found time to playfully tweak his sci-fi icon status with TV guest spots on shows like "The Simpsons" (Fox, 1989- ) and "Futurama" (Fox, 1999-2003). In 2001, Nimoy joined William Shatner for the DVD project "Mind Meld: The Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime," essentially a filmed conversation in Nimoy's backyard in which the actors discussed a number of subjects, including their unlikely bond and enduring friendship, Nimoy's bout with alcoholism, and the resentment they encountered from some of their fellow Trek cast mates.
In 2007, five years after he officially announced his retirement from acting, director J.J. Abrams lured Nimoy back before the cameras. Set to play Spock one last time in the directors highly anticipated 2008 re-boot of the Star Trek movie franchise, Nimoy was promised a pivotal role and a chance at achieving closure with his famous alter ego. During the preproduction, Nimoy also met the actor Zachary Quinto of Heroes fame (NBC, 2006- ) who was set to portray a younger version of Spock. Thankfully, the two hit it off, with Nimoy having the young actor over to his house for dinner; becoming, as Quinto himself said, a bit of a surrogate father, since he had grown up fatherless. On a humorous note, Quinto also stressed that Nimoy was doing his best to teach him to properly roll out he standard Vulcan greeting fingers in V formation, Live Long and Prosper.
Copyright © Baseline 2009.