Remembering Leonard Nimoy Ten Years After His Passing by Jeffrey W. Mason
Jeffrey W. Mason
Volunteer Researcher and Contributor at The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
“Spock is definitely one of my best friends.? When I put on those ears, it’s not like just another day. When I become Spock, that day becomes something special.”
Leonard Simon Nimoy (March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015), the 83 year old Boston born Renaissance Man, died ten years ago today from complications resulting from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease caused in large measure by his thirty year-long smoking habit.? The death of an extraordinary actor, director, photographer, singer, and poet, was obviously a shock to not only most Americans but to most of the global Star Trek fan network as well.? However, considering that his seminal role as the Vulcan science officer Mr. Spock in the science fiction masterpiece Star Trek occurred more than half a century ago, perhaps his demise, while sad, was not completely unexpected.
A young Jewish boy growing up with three generations of his family in a crowded apartment with Italian and Irish families, all in the same three story building, located in the West End of Boston, went on to tackle a unique, imaginative, intriguing yet difficult acting challenge - portraying the first truly intelligent extraterrestrial humanoid of substance on American television.?? Almost sixty years ago, on September 8, 1966, Gene Roddenberry’s creation—a drama about our human future among the stars—first aired on NBC-TV.? Over the decades, philosophers, scholars, scientists, and religious authorities have recognized that Star Trek was much more than a silly televised space opera.? And Leonard Nimoy, whose half-Vulcan, half-human character Spock embraced the concept of IDIC- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, reflected Roddenberry’s wonderfully idealistic vision of a future where humanity will finally conquer warfare, poverty, racism, sexism, terrorism, disease, and, most importantly, chronic ignorance and move out into the galaxy to “seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no one has gone before.”
He grew up with a great work ethic, it wasn’t an option as his family was not wealthy.? As a boy he did odd jobs and hustled newspapers (like this writer did) and later sold vacuum cleaners in the West End until he saved enough money at age 18 to take a railroad trip to Pasadena, California where he had signed up for acting classes.? But, his career was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.? His first job after the Army was driving a taxicab at night, which allowed him to spend his daytime hours auditioning for acting jobs.? He drove the cab for three months in 1955 in Southern California during which time he met then Senator, later President John F. Kennedy.? Nimoy spoke about this encounter in 2012, “One day I picked up Jack Kennedy at the Bel Air Hotel (in Los Angeles), we chatted about careers, politics, and show business and we agreed that both had a lot in common, maybe too much in common.? He said ‘Lots of competition in your business just like mine,’ and then he gave me this, ‘Just remember there’s always room for one more good one.’ Words to live by.”
Nimoy, like thousands of other struggling actors in the Fifties and Sixties, had worked at his craft tenaciously, studying with dialogue coaches to lose his New England accent, and working in New York and Hollywood at any acting job he could scrounge up.? He appeared on dozens of television shows to include Sea Hunt, Twilight Zone, The Man From Uncle, Get Smart, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, and others too numerous to mention.? He played cowboys, Indians, crooks, detectives, secret agents, and many other roles. But he was also a trained live theater actor and one role in particular got him noticed by agents, talent scouts, and film and TV producers.? In February 1960, he was cast by Jeff Corey into a live stage role along with actors Paul Mazursky and Michael Forest (the latter later played the character Apollo in the 1967 Star Trek episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?”) in the play Deathwatch conceived by French writer and political activist Jean Genet.? The production was a huge success and ran for a long time, first at Cosmo Alley and later at the larger Venue Players Ring Gallery Theatre in Los Angeles. Interviewed by a tabloid in 1960 he noted that, “I owe a lot to that play.? Many people from the industry saw me in it and I was lucky enough to get great reviews.”
Then one day after Gene Roddenberry decided that one of the actors that impressed him on his 1963 Desilu TV series “The Lieutenant” (starring Gary Lockwood, who later guest starred in Star Trek’s second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” as the character Gary Mitchell), Leonard Nimoy, was chosen to audition and land a very unusual TV role at that time.? Playing what his foil and friend Dr. Leonard McCoy, the late actor DeForest Kelley called, “a green-blooded, pointy eared, hobgoblin.”? Otherwise known as Star Fleet’s finest first officer, Commander Spock of the planet Vulcan.? Attached at the hip to his commanding officer, the strong, dedicated, duty-minded but risk-taking captain of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk, Spock joined William Shatner and Kelley as the three-headed swash-buckling space explorers, along with memorable supporting cast members Mr. Sulu (George Takei), Mr. Chekov (Walter Koenig), Mr. Scott (James Doohan), Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Nurse Chapel (Majel Roddenberry), whose combined strengths, foibles, and dramatic elan intrigued American audiences for three short seasons (1966-69), and later captivated global audiences for decades, through series’ reruns, an ultra successful run of films, conventions, TV specials, and talk show appearances.?
