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Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy (March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famed for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original Star Trek series in 1966, then Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first six Star Trek films, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 2009 Star Trek film, and Star Trek Into Darkness. Nimoy also directed films, including Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986),  and Three Men and a Baby (1987), and his career also included roles in music videos and video games. In addition to acting and filmmaking, Nimoy was also a photographer, author, singer, and songwriter.

Nimoy's acting career began during his early twenties, teaching acting classes in Hollywood and making minor film and television appearances throughout the 1950s. From 1953 to 1955, he served in the United States Army as a Staff Sergeant in the Special Services, an entertainment branch of the American military. He originated and developed Spock beginning with the February 1964 Star Trek television pilots "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", through series' end in early 1969, followed by eight feature films and guest appearances in spin-offs. From 1967 to 1970, Nimoy had a music career with Dot Records, with his first and second albums mostly as Spock. After the original Star Trek series, Nimoy starred in Mission: Impossible for two seasons, hosted the documentary series In Search of..., appeared in Columbo, and made several well-received stage appearances.

Nimoy's portrayal of Spock made a significant cultural impact and earned him three Emmy Award nominations. His public profile as Spock was so strong that both his autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1975) and I Am Spock (1995), were written from the viewpoint of coexistence with the character. Leonard Nimoy played the elder Spock, with Zachary Quinto portraying a younger Spock, in the 2009 Star Trek reboot film, directed by J. J. Abrams. In 2010, Nimoy announced that he was retiring from playing Spock, citing both his advanced age and the desire to give Quinto full media attention as the character. His final role as Spock was in the 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Nimoy died in February 2015 after a long case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). His death was international news and was met with expressions of shock and grief by fans, Star Trek co-stars, scientists, celebrities, and the media. An asteroid was named 4864 Nimoy in his honor. For the Love of Spock (2016) was produced by his son Adam about his life and career, and Remembering Leonard Nimoy (2017) was produced by his daughter Julie about his illness.

Early life
Leonard Simon Nimoy was born on March 26, 1931, in an Irish section of the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, to Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Ukraine. His parents left Iziaslav separately, his father first walking over the border into Poland while his mother and grandmother were smuggled out of the Soviet Union in a horse-drawn wagon by hiding under bales of hay. They reunited after arriving in the United States. His mother, Dora (née Spinner; 1904–1987), was a homemaker, and his father, Max Nimoy (1901–1987), owned a barbershop in the Mattapan section of Boston. He had an elder brother, Melvin (1926–2022). He also had a distant cousin, Jeff Nimoy, a writer and actor.

As a child, Nimoy took miscellaneous jobs to supplement his family's income, including selling newspapers and greeting cards, shining shoes, or setting up chairs in theaters, and when he got older, selling vacuum cleaners. He began acting at the age of eight in a children's and neighborhood theater. His parents wanted him to attend college and pursue a stable career, or even learn to play the accordion, so he could always make a living, but his grandfather encouraged him to do what he then wanted to do most, which was acting. Nimoy realized he had an aptitude for singing, which he developed in his synagogue's choir. His singing during his bar mitzvah at age 13 was so good he was asked to repeat his performance the following week at another synagogue. William Shatner said, "He is still the only man I know whose voice was two bar mitzvahs good!"

His first major role was at 17, as Ralphie in an amateur production of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing!, about the struggles of a matriarchal Jewish family similar to his during the Great Depression. He said, "Playing this teenage kid in this Jewish family that was so much like mine was amazing... The same dynamics, the same tensions in the household." The role "lit a passion" that led to his acting career, saying "I never wanted to do anything else." Shatner has said that Nimoy also worked on local radio shows for children, often voice acting Bible stories: "Obviously, there was something symbolic about that. Many years later as Captain Kirk, I would be busy rescuing civilizations in distress on distant planets while Leonard's Mr. Spock would be examining the morality of man- and alienkind."

Nimoy took drama classes at Boston College, and after moving to Los Angeles, he used $600 he saved from selling vacuum cleaners to enroll at the Pasadena Playhouse, supporting himself by being a theatre usher, taxicab driver and stocking vending machines. However, he was soon disillusioned and quit after six months, feeling that the acting skills he had already acquired from earlier roles were more advanced: "I thought, I have to study here three years in order to do this level of work, and I'm already doing better work".

He became a devotee of method acting concepts derived from the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavsky, realizing the stage allowed him to explore his original inspirations for acting: the "psychological, emotional, and physical territories of life that can't be done anywhere else". Like his method actor role model, Marlon Brando, Nimoy wore jeans and T-shirts. Between studies, he took a job at an ice cream parlor on the Sunset Strip.

In 1953, Nimoy enlisted in the United States Army Reserve at Fort McPherson Georgia, serving for 18 months until 1955, leaving as a Staff Sergeant. He had been in the Army Special Services, putting on shows which he wrote, narrated, and emceed. One of his soldiers was Ken Berry, whom he encouraged to go into acting as a civilian and helped contact agents. During that period, he directed and starred in A Streetcar Named Desire, with the Atlanta Theater Guild. Soon after he was discharged, his wife Sandi was pregnant with their second child, and they rented an apartment while he became a cab driver in Los Angeles. He once picked up Senator John F. Kennedy at the Bel Air Hotel in 1956, before the Democratic Convention began on Aug. 13. As the Senator was not carrying any cash, Nimoy had to follow him into the Beverly Hilton to collect his $1.25 from someone Kennedy knew. He got a $1.75 tip.

