Biography: Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy (pronounced /ˈniːmɔɪ/, NEE-moy; born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. He is best known for playing the role of Spock in the original Star Trek series, and he reprised the role in various movie and television sequels.

Early life

Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Ukraine.^[1][2][3][4] His father, Max Nimoy, owned a barbershop. His mother, Dora Nimoy (née Spinner), was a homemaker.^[5][6] Nimoy began acting at the age of eight. His first major role was Ralphie in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing, at 17.^[7] He studied photography at the University of California, Los Angeles, completing his degree at Boston College in 1953, and has an MA in Education and an honorary doctorate from Antioch University in Ohio.

Nimoy served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1953 through 1955,^[8] alongside fellow actor Ken Berry.

Career

Stage and screen

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 spent most of the rest of his early career playing small parts in B movies, TV shows such as Dragnet, and serials such as Republic Pictures' Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952). This included more than fifty movies or television shows.

He played an Army sergeant in the 1954 Sci Fi thriller, "THEM!", and had a role in The Balcony (1963), a film adaptation of the Jean Genet play.

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. Throughout the 1960s Nimoy appeared in a number of other TV series including Bonanza (1960), Two Faces West (1961), The Untouchables (1962), The Eleventh Hour (1962), Combat! (1963, 1965), Perry Mason (1963), The Outer Limits (1964), and Get Smart (1966).

Nimoy and William Shatner first worked together in 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's greatest prominence came from his role in the original Star Trek series, as the half-Vulcan, half-human Spock. Nimoy formed a long-standing friendship with Shatner, who portrayed his commanding officer. The series ran from 1966 to 1969, and Nimoy earned three Emmy acting nominations for his work.

He went on to reprise Spock's character in a voice-over role in Star Trek: The Animated Series, in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and in six Star Trek motion pictures featuring the original cast. He played an older Spock in the 2009 Star Trek movie directed by J. J. Abrams.

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

He co-starred with Yul Brynner and Richard Crenna in the Western movie Catlow (1971). 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). He also had roles in Night Gallery (1972) and Columbo (1973) where he played a murderous doctor who was one of the few criminals to whom Columbo became angry.

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.

It was during this time that Nimoy won acclaim for a series of stage roles as well. He appeared in such plays as Vincent, Fiddler on the Roof, The Man in the Glass Booth, Oliver!, Six Rms Riv Vu, Full Circle, 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.

Star Trek after the original series

When a new Star Trek series was planned in the late 1970s, Nimoy was to be in only two out of every 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 to date after the 2009 Star Trek film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) and move beyond the Trek universe with Three Men and a Baby, the highest grossing film of 1987. At a press conference promoting the 2009 Star Trek movie, Nimoy made it clear that he had no further plans or ambition to direct.

Other work in the late 1980s and the 1990s

Nimoy did occasional work as a voice actor in animated feature films, including the character of Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie in 1986.

In 1991, Nimoy teamed up with Robert 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".^[10]

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

Literary works

Nimoy has written two autobiographies. The first was called I Am Not Spock (1975) and was controversial, as many fans^[who?] 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.

His second autobiography was I Am Spock (1995), 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.^[12] 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 that involved a first contact situation with aliens that had arisen from discussion between him and Isaac Asimov. There was a novelization by Steve Perry.

Music career

During and following Star Trek, Nimoy also released five albums of vocal recordings on Dot Records,^[13] including Trek-related songs such as "Highly Illogical", and cover versions of popular tunes, such as "Proud Mary". In regards to how his recording career got started, he stated:

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 #3 on the US Pop charts, and #1 on Dance charts. The group's self-titled LP contains several other samples from the original Star Trek television series.

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

Current work

Starting in 1994, Nimoy began to narrate the Ancient Mysteries series on A&E including "The Sacred Water of Lourdes" and "The Last Days of the Romanovs". He also appeared in advertising in the United Kingdom for the computer company Time Computers in the late 1990s. 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.

In 1999, he voiced the narration of the English version of the Sega Dreamcast game Seaman and promoted Y2K educational films.^[15]

In 2003, he announced his retirement from acting to concentrate on photography, but he has 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 January 2007, he granted an interview to Fat Free Film, where he discussed his early career and the benefits of being typecast.^[16]

Nimoy was given casting approval over who would play the young Spock in the newest film.^[17]

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 explore the existence of a parallel universe. Nimoy returned as Dr. Bell in the fall 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."^[18][19] 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.^[20]

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 Spock of the future (Zachary Quinto meanwhile, portrays the younger 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.^[21]

Personal life

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, whom he divorced in 1987. He had two children with her, director Adam Nimoy and Julie Nimoy, who both appear in an Oldsmobile commercial, with the famous tagline, "This is not your father's Oldsmobile". In 1988, he married actress Susan Bay, who is a cousin of director Michael Bay.^[22]

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.^[23]

Nimoy devised the Vulcan salute^[24] - a raised hand with palm forward, the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger - based on the traditional kohanic blessing, which is performed with both hands, thumb to thumb in this position: a position thought to represent the Hebrew letter shin (ש). (This letter is often used as a symbol of God in Judaism, as it is an abbreviation for one of God's names, El Shaddai. This usage is seen, for example, on every mezuzah.) Nimoy says he derived the accompanying spoken blessing, "Live long and prosper" from this source; the last phrase of the blessing is "May the Lord be forebearing unto you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24–26).^[25] Nimoy was asked to read the verses as part of his narration for Civilization IV.

