Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.
His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Mr. Nimoy announced that he had the disease last year, attributing it to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.
I am one of a vanishing breed who remembers actually watching Star Trek when it made its first appearance on television in the sixties.
I, of course, was too young to pick up on the not so subtle messages inserted in each episode against war, against organized religion, and against racism. Instead I was incredibly fascinated with the whole beaming of people on and off the Enterprise, and of course the space monsters, aliens, and green skinned women.
However as the years have gone by, and I have seen every TV episode multiple times, and each of the movies at least once, I have become incredibly impressed with the concept of the show and its amazing cast.
And of course for me the most impressive cast member was always Leonard Nimoy.
For an awkward, precocious child trying to make sense of the world, and questioning the "facts" being presented by the adults, I always found myself relating to Mr. Spock most of all.
But let's face it, EVERYBODY loves Spock.
Even the President of the United States.
I personally have always thought that this Mr. Spock quote was his best:
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
And one I should mention that I have adopted as a personal creed. Which of course puts me at odds with certain political ideologies I could name.
Finally I would offer Mr. Nimoy the traditional Vulcan send off of "Live long and Prosper" but considering the circumstances that would be.....illogical.
R.I.P., dear man.
ReplyDeleteGreat loss for me, i watched the original series under the influence of one thing or another. Mr. Spock always stole the show. Great show, great actor, way ahead of his time. LLAP.
ReplyDeleteSpock has been beamed up for the final time.
ReplyDeleteOf course, he's not really dead. Not as long as we remember him.
ReplyDeleteGood-bye, _zeide_. And thank you.
I think sarahs screech at CPAC was totally illogical. Somebody must have put the fear of Satan up her big bubble butt.
ReplyDeleteThats OK, she'll snap bigtime real soon. As soon as Hillary declares she's running. Until then,keep on keepin' on you little puppet, you.
The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/XC73PHdQX04
Stolen from twitter:
ReplyDelete"I have been, and shall always be, your Fan."
Rest in Peace Mr. Nimoy.
He lived long and he prospered. Farewell, Lenny.
ReplyDeleteI really thought he died like 5 years ago. Hmm Wonder who did that I'm confusing him with.
ReplyDeleteScotty? Bones? I know they're both gone.
DeleteJames "Scotty" Doohan in 2005 and DeForest "Bones" Kelly in 1999.
DeleteI saw this today and it rings true in many instances in life
ReplyDelete"Films have the power to make us believe things that aren't necessarily true, even though our minds rationally know that we're simply watching a movie, and filmmakers quite often embellish the truth to suit their needs. "
Same goes for ANY account not written by the person it's about. NO ONE on earth can recount another's life or who, they are.
Anonymous @ 5:09, perhaps you're thinking of DeForrest Kelly, Doctor McCoy? He passed in 1999.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's James Doohan "Scotty" who died in 2005.
DeleteIn 1973, I was a lonely 10 year old girl attending 4th grade after a move to another state, and I didn't fit in. Every time I see an original Star Trek I think of that tough 4th grade year.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I found solace was with two other girls at the lunchroom table. One a light skinned African American in a lily white town, and the other girl had ectrodactyly. We didn't hang out otherwise and I've long forgotten their names, but for weeks we were friends by our shared fanaticism of all thinks Star Trek, which had just started syndication on one of the 3-4 after school channels in the pre-cable days. We did nothing at lunch but talk Star Trek. Gossiping about the tension between Spock and Bones, debating our favorite episodes, trying to calculate how quickly breeding Tribbles would over take our school if we started with a mating pair, talking transponders, communicators, and the moral choices posed by the Prime Directive.
At our lunch table of misfit 10 year olds, we were obsessed by Star Trek as if it were a soap opera serial, because we knew it was ok to be nerdy, or look different, or to be very smart but not very popular, and to be 10 year old lovers of sci-fi!
I can't think of another character in American entertainment that has been played by the same actor for 45 years. Three or four generations of TV and movie goers know exactly who SPOCK is, what he looks like, what he says, and what he does.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P., MR. SPOCK! You will be sorely missed!
ReplyDelete10 Spock Quotes That Took Us Where No One Has Gone Before
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/spock-quotes-where-no-man-has-gone-before_n_6770328.html
https://twitter.com/therealnimoy
On February 15, 2015, he was rushed to UCLA Medical Center for severe chest pains after a call to 911. According to accounts, he has been in and out of hospitals for the "past several months".