Before and during Star Trek
Nimoy spent more than a decade playing only small parts in B movies and the lead in one, along with a minor TV role. He believed his performance as the title role in the 1952 film Kid Monk Baroni would make him a star, but the film failed after a brief cinema showing. During his military career, the film gained a larger audience on television, and after his discharge he got steadier work portraying a "heavy", where his character used street weapons like switchblades and guns or had to threaten or attack people. He overcame his Boston accent, but realized his lean appearance made stardom unlikely.

He decided to be a supporting actor rather than take lead roles, an attitude he acquired from his childhood: "I'm a second child who was educated to the idea my older brother was to be given respect and not perturbed. I was not to upstage him... So my acting career was designed to be a supporting player, a character actor." He played more than 50 small parts in B movies, television series such as Perry Mason and Dragnet, and serials such as Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952), in which he played a Martian named Narab. To support a wife and two children, he often took other work, such as delivering newspapers, working in a pet shop, and driving cabs.

Nimoy played an army sergeant in the 1954 science fiction thriller Them! and a professor in the 1958 science fiction movie The Brain Eaters, and had a role in The Balcony (1963), a film adaptation of the Jean Genet play. With Vic Morrow, he co-produced Deathwatch, a 1965 English-language film version of Genet's play Haute Surveillance, adapted and directed by Morrow and starring Nimoy. The story deals with three prison inmates. Partly as a result of his role, he then taught drama classes to members of Synanon, a drug rehab center, explaining: "Give a little here and it always comes back".

He had guest roles in the Sea Hunt series from 1958 to 1960 and a minor role in the 1961 The Twilight Zone episode "A Quality of Mercy". He also appeared in the syndicated Highway Patrol starring Broderick Crawford, and as Luke Reid in the "Night of Decision" episode of the ABC/Warner Bros. western series Colt .45.

Nimoy appeared four times in ethnic roles on NBC's Wagon Train, the number one rated program of the 1961–1962 season. He portrayed Bernabe Zamora in "The Estaban Zamora Story" (1959), "Cherokee Ned" in "The Maggie Hamilton Story" (1960), Joaquin Delgado in "The Tiburcio Mendez Story" (1961), and Emeterio Vasquez in "The Baylor Crowfoot Story" (1962).

Nimoy appeared in numerous episodes of Gunsmoke, as well as in Steve Canyon (1959), Bonanza (1960), The Rebel (1960), Two Faces West (1961), Laramie (1961), Rawhide (1961), The Untouchables (1962), The Eleventh Hour (1962), Perry Mason (1963), Combat! (1963, 1965), Daniel Boone, The Outer Limits (1964), The Virginian (1963–1965; first working with Star Trek co-star DeForest Kelley in "Man of Violence", episode 14 of season 2, in 1963), and Get Smart (1966). He appeared in the 1995 Outer Limits series. He appeared on Gunsmoke in 1961 as Grice, in 1962 as Arnie, and in 1966 as John Walking Fox.

Nimoy and Star Trek co-star William Shatner first worked together on an episode of the NBC spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Project Strigas Affair" (1964). Their characters were from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, though with his saturnine appearance, Nimoy played the villain and Shatner played a reluctant U.N.C.L.E. recruit.

On the stage, Nimoy played the lead role in a short run of Gore Vidal's Visit to a Small Planet in 1968 (shortly before the end of the Star Trek series) at the Pheasant Run Playhouse in St. Charles, Illinois.

Star Trek
Nimoy was best known for his portrayal of Spock, the half-human, half-Vulcan character he played on Star Trek from the first TV episode in 1966 to the film Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013. According to biographer Dennis Fischer, Spock was Nimoy's "most important role". Spock became an icon and one of the most popular alien characters ever featured on television. Viewers admired his composure and intellect and his ability to take on any task successfully. As a result, Nimoy's character "took the public by storm", nearly eclipsing the star of the series, William Shatner's Captain Kirk, adds Fischer. Nimoy was later credited for bringing "dignity and intelligence to one of the most revered characters in science fiction".

Nimoy and Shatner, who portrayed his commanding officer, became close friends during the series' television run, and were "like brothers", according to Shatner. Star Trek was broadcast from 1966 to 1969. For his role as Spock, Nimoy was nominated three times for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and has long remained the only Star Trek actor nominated for an Emmy.

Among Spock's recognized and unique symbols Nimoy incorporated into the series is the Vulcan salute, which became identified with him in pop culture. Nimoy created the sign from his childhood memories of the way kohanim (Jewish priests) hold their hands when giving the Priestly Blessing. The accompanying spoken blessing is "Live long and prosper".

Nimoy conceived the "Vulcan nerve pinch", which he suggested as a replacement for the scripted knock out method of using the butt of his phaser. He wanted a more sophisticated way of rendering a person unconscious. Nimoy explained to the director that Spock had, per the story, attended the Vulcan Institute of Technology and had studied human anatomy. Spock possessed the ability to project a unique form of energy through his fingertips. Nimoy explained the idea of putting his hand on his neck and shoulder to Shatner, and they rehearsed it. Nimoy credits Shatner's acting during the "pinch" that sold the idea and made it work on screen.

Nimoy reprised Spock in Star Trek: The Animated Series and two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. When the new series Star Trek: Phase II was planned in the late 1970s, Nimoy was to be in only two of eleven episodes, but when the series was elevated to a feature film, he agreed to reprise his role. The first six Star Trek movies feature the original cast including Nimoy, who also directed two of the films, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He played the elder Spock in the 2009 Star Trek reboot film and briefly in the 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, both directed by J. J. Abrams.