Nimoy also introduced the Vulcan nerve pinch in an early Star Trek episode "The Enemy Within".^[24] 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 using the suggestion that Vulcans have the ability to emit energy from their fingertips which, if applied to the correct nerve cluster, could render a human unconscious.^[24]

The Space Foundation named Nimoy as the recipient of the 2010 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award ^[26] for creating a positive role model who inspired untold numbers of viewers to learn more about the universe.

Filmography

Director

• 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

Writer

Bibliography

• I Am Not Spock (1977)
• Vincent: Based on the play "Van Gogh" by Phillip Stephens (1978)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (Contributions uncredited)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) (Contributions uncredited)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• I Am Spock (1995)
• Shekhina photography (2005) (ISBN 978-1884167164)
• The Full Body Project (2008)

Poetry

• You & I (1973) (ISBN 978-0912310268)
• Will I Think of You? (1974) (ISBN 0912310701)
• We Are All Children Searching for Love: A Collection of Poems and Photographs (1977) (ISBN 978-0883960240)
• Come be With Me (1978) (ISBN 978-0883960332)
• These Words are for You (ISBN 978-0883961483)
• Warmed by Love (1983) (ISBN 978-0883962008)
• A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life (2002) (ISBN 978-0883965962)

Discography

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

1. ^ http://www.theofficialleonardnimoyfanclub.com/Biography.html The Official Leonard Nimoy Fan Club
2. ^ http://www.mlucks.com/genealogy/lucks/getperson.php?personID=I3854&tree=6 Leonard Simon Nimoy genealogy
3. ^ Leonard Nimoy - a paladin for the plump / Ex-actor's images sing out in praise of naked plus-size body
4. ^ Sfgate: Leonard Nimoy -- a paladin for the plump
5. ^ Leonard Nimoy Biography (1931-)
6. ^ Leonard Nimoy Biography - Yahoo! Movies
7. ^ From 'Spock': The beauty of big women - International Herald Tribune
8. ^ NNDB Profile for actor Leonard Nimoy (accessed 2009-09-11)
9. ^ http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Leonard+Nimoy+and+Zachary+Quinto%3A+The+Two+Faces+of+Spock
10. ^ Nimoy, Leonard, I Am Spock, New York: Hyperion, 1995.
11. ^ http://united-scifi.com/index.php/leonard-nimoys-lovehate-relationship-with-spock/
12. ^ http://www.thehypertexts.com The HyperTexts
13. ^ http://www.maidenwine.com/lps_02.html The Musical Touch of Leonard Nimoy
14. ^ http://www.maidenwine.com/home.html
15. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL5Yu3Ub9nA
16. ^ Leonard Nimoy interviewed on the Independent Film Podcast - Fat Free Film
17. ^ (03 May 2009)"Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto: The Two Faces of Spock". SuicideGirls.com. 03 May 2009. http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Leonard+Nimoy+and+Zachary+Quinto%3A+The+Two+Faces+of+Spock/. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
18. ^ Nimoy Joins Fringe
19. ^ O'Connor, Mickey (April 8, 2009). "Fringe: Meet Dr. William Bell"". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Fringe-Meet-Dr-1004879.aspx. Retrieved April 9, 2009. 
20. ^ ifmagazine.com - V Review: FRINGE- SEASON ONE - 'The Road Not Taken' by Emerson Parker
21. ^ USA Today: Leonard Nimoy joins 'Star Trek Online' crew
22. ^ Michael Bay's Transformers DVD audio commentary, 2007, Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks
23. ^ Bring Back Star Trek, Channel 4, The UK, broadcasted on 9.00–10.35pm 09/05/2009
24. ^ ^{a b c} (1999-05-13)"Leonard Nimoy ("Spock" - TOS)". Star Trek.com. 1999-05-13. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1080.html. Retrieved 2009-06-07. 
25. ^ YouTube - Leonard Nimoy: The Origin of Spock's Greeting
26. ^ - Space Foundation Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award
27. ^ http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/01/25/fringe-season-2-finale-spoilers/
28. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Online

External links

• Leonard Nimoy's personal website
• Leonard Nimoy at the Internet Movie Database
• Leonard Nimoy at Allmovie
• Leonard Nimoy at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Leonard Nimoy's entry at Startrek.com
• Interview with Leonard Nimoy at hossli.com
• Leonard Nimoy Poetry and Photography on The HyperTexts
• Maiden Wine comprehensive site devoted to the musical career of Leonard Nimoy.
• Leonard Nimoy at TV.com
• Interview with Leonard Nimoy by the Archive of American Television (2000)
• Nimoy in Seattle for ComiCon

Media

• Newsmaker of the Week: Leonard Nimoy (30-min. interview, free)
• Archive of American Television Interview with Leonard Nimoy Nov 2, 2000 on Google Video

Leonard Nimoy main page.