Leonard Nimoy, speaking at Boston University’s 139th Commencement on May 20, 2012, the day he received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from this prestigious institution of higher learning, “It took 15 years but I was ready, I was on my game. Spock called for exactly the kind of work I was prepared to do.? He was a character with a rich and dynamic inner life, half human, half Vulcan.? He was the embodiment of the outsider like the immigrants who surrounded me in my early years.? How do you find your way as the alien in a foreign culture?”
There are some notable quotes from Mr. Spock during the long run of the Star Trek franchise, often insightful, sometimes humorous.
Even Mr. Spock, although sometimes inadvertently, could make us laugh.? With the Captain detained on the planet below, Mr. Spock was oftentimes in the command chair on the bridge.? In one episode, we observe bridge crew of the starship Enterprise being violently wrenched back and forth and thrown out of their chairs or knocked off their feet.? Suddenly the ship stabilizes and everyone is able to stand up or take their seats.? Lt. Uhura notices that Mr. Spock has been thrown to the floor:
Lt. Uhura:? “Mr. Spock, are you all right?
Mr. Spock:? “Yes, I believe that no permanent damage was done.”
Uhura:? “What happened?”
Spock:? “The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the arm of the chair.”
Uhura:? “No, Mister Spock.? I meant what happened to us, to the ship?”
Spock:? “That we have yet to ascertain.”
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In several other episodes, Mr. Spock conveyed Gene Roddenberry’s antiwar mindset.
Spock:? “Interesting, you Earth people glorify organized violence for 40 centuries, but you imprison those who employ it privately…I’m frequently appalled for the low regard you Earth men have for life.”
In an episode titled, The Apple, Kirk, Spock and McCoy stumble upon a murdered corpse on a paradise planet where the Captain has decided to violate the Prime Directive of Noninterference in order to “free” a pre-industrial society from an automated tyrant.
Spock:? “The good doctor was concerned that the Vaalians achieve true human stature.? I submit there’s no cause for worry.? They’ve taken the first step, they’ve learned to kill.”
Many viewers interpret the following dialogue from the episode Bread and Circuses on a planet where the Roman Empire survived for 2,000 years, as conveying hidden messages about war and despotism not only during the Cold War but also the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Global War on Terrorism, and recent wars in Ukraine and the Mideast proving that Star Trek still has relevance in addressing important real-life 21st century issues.
Captain Merrick:? “This is an ordered world.? A conservative world based on time honored Roman strengths and virtues…There’s been no war here for over 400 years…I think you can see why they don’t want to have their stability contaminated by dangerous ideas of other ways and other places.”
Mr. Spock:? “Interesting and given a considerable empire, quite understandable.”
Dr. McCoy:? “Are you out of your head?”
Spock:? “I said I understood it, doctor.? I find the checks and balances of this civilization quite illuminating.”
McCoy:? “Next, he’ll be telling us he prefers it over Earth history.”
Spock:? “They do seem to have escaped the carnage of your first three world wars, doctor.”
McCoy:? “They have slavery, gladiatorial games, despotism.”
Spock:? “Situations quite familiar to the nine million who died in your First World War, the sixty million who died in your Second, and the 600 million who died in your Third – shall I go on?”
(Note:? Mr. Spock’s casualty figures have been adjusted to reflect modern historical consensus and subsequent Star Trek: The Next Generation lore about a fictional World War III in the mid-21st century.)
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.” Spock’s statement to Admiral Kirk in the moments before he died from radiation poisoning after doing the impossible – sacrificing his life to save the U.S.S. Enterprise and all aboard from the Genesis nova like cosmic blast in the film “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan.”? Later reversed to “The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.” by Admiral Kirk in response to the reborn Spock’s question “Why would you do this for me?” in the “Star Trek: Search for Spock” film directed by Leonard Nimoy.
Brilliantly but also sometimes irritatingly logical (Kirk:? “Am I correct that a fusion explosion of 97 megatons will result if a starship impulse engine is overloaded?”? Spock:? “No, Sir.? Ninety seven point eight three five megatons.”), Spock quickly became a cult phenomenon as his character morphed from one that NBC executives lobbied at first to eliminate from the series to become the most popular figure on American TV in the mid-1960s.? “I Grok Spock” buttons and Spock fan mail proliferated exponentially and Nimoy and Shatner butted heads a bit before his Canadian-born co-star realized that an acting colleague who excels, doesn’t deflate other performances around him, but actually enhances the whole dramatic presentation.?? Shatner and Nimoy, born only a few days apart in March of 1931, became lifelong friends.
In his 2016 book titled, Leonard:? My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man, William Shatner fondly remembered his friend, “I think about Leonard.? I miss him.? Even when we weren’t in close touch, he was always in my life.? And when I think about Leonard and all the adventures we had together, I remember his own lust for life.? I remember his desire to explore and experience life in all its infinite wonder.? I think of his spiritual side, in which he never stopped searching for answers he knew he would never find.? I think of his generosity and his commitment to fight for equal justice for everyone.? I think of his never-ending passion for the arts and his quest to nurture creativity in young people.? And I think of him standing in front of me, his palm held high, his fingers separated in the Vulcan salute, smiling knowingly.”