After Star Trek
Following Star Trek in 1969, Nimoy immediately joined the cast of the spy series Mission: Impossible, which was seeking a replacement for Martin Landau. Nimoy was cast in the role of Paris, an IMF agent who was an ex-magician and make-up expert, "The Great Paris". He played the role during seasons four and five from 1969 to 1971. Nimoy had been strongly considered as part of the initial cast for the show, but remained on Star Trek.

He co-starred with Yul Brynner and Richard Crenna in the Western movie Catlow (1971). He also had roles in two episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1972 and 1973) and Columbo (1973). He appeared in 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 television film A Woman Called Golda (1982), for playing the role of Morris Meyerson, Golda Meir's husband, opposite Ingrid Bergman as Golda in her final role.

In 1975, Nimoy filmed an opening introduction to Ripley's World of the Unexplained museum located at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Fisherman's Wharf at San Francisco, California. In the late 1970s, he hosted and narrated the television series In Search of..., which investigated paranormal or unexplained events or subjects. In 2000–2001 he hosted CNBC TV series The Next Wave With Leonard Nimoy, which explored how e-businesses were integrating with technology and the Internet. He also had a character part as a psychiatrist in Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Stage
Nimoy won acclaim for a series of stage roles. In 1971 he played the starring role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, which toured for eight weeks. Having performed in the Yiddish theater as a young man, he said the part was like a "homecoming" for him because his parents, like Tevye, also came from a shtetl in Russia and could relate to the play when they saw him in it. Later that year he starred as Arthur Goldman in The Man in the Glass Booth at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.

He starred as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1974, one year prior to its release as a feature film, with Jack Nicholson in the same role. During the run of the play, Nimoy took over as its director and wanted his character to be "rough and tough," and insisted on having tattoos. The costumer for the show, Sharon White, was amused: "That was sort of an intimate thing.... Here I am with Mr. Spock, for god's sakes, and I am painting pictures on his arms."

In 1975, Nimoy toured with and played the title role in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Sherlock Holmes. A number of authors have perceived parallels between the rational Holmes and the character of Spock, and it became a running theme in Star Trek fan clubs. Star Trek writer Nicholas Meyer said that "the link between Spock and Holmes was obvious to everyone." Meyer gives a few examples, including a scene in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, in which Spock quotes directly from a Doyle book and credits Holmes as a forefather to the logic he was espousing. In addition, the connection was implied in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which paid homage to both Holmes and Spock.

By 1977, when Nimoy played Martin Dysart in Equus on Broadway, he had played 13 important roles in 27 cities, including Tevye, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, and Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In 1981, Nimoy starred in Vincent, a one-man show which he wrote and published as a book in 1984. The audio recording of the play is available on DVD under the title, Van Gogh Revisited. It was based on the life of artist Vincent van Gogh, in which Nimoy played Van Gogh's brother Theo. Other plays included Oliver!, at The Melody Top Theater in Milwaukee, 6 Rms Riv Vu opposite Sandy Dennis, in Florida, Full Circle with Bibi Anderson on Broadway and in Washington, D.C. He was in Camelot, The King and I, Caligula, The Four Poster, and My Fair Lady.

Star Trek films
After Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit by Nimoy for Star Trek merchandise royalties, he agreed to join Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first in the Star Trek film series. By 1986, Nimoy had earned more than half a million dollars in royalties.

Voice actor
In 1975, Nimoy's renditions of Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" and "Usher II", both from The Martian Chronicles (1950), were released on Caedmon Records. During 1980, Nimoy hosted the Friday "Adventure Night" segment of the radio drama series Mutual Radio Theater, heard via the Mutual Broadcasting System. In 1986, Nimoy lent his voice to the 1986 cartoon movie The Transformers: The Movie for the character Galvatron.

In Bradbury's 1993 animated TV film The Halloween Tree, Nimoy was the voice of Mr. Moundshroud, the children's guide. Nimoy lent his voice as narrator to the 1994 IMAX documentary film, Destiny in Space, showcasing film-footage of space from nine Space Shuttle missions over four years time. In 1999, he voiced the narration of the English version of the Sega Dreamcast game Seaman and promoted Y2K educational films.

Together with John de Lancie, another actor from the Star Trek franchise, Nimoy created Alien Voices, an audio-production venture that specializes in audio dramatizations. Among the works jointly narrated by the pair are The Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Lost World, The Invisible Man, The First Men in the Moon, and several television specials for the Sci-Fi Channel. In an interview published on the official Star Trek website, Nimoy said that Alien Voices was discontinued because the series did not sell well enough to recoup costs.

In 2001, Nimoy voiced the Atlantean King Kashekim Nedakh in the Disney animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Nimoy provided a comprehensive series of voice-overs for the 2005 computer game Civilization IV. In the television series The Next Wave he interviewed people about technology. He hosts the documentary film The Once and Future Griffith Observatory. Nimoy and his wife, Susan Bay-Nimoy, were major supporters of the Griffith Observatory's historic 2002–2004 expansion.

In 2009, he voiced "The Zarn" in the television-based movie Land of the Lost. He voiced the Star Trek Online massive multiplayer online game, released in February 2010, and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as Xehanort, the series' leading villain. Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Birth by Sleep, said Nimoy was chosen for the role specifically because of his role as Spock, to play opposite Mark Hamill, famous for his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, as Nomura was a fan of both series and wanted to pit them against each other. Nimoy reprised this role for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance in 2012. After his death in 2015, Nimoy was replaced for the role as Xehanort by Rutger Hauer, who died and was succeeded by Nimoy's Star Trek co-star Christopher Lloyd.