"The gesture that I introduced into Star Trek, the split-fingered Vulcan salute, we'll call it... that came from an experience -- I'm going all the way back to my childhood again -- when I was about 8 years old, sitting in the synagogue at high holiday services with my family. There comes a moment in the ceremony when the congregation is blessed by a group of gentlemen known as Kohanim, members of the priestly tribe of the Hebrews. And the blessing is one that we see in the Old and New Testament: 'May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause His countenance to shine upon you', and so forth. When they give this blessing, you're told not to look! You're supposed to avert your eyes. I peeked, and I saw these guys with their hands stretched out - there were five or six of them, all with their hands stretched out toward the congregation - in that gesture, that split-fingered gesture. Some time later, I learned that the shape that hand creates is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the letter shin, which is the first letter in the word Shaddai, which is the name of the Almighty. So the suggestion is that they're using a symbol of God's name with their hands as they bless the congregation.".
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000559/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
I've heard this before, but not the details.
DeleteWho knew Spock was Jewish?
Are Vulcans a lost tribe of Israel? Or perhaps Earth harbors the lost tribes of Vulcan?
When Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt were cast as his parents on Star Trek (1966), they asked him if he had any advice on the Vulcan characters and culture, seeing as how he was the series' main Vulcan character. He replied that he felt the Vulcans were very much a "hand-oriented people", and so Lenard and Wyatt came up with a hand gesture in which they touched and held their fingers together to indicate a sense of intimacy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000559/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
Cool.
DeleteI had not heard that before.
Leonard Nimoy's Mameloshn: A Yiddish Story
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QAYvI5CC5s#t=87
These Are Leonard Nimoy's Touching Final Words Of Wisdom
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/leonard-nimoy-final-tweet_n_6770100.html
http://media.tumblr.com/f1d130a25ecb4c0580166eee2805830b/tumblr_inline_mn2h0r116r1qz4rgp.gif
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a wee child watching the original broadcast of "Star Trek" every Thursday was one of the high points of my week. I loved every character on the show, but Mr. Spock was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteEven as a little kid, I knew something was not right with the way the world was being run, and longed for a world of peace, diversity and adventure.
R.I.P. Mr. Spock. I will always love what you stood for in my life and imagination.
Spock entered our lives as an ill-fitted scientist befriended by a wily and courageous Kirk and together they introduced us to universes of strange and compelling beings. His voice-overs compel you to listen and his eyebrow lift spoke volumes. We were blessed by his performances and dedication to his character oh these many decades.
ReplyDelete"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
ReplyDeletea/k/a Altruistic Suicide
The fact is that no matter what a person does, it is always, ALWAYS,
done in their own best self-interest. Always. Even Spock could not overcome this selfishness.
The actor Leonard Nimoy has died. The Vulcan Spock was one of many characters he portrayed in his long career. In addition to his dramatic roles, Nimoy was a passionate poet and a painter, but few of us cared about any of his work other than his portrayal of the pointy-eared half-alien.
ReplyDeleteAs a testament to the power of this fictional character, many of his avowedly non-religious fans are mourning as if Spock were an actual being.
Over and over we see it. When people attempt to become completely secular, they unwittingly worship idols from such pedestrian categories as TV characters, politicians, pop stars, etc.
The blogger here refers to his personal creed. Creed derives from credo, Latin for "I believe." So he admits belief, although he persistently mines the beliefs of others for ridicule. I guess he could do worse than to settle on the musings of a 60s TV character, but still one has to ask--what is he thinking?
You can mourn the loss of a person without worshiping them as a deity.
DeleteYou can hold someone dear even though you've never met them.
I met Leonard Nimoy at the Old Globe Theater when he performed in "The Man in the Glass Booth". He was warm and professional. I was doing work study in the costume department and met him when he showed up early for a rehearsal and was the only one in the room I was sent to to fetch some brushes. He didn't have to talk to me, but he did.
I got to see plays for free as part of my work study. His performance in that play was powerful. He taught me the power of live theater, that there is a palpable something between actors and audience in a live performance that cannot be duplicated on screen, be it movie or TV.
Leonard Nimoy, and the entire cast and crew of Star Trek, had a profound influence on the entire world. More so than many, be they politicians, scientists or philanthropists.
We have cell phones and automatic doors because of Star Trek. Scientists and doctors are working on diagnostic beds because of Star Trek.
I would hope our society is working toward a more Star Trek like tolerance and acceptance, but I'm not sure we're mature enough yet.
I was hoping for more in my lifetime.
But still, they all made a huge impact in this world. We have scientists and astronauts that can claim Star Trek for their career choices.
That isn't a bad legacy.
R.I.P. Leonard.
I was never really a Trekkie, but I remember when I loved show Nimoy hosted, "In Search of..."-reality TV for thinking people. And CBS Sunday Morning paid a lovely tribute to Nimoy. Mr. Nimoy was so much more than a TV actor-he was a writer, photographer, animal lover-a true Renaissance man.
ReplyDeleteJennifer K