Leonard 'Spock' Nimoy 1931-2015: Life in pictures
- Published
Leonard Nimoy, the US actor famous around the world for playing Mr Spock in the Star Trek TV series and films, has died at the age of 83. Born in Boston in 1931, he began acting at the age of eight and spent many years as a jobbing actor before landing his signature role.
Nimoy made his debut as Mr Spock, science officer on the Starship Enterprise, in original Star Trek pilot The Cage. Jeffrey Hunter(left) played the lead role of Captain Christopher Pike, but the show was not a success and a second pilot was ordered. Nimoy's pointy-eared alien was the only character to be retained.
When Star Trek finally aired in 1966, Nimoy was joined by William Shatner's Captain James T Kirk and DeForest Kelley's Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy. The trio boldly went where no men had gone before for three seasons before the sci-fi show was cancelled in 1969.
With his distinctive ears and eyebrows, drastic haircut and unflappable, cerebral demeanour, Mr Spock became a firm favourite with fans of Gene Roddenberry's science fiction series. But Nimoy would tire of being associated with his character, later writing a memoir entitled I Am Not Spock.
Spurred by the success of Star Wars in 1977, the decision was made to reunite the crew of the USS Enterprise for a big-screen version of their TV series. The result was Star Trek: The Motion Picture, cruelly dubbed The Motionless Picture by those who found Robert Wise's film too talky and serious.
Reluctant to play Spock again, Nimoy was persuaded to appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the understanding that his character would be killed off. "I am... and always shall be... your friend," he told Captain Kirk after sacrificing himself to save his crewmates. "Live long... and prosper."
No sooner did Spock die than he was brought back to life in Star Trek: The Search for Spock, the first of two Trek films Nimoy would both direct and appear in. Here he joins Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, William Shatner, Walter Koenig, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan in 1988 to toast the fifth film in the series.
After Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Nimoy took a break from Spock to pursue other roles and interests. In 2002 he published his first book of photographs, a collection of dramatic portraits of women who were intended to represent female manifestations of God on Earth.
Yet Nimoy and Spock remained synonymous to the extent that when a new Star Trek film was released in 2009, the actor inevitably played an older version of his Vulcan alter-ego. Zachary Quinto (right) played the younger Spock in JJ Abrams' big budget relaunch of the durable Trek franchise.
Leonard Nimoy was married twice. He wed Sandra Zober, aka Sandi, in 1954 and had two children with her before their divorce in 1987. In 1989 he married actress Susan Bay, a cousin of film director Michael Bay. Nimoy would go on to do voice work on one of Bay's Transformers films.
- Published27 February 2015
- Published27 February 2015