Nimoy voiced Sentinel Prime in the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon. He was 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.

Special appearances
From 1982 to 1987, Nimoy hosted the children's educational show Standby...Lights! Camera! Action! on Nickelodeon. He was an occasional voice actor in animated feature films, including the character of Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie in 1986. He narrated the 1991 CBS paranormal series Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories. In 1994, he voiced Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in The Pagemaster. In 1998, he had a leading role as Mustapha Mond in Brave New World, a TV-movie version of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel.

From 1994 to 1997, he narrated the Ancient Mysteries series on A&E including "The Sacred Water of Lourdes" and "Secrets of the Romanovs". He appeared in advertising in the United Kingdom for the computer company Time Computers in the late 1990s. In 1997, he played the prophet Samuel, alongside Nathaniel Parker, in The Bible Collection movie David. He appeared in several popular television series, including Futurama and The Simpsons, both as himself and as Spock. In 2000, he provided on-camera hosting and introductions for 45 half-hour episodes of the anthology series Our 20th Century on the AEN TV Network. The series covers world news, sports, entertainment, technology, and fashion using original archive news clips from 1930 to 1975 from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and other private archival sources.

In 2001, Nimoy appeared on the television show Becker, where he played Dr. Emmett Fowler, a professor who cannot recall his former student.

Nimoy played the recurring enigmatic character of Dr. William Bell on the television show Fringe. Nimoy opted for the role after previously working with Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on the 2009 Star Trek film and offered another opportunity to work with this production team again. Nimoy also was interested in the series, which he saw was an intelligent mixture of science and science fiction, and continued to guest star through the show's fourth season, even after his stated 2012 retirement from acting. Nimoy's first appearance as Bell was in the Season1 finale, "There's More Than One of Everything", which explored the possible existence of a parallel universe. In the May 9, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live, Nimoy appeared as a surprise guest in the Weekend Update segment with Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, who play the young Spock and Kirk in the Star Trek which had just premiered days earlier. In the sketch, the three actors attempt to appease long-time Trekkers by assuring them the new film would be true to the original Star Trek.

Producer
In 1991, Nimoy starred in Never Forget, which he co-produced with Robert B. Radnitz. The movie was about a pro bono publico lawsuit by an attorney on behalf of Mel Mermelstein, played by Nimoy as an Auschwitz survivor, against a group of organizations engaged in Holocaust denial. Nimoy said he experienced a strong "sense of fulfillment" from doing the film. In 2007, he produced the play, Shakespeare's Will by Canadian Playwright Vern Thiessen. The one-woman show starred Jeanmarie Simpson as Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The production was directed by Nimoy's wife, Susan Bay.

Semi-retirement
In April 2010, Nimoy announced that he was retiring from playing Spock, citing both his advanced age and the desire to give Zachary Quinto full media attention as the character. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was to be his final performance; however, in February 2011, he announced his intent to return to Fringe and reprise his role as William Bell. Nimoy continued voice acting during retirement; his appearance in the third season of Fringe includes his voice (his character appears only in animated scenes), and he provided the voice of Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In May 2011, he made a cameo appearance in the alternate version music video of "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars. Aaron Bay-Schuck, the Atlantic Records executive who signed Mars to the label, is Nimoy's stepson.

Nimoy provided the voice of Spock as a guest star in a Season5 episode of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory titled "The Transporter Malfunction", which aired on March 29, 2012. Also in 2012, Nimoy reprised his role of William Bell in Fringe for the fourth season episodes "Letters of Transit" and "Brave New World" parts1 and2. Nimoy reprised his role as Master Xehanort in the 2012 video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. On August 30, 2012, Nimoy narrated a satirical segment about Mitt Romney's life on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In 2013, Nimoy reprised his role as Ambassador Spock in a cameo appearance in Star Trek Into Darkness.

Photography
Nimoy's interest in photography began in childhood; for the rest of his life, he owned a camera he had rebuilt at the age of 13. During the 1970s, he studied photography at the University of California, Los Angeles. His photography studies at UCLA occurred after Star Trek and Mission: Impossible while he was seriously considering changing careers. His work has been exhibited at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Directing
Nimoy's directorial debut was in 1973, with the "Death on a Barge" segment for an episode of Night Gallery during its final season. In the early 1980s, he resumed directing consistently, including television and film.

Nimoy began feature film directing in 1984 with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the third in the film series. He directed the second most successful movie (critically and financially) in the franchise, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and then Three Men and a Baby, the highest-grossing film of 1987. These successes made him a star director. He directed The Good Mother (1988) and Funny About Love (1990). In 1994 he directed his last feature film, Holy Matrimony. His final directorial credit was "Killshot", the 1995 pilot episode for Deadly Games, a short-lived science-fiction television series.

At a press conference promoting the 2009 Star Trek movie, he said he had no further plans or ambition to direct although he enjoyed it.

Writing
Nimoy authored two volumes of autobiography. The first is I Am Not Spock (1975) and was controversial, as many fans incorrectly assumed 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 and hate relationship with the character of Spock and the Star Trek franchise.

"I went through a definite identity crisis. The question was whether to embrace Mr. Spock or to fight the onslaught of public interest. I realize now that I really had no choice in the matter. Spock and Star Trek were very much alive and there wasn't anything that I could do to change that."