Shatner’s final tribute recalled that, “In his one-man play, Vincent, Leonard drew from the letters of Vincent van Gogh.? There was one letter that he quoted which seems appropriate on so many levels:? ‘I am a man of passions…I am a stranger on earth, hide not thy commandments from me.? There is an old belief, and it is a good belief, that our life is a pilgrim’s progress and that we are strangers on earth…The end of our pilgrimage is the entering in our Father’s house, where are many mansions, where He has gone before us to prepare a place for us…’”
Leonard Nimoy went on to other successes on the stage, in film, he directed Academy Award-nominated films like Three Men and A Baby, and he won distinction for his other career love—photography.?? In his last years he bonded with his son Adam in their co-production of an intriguing documentary about his old neighborhood of West Boston, where three generations of his family lived in a small one floor apartment until rich developers used eminent domain to force the immigrant rich “village” composed of ethnic Italians, Irish and Jewish families to move away since almost all of them could not afford the significantly higher rental rates of the new pricey high rise apartments built over top old West Boston.
Thanks to his son Adam Nimoy, a rich award-winning documentary about the life and preeminent acting role of his father, For the Love of Spock, was filmed and released in 2016.? It won high praise from not only new and old Star Trek fans, but millions of others like former President Barack Obama who admitted, “I loved Mr. Spock.” ?Including this writer, who as a 9-12 year old watched live all the original series episodes, some dozens of times over the decades of its syndication run following the Sixties, published two book chapters of his own “Star Trek Chronology, I & II” in the Signet Books paperback series Best of Trek, No. 6 and No. 10, won a contest to attend the 30th Anniversary Star Trek Gala on a soundstage at Paramount Studios in Hollywood where he and his wife met and obtained autographs from most of the actors from the original and other Star Trek TV series, appeared on a live radio program to discuss the Star Trek Phenomenon and taught a college course on this highly acclaimed, then and now, legendary science fiction television series.
In this documentary actors from all of the original series and the more recent J.J. Abram’s directed Star Trek films as well as Nimoy’s other colleagues, friends and family outside the Star Trek franchise were asked “If you had to use one word to describe Leonard Nimoy what would that be?”? Several responded, “Love.”? Another intriguing answer was “Mensch,” a Yiddish word for a person of integrity and honor, just a really good human being.
His life was celebrated with a photo collage at the Burning Man Festival in 2015…
The list of accolades, honors and awards that Leonard Nimoy earned is quite impressive:? Three Emmy nominations; TV Guide chose Spock as one of the 50 greatest TV characters of all time; received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 1985; the Thalia Theatre on Broadway in New York City was renamed the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre in 2002; won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, 2009; won a Saturn Award for the Best Guest Performance in a TV Series (Fringe), 2010; in 2015 an asteroid was named after him – 4864 Nimoy; and others too numerous to list here.
Nimoy will go down in entertainment history as the co-creator, along with Gene Roddenberry, of one of the most unique television/movie characters in the 20th century.? Building superbly on Gene’s basic foundation, he perfected a towering monument of the American science fiction genre, an amazing prototype of an individual that may one day become realized – a human-alien hybrid who truly embraces the best of both worlds:? strong but reasoned empathy, controlled but heartfelt emotion, logic of a Sherlockian strength and veracitude, extremely modest humility, enormous self-confidence, strength of character and goodness combined with an unassailable nobility of truthfulness.
Science fiction is a fantasy, a drama of things that might never be.? But Leonard Nimoy’s embrace of his character as seen in his 1995 book “I Am Spock” symbolizes the irrefutable fact that well done drama can actually inspire social and political change.?? Good works, even if imagined, can and have had an impact on individuals and even society as a whole.? Sometimes even on an entire species.? Perhaps “Live long and prosper” may someday be actualized among all the denizens of this Pale Blue Dot.
SOURCES- Jeffrey W. Mason, The Fiftieth Anniversary of Star Trek’s Premiere on NBC-TV on Sept. 8, 1966: The Countdown, Linked In.com series of articles running from May to October 2016; Jeffrey W. Mason Nimoy Made Spock More Than a Mere Character, Maryland Independent, March 6, 2015, https://www.somdnews.com; William Shatner with David Fisher, Leonard: My 50 Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man, 2017: St. Martin's Griffin; Joseph Kornbrodt, Kevin Layne, David Zappone, Producers, Adam Nimoy, Director, For the Love of Spock: An Adam Nimoy Film, 2016, https://www.fortheloveofspock.com; Julie Nimoy and David Knight, Producers/Directors, Remembering? Leonard Nimoy: His Life, Legacy and Battle with COPD, 2017, https://treknews.net/2017/02/05/remembering-leonard-nimoy-copd-trailer/; Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, John D.F. Black and Mary Black, These Are the Voyages: The Original Series, Star Trek: Season One, San Diego, CA: Jacobs/Brown Press, 2013; Leonard Nimoy’s Boston with Adam Nimoy, WGBH-TV Boston, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nf8wf3g
Copyright 2025 by Jeffrey W. Mason
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