In the second volume, I Am Spock (1995), Nimoy communicates 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 he never would have, had he not portrayed the character. Nimoy maintained that in some meaningful sense he had merged with Spock while distancing between fact and fiction. In 2014, the audiobook version of I Am Spock, read by Nimoy, was published.

He composed several volumes of poetry, some published along with a number of his photographs. A later poetic volume titled A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Life was published in 2002. His poetry can be found in the Contemporary Poets index of The HyperTexts. Nimoy adapted and starred in the one-man play Vincent (1981), based on the play Van Gogh (1979) by Phillip Stephens.

In 1995, Nimoy was involved in the production of Primortals, a comic book series published by Tekno Comix about first contact with aliens, which had arisen from a discussion he had with Isaac Asimov. There was a novelization by Steve Perry.

Music
In December 1966, when it became apparent that the original Star Trek was developing a strong following in spite of low Nielsen ratings, Dot Records approached the producers of the show. The result was the signing of Nimoy to that label. Dot Records was a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, and both Paramount and Desilu—the studio producing Star Trek—were acquired by Gulf+Western: first Paramount in 1966, and then Desilu in 1967. So after the merger of the two companies, Nimoy wound up working for Paramount both as an actor (from 1966 to 1971) and singer (from 1967 to 1970), doing two television series (Star Trek and Mission: Impossible) and five albums. Nimoy later recorded a few spoken word albums and contributed narration to albums such as Whales Alive.

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 No.3 on the US Pop charts, and No.1 on the Dance charts.

Nimoy played the part of the chauffeur in the 1985 music video of The Bangles' cover version of "Going Down to Liverpool". He also appeared in the alternate music video for the song "The Lazy Song" by pop artist Bruno Mars.

Personal life
Nimoy was long active in the Jewish community, and could 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. Reactions have varied from enthusiastic support to open condemnation. Nimoy said objections to Shekhina did not bother or surprise him, but he smarted at the stridency of the Orthodox protests, and was saddened at the attempt to control thought.

Nimoy was married twice. In 1954, he married Sandra Zober, an actress; they had two children: film producer and director Julie, and director Adam. After 32 years of marriage, he reportedly left Sandra on her 56th birthday and divorced her in 1987. On New Year's Day 1989, Nimoy married his second wife, actress Susan Bay, cousin of director Michael Bay.

After two years of part-time study, in 1977 Nimoy earned an MA in education from Antioch College. In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from Antioch University in Ohio, awarded for activism in Holocaust remembrance, the arts, and the environment. In 2012, he received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Boston University.

In the 2001 documentary film Mind Meld, in which Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner discuss their acting careers and personal lives, Nimoy revealed that he had become an alcoholic while working on Star Trek and ended up in drug rehabilitation. William Shatner, in his 2008 book Up Till Now: The Autobiography, spoke about how later in their lives, Nimoy tried to help Shatner's alcoholic wife, Nerine Kidd.

Nimoy has said that the character of Spock, which he played twelve to fourteen hours a day, five days a week, influenced his personality in his 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 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 again on Monday morning. Years after the show, he observed Vulcan speech patterns, social attitudes, patterns of logic, and emotional suppression in his own behavior.

Nimoy was a private pilot and had owned an airplane. The Space Foundation bestowed to him the 2010 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award for creating a positive role model that inspired countless viewers to learn more about the universe.

In 2009, Nimoy was honored by his childhood hometown when the Office of Mayor Thomas Menino proclaimed the date of November 14, 2009, as "Leonard Nimoy Day" in the City of Boston.

In 2014, Walter Koenig revealed that Nimoy personally and successfully advocated to the show's producers for equal pay for Nichelle Nichols's work on Star Trek. This incident was confirmed by Nimoy in a Trekmovie interview, and happened during his years at Desilu.

Nimoy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On June 2, 2015, the asteroid 4864 Nimoy was named after him.

Illness and death
In January 2014, Nimoy revealed publicly that he had been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition he attributed to a smoking addiction he had quit about 30 years earlier. On February 19, 2015, having been in and out of hospitals for several months, Nimoy was taken to UCLA Medical Center for chest pains.

On February 25, 2015, Nimoy fell into a coma, and died of complications from COPD at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on the morning of February 27, at the age of 83. Adam Nimoy said that as his father came closer to death, "he mellowed out. He made his family a priority and his career became secondary." A few days before his death, Nimoy shared some of his poetry on Twitter: "A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP". It was his final tweet.

He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles on March 1, 2015. The service was attended by nearly 300 family members, friends, and former colleagues, including Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, and J. J. Abrams. Though William Shatner could not attend, he was represented by his daughters.

Personal tributes
Cast members of Star Trek who had worked alongside Nimoy gave personal tributes after his death. William Shatner wrote, "I loved him like a brother.... We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love." George Takei called him an "extraordinarily talented man" and a "very decent human being". Walter Koenig said that after working with him, he discovered Nimoy's "compassion, his intelligence and his humanity". Nichelle Nichols noted that Nimoy's integrity, passion and devotion as an actor "helped transport Star Trek into television history." Quinto, who portrayed Spock as a young man in Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, wrote, "My heart is broken. I love you profoundly, my dear friend. And I will miss you every day."

U.S. President Barack Obama, who had met Nimoy in 2007, remembered him as "a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his talent and his time". Former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin called Nimoy "a fellow space traveler because he helped make the journey into the final frontier accessible to us all".

The Big Bang Theory, which made frequent references to Spock, and for which Nimoy voiced one episode, paid tribute to him after his death. Creator Chuck Lorre's vanity card at the end of the Season 8 episode, "The Colonization Application" (airing on March 5), featured a picture of Nimoy with the caption, "The impact you had on our show and on our lives is everlasting."

The 136th episode of the web series Angry Video Game Nerd, which covered Seaman, was dedicated to Nimoy.Seaman (Dreamcast) - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN)

As part of a campaign for the 2016 feature film Star Trek Beyond, aimed at benefiting several charities, Zachary Quinto and other cast members posted a video tribute to Nimoy, and the film itself paid tribute to him. Its director, Justin Lin, explained: "It's something you'll see in the film. It obviously affected everybody, because he's been a big part of our lives. There's an attempt to acknowledge that in some way."

Adam Nimoy directed a biographical documentary on his father, For the Love of Spock, which Quinto narrated and with which Shatner was also involved. For charity, Shatner used selfies made by Nimoy's fans to create an online tribute mosaic of the Vulcan salute.

In June 2015, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory renamed a 10 km-wide asteroid 4864 Nimoy, originally discovered in 1988, in the Solar System's main asteroid belt.

Shatner wrote a book about his friendship with Nimoy titled Leonard: My Fifty Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man, released on February 16, 2016.

In April 2017, the biographical documentary Remembering Leonard Nimoy was released, produced by his daughter Julie, which is about his illness.

Discography

 * Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space (1967)
 * Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy (1968)
 * The Way I Feel (1968)
 * The Touch of Leonard Nimoy (1969)
 * The New World of Leonard Nimoy (1970)

title: Leonard Nimoy


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Spock

Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. He first appeared in the original Star Trek series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise as science officer and first officer (and Kirk's second-in-command) and later as commanding officer of the vessel. Spock's mixed human–Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series and its films. After retiring from active duty in Starfleet, Spock served as a Federation ambassador, and later became involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus from a supernova, leading him to live out the rest of his life in a parallel universe.

Spock was played by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, eight of the Star Trek feature films, and a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Multiple actors have played the character since Nimoy within Star Trek's main continuity; the most recent portrayal is Ethan Peck, who played Spock as a recurring character in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery and in Star Trek: Short Treks, and as a main character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (both a Discovery spin-off and a prequel to the original Star Trek series). Additionally, Zachary Quinto played an alternate reality version of Spock in the feature films Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). Although the three films are set in the aforementioned parallel timeline, Nimoy appears in the first two as the original timeline's Spock.

Aside from the series and films in the Star Trek franchise, Spock has also appeared in numerous novels, comics, and video games. Nimoy's portrayal of Spock made a significant cultural impact and earned him three Emmy Award nominations. His public profile as Spock was so strong that both his autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1975) and I Am Spock (1995), were written from the viewpoint of coexistence with the character.

Background
Born to the Vulcan Sarek (Mark Lenard) and the human Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt), Spock's backstory has been addressed during several episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, the 2009 film Star Trek and the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode, "Yesteryear". His mixed heritage led to a troubled childhood; full-blooded Vulcan children repeatedly bullied him on their home world to incite the emotions of his human nature. For a time, he grew up alongside his older half-brother Sybok, until the older brother was cast out for rejecting logic. In Star Trek: Discovery, it is revealed that Spock has a human, adopted sister, Michael Burnham. According to the episode "Amok Time", Spock was betrothed to T'Pring (Arlene Martel) during his childhood.

Sarek supported Spock's scientific learning and application to the Vulcan Science Academy, as mentioned in "Journey to Babel". In the 2009 film Star Trek, Spock rejects his acceptance into the Vulcan Science Academy on the basis that they would never fully accept someone who was only half-Vulcan. Although this film set the Kelvin timeline scene in this and later films, writer Roberto Orci stated that he felt that the actions were unaffected by the changes in this timeline and so would have occurred in the same manner prior to The Original Series. Because Spock did not enter the VSA and sought to join Starfleet instead, he did not speak to his father for the following 18 years.

"The Cage" and the first season
Spock appeared as the science officer on the USS Enterprise in the first pilot for the series, "The Cage". This was not shown on television at the time, but the events of the episode were shown in the two-part episode "The Menagerie" of the first season, and Spock's previous 11 years of service on the Enterprise were described. Spock was one of the members of the away team who joined Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) on a mission to Talos IV to investigate a distress call. Spock did appear in the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", but this was broadcast initially as the third episode. During the events of that pilot, Spock became concerned at the risk to the ship posed by Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) and suggested possible solutions to Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

The earliest appearance of Spock in the series as broadcast was in "The Man Trap", the first such episode. When he needs to knock out an evil version of Kirk in "The Enemy Within", he uses a Vulcan nerve pinch. Spock and Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan) work together to rejoin the good and evil versions of the Captain, which had been split following a transporter accident. During "Miri", he finds himself to be the only member of the landing party to be immune to the physical effects of the disease affecting human adults on the planet. However, he realizes that he is probably a carrier and could infect the Enterprise if he were to return. Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) manages to devise a cure, allowing the team to return to the ship.

When Simon van Gelder enters the bridge armed with a phaser in "Dagger of the Mind", Spock subdues him with a nerve pinch. He later conducts a mind meld with van Gelder as part of the investigation into the activities of the nearby colony. After power to the colony is shut down, and a protective force field drops, Spock leads an away team to rescue Kirk. Spock is reunited with Christopher Pike (Sean Kenney) in "The Menagerie". Pike had been promoted to Fleet Captain but suffered an accident, resulting in severe burns and confining him to a wheelchair and restricting his communication to yes/no answers via a device connected to his brainwaves. Spock commits mutiny and directs the ship to travel to Talos IV, a banned planet. He recounts the events of "The Cage" under a tribunal to Kirk, Pike and Commodore Jose I. Mendez (Malachi Throne). As the Enterprise arrives at the planet, Mendez is revealed to be a Talosian illusion. At the same time, the real Mendez communicates from Starfleet, giving permission for Pike to be transported to the planet, and all charges against Spock are dropped.

While the Enterprise is under threat in "Balance of Terror", Spock is accused by Lieutenant Stiles (Paul Comi) of knowing more about the Romulans than he admits when the alien's similar physical appearance is revealed. Spock hypothesizes that they are an offshoot of the Vulcan race. He saves the Enterprise, manning the phaser station and saves the life of Stiles in the process. In "The Galileo Seven", Spock leads a landing party on the shuttlecraft Galileo, which is damaged and pulled off its course before landing on the planet Taurus II. Lieutenant Boma (Don Marshall) criticizes Spock's fascination with the weaponry of the natives after the death of Lieutenant Latimer (Rees Vaughn) at their hands. After Scotty uses the power packs of the party's phasers to supply enough energy to get the damaged shuttle back into orbit, Spock decides to dump and ignite the remaining fuel to attract the attention of the Enterprise. The procedure is successful and the crew on the shuttle are rescued.

Spock is reunited with Leila Kalomi (Jill Ireland) in "This Side of Paradise"; after joining an away team to the planet Omicron Ceti III. After being affected by planet spores, Spock begins showing emotion and re-initiates his romantic liaison with Kalomi. The impact of the spores on him is cured after Kirk goads him into anger, and once freed of the effects, Spock is able to initiate a solution which cures the rest of the crew. Spock attempts to mind meld with a non-humanoid Horta in "The Devil in the Dark", having initially suggested that Kirk should kill the creature. Following a second mind meld, Spock relays the history of the Horta and is able to create peace between the aliens and a nearby colony. Both Spock and Kirk undertake guerrilla warfare against the occupying Klingon forces on the planet Organia, prior to the establishment of the Organian Peace Treaty in "Errand of Mercy". To restore the timeline, he travels with Kirk back to 1930's New York City in "The City on the Edge of Forever". He uses technology of that period to interface with his tricorder over the course of the weeks they spend in the period before witnessing Edith Keeler's (Joan Collins) death.

Season two and three
During the premiere episode of the second season, "Amok Time", Spock begins to undergo pon farr, the Vulcan blood fever, and must undergo a ritual mating in the next eight days or die. Kirk disobeys Starfleet orders and takes the Enterprise to the planet Vulcan so that Spock can undergo the mating ritual. When they arrive, he is reunited with T'Pring (Arlene Martel). She rather wishes to be with Stonn (Lawrence Montaigne), a full-blooded Vulcan. She demands the ritual kal-if-fee fight instead, and selects Kirk as her champion, who unknowingly agrees to a fight to the death with Spock. McCoy persuades T'Pau (Celia Lovsky) to let him inject Kirk with something to alleviate the issues with Vulcan's thinner atmosphere and make the fight fair. The fight begins, and Spock gains the upper hand, garroting Kirk and killing him. McCoy orders an emergency transport directly to sickbay, while Spock is told by T'Pring that it was all a game of logic which would let her be with Stonn no matter the outcome. No longer feeling the effects of the pon farr, Spock returns to the Enterprise where he discovers that McCoy had injected Kirk with a paralyzing agent which merely simulated death and that the Captain was still alive. Over the course of the encounter with the Nomad space probe in "The Changeling", Spock undertakes a mind meld with the machine. Kirk stops the meld when he realizes that Spock's personality starts to be changed by the contact. Following a transporter accident which transports Kirk, McCoy, Uhura and Scotty to a Mirror Universe and swaps them with their counterparts in the episode "Mirror, Mirror", they encounter a different version of Spock. Sporting a beard, he grows suspicious of the activities of the suddenly changed personnel and under Starfleet orders, attempts to kill Kirk. Mirror-Spock is knocked unconscious, and is treated by McCoy while the others head to the transporter to attempt to return to their universe. Spock awakes and mind melds with McCoy to discover why Kirk did not have him killed. Discovering what took place, he agrees to help them return and as he mans the transporter controls, Kirk implores him to take control and save not only the ship but his Terran Empire from implosion at the hands of tyrants. The switch is once again successful, and the crew members return to their relevant universes.

The Motion Picture and the film series
At the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Spock is no longer serving in Starfleet, having resigned and returned home to pursue the Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr. Unable to complete the Kolinahr ritual after he senses the coming of V'ger, he rejoins Starfleet to aid the Enterprise crew in their mission. Spock, promoted to captain, is commanding officer of the Enterprise at the beginning of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). At the film's end, he transfers his "katra" – the sum of his memories and experience – to McCoy, and then sacrifices himself to save the ship and its crew from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). The sequel, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), focuses on his crewmates' quest to recover Spock's body, learning upon arrival that he has been resurrected by the Genesis matrix after landing on the planet at the end of the previous film. At the film's conclusion, Spock's revived body is reunited with his katra. Spock is next seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), which depicts his recovery from the after-effects of his resurrection. After saving planet Earth with his comrades, Spock reconciles with his father who has reconsidered his opinion regarding Spock's life choices and his friends. In the film's final scene, he joins the crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A under Kirk's command. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Spock and the Enterprise crew confront the renegade Sybok, Spock's half-brother. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) reunites the Enterprise crew on a mission to prevent war from erupting between the Federation and Klingon Empire. Spock serves as a special envoy to broker peace with the Klingons after a natural disaster devastates their homeworld.

Star Trek: The Next Generation
After a period during which the production team avoided mentioning some aspects of The Original Series, Spock was mentioned by name in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Sarek" (1990). Executive producer Michael Piller later described this one act as "the breakthrough which allowed us to open the doors, that allowed us to begin to embrace our past".

Spock appears in "Unification" (1991), a two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set 75 years after the events of The Undiscovered Country, the episode focuses on Federation Ambassador Spock's attempt to reunite the Romulans with their Vulcan brethren. Filming of The Undiscovered Country overlapped with production of this episode, and the episode references Spock's role in the film. While Spock's initial unification campaign fails, he chooses to remain on Romulus in secret to help the movement.

Star Trek (2009)
Spock's next appearance in the live action Star Trek franchise is the 2009 Star Trek film. Nimoy was given approval rights over Spock's casting and supported Quinto being cast as the role. During the film's flashback, set 19 years after the events of "Unification", and as depicted in the comic miniseries Star Trek: Countdown, Ambassador Spock (Nimoy) promises the Romulans he will use Vulcan technology to save them from a rogue supernova that threatens to destroy their Empire. He pilots an advanced starship equipped with red matter, a powerful substance able to create artificial black holes. The mission is only partially successful, and in the aftermath, Spock is pursued into the past by Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan driven mad by the loss of his homeworld and family, setting into motion the events of the film.

In the film's opening act, Nero's ship emerges in the year 2233, and through its interaction with the inhabitants, inadvertently creates an "alternate, parallel 'Star Trek' universe". Twenty-five years later, in the new reality, Spock's ship emerges and Nero captures him and the red matter. Stranded in the alternate past, the prime version of Spock helps the alternate, younger version of himself and Kirk (Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, respectively) thwart Nero's attempt to destroy the Federation.

The film also features Jacob Kogan in several scenes depicting Spock's childhood, including his abuse at the hands of other Vulcan children due to his half-Human heritage, and his relationship with his parents (Ben Cross and Winona Ryder). The film also depicts Kirk and Spock's initial clashes at Starfleet Academy, and the gradual development of their friendship based on shared mutual respect, what the elder Spock calls "...a friendship that will define them both in ways they cannot yet realize." A major change in characterization from the primary timeline is alternate Spock's involvement with alternate Uhura (Zoe Saldana), his former student. At the end of the film, the young Spock opts to remain in Starfleet while his older self stays in the altered universe to aid the few surviving Vulcan refugees, as Nero had destroyed Vulcan, Spock's home planet.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
In Star Trek Into Darkness, Spock Prime is described as living on 'New Vulcan' while the younger Spock remains aboard the Enterprise, struggling with the loss of his home world and as his relationships with Uhura and James T. Kirk. Spock nearly dies protecting a planet from an active volcano, but Kirk breaks the Prime Directive and saves him. Spock Prime is contacted by Spock on the Enterprise, to find out details on Khan. Spock Prime initially reminds his alternate self that he will not interfere with the events in the alternate timeline. That being said, he then informs Spock that Khan was a dangerous man, and the greatest threat that the Enterprise ever faced in his own timeline, and warns that he is likely as dangerous in Spock's alternate timeline as well. When asked whether Khan was defeated, Spock Prime answers that he eventually was defeated, but at great cost (referring to the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). When Kirk contracts radiation poisoning and dies in front of Spock (a transposed parallel of events in the prime timeline where Spock dies in front of Kirk), an enraged and vengeful Spock attempts to kill Khan to avenge Kirk before Uhura informs him that Khan's regenerative blood can revive Kirk. Nearly a year later, Spock remains as Kirk's chief science officer and executive officer as the Enterprise departs on its first five-year mission of deep-space exploration.

Into Darkness would be Nimoy's final appearance as Spock Prime, as well as the last role of his career. He died in 2015, shortly before production began on Star Trek Beyond.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)
In Star Trek Beyond, Spock receives word that Ambassador Spock (Spock Prime) has died. Impacted by this, Spock later tells McCoy that he intends to leave Starfleet to continue the ambassador's work on New Vulcan. At the end of the film, Spock receives a box containing some of Ambassador Spock's personal effects, and reflecting on a photograph of the older crew of the Enterprise from the series' original timeline, he chooses to remain in Starfleet.

Star Trek: Discovery
In August 2018, it was announced that Ethan Peck would join the cast of Star Trek: Discovery as Spock in the show's second season, portraying a Spock younger than both Nimoy's and Quinto's renditions of the character, as Discovery is set several years before the Original Series and Kelvin Timeline films.

As of his appearances on Discovery, Spock is a Lieutenant, serving under Captain Christopher Pike on the Enterprise. Due to the trauma Spock suffered because of his visions of the "Red Angel", he is on leave from the Enterprise and under psychiatric care. His adopted sister Michael Burnham is attempting to help him recover.

The introduction to the second season episode, "If Memory Serves", uses archival footage of Nimoy as Spock from the unaired pilot episode "The Cage", and the third season episode "Unification III" uses archival footage of Nimoy again from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Unification II". The latter appearance is a holographic recording from the records of Jean-Luc Picard, and is shown to Michael Burnham after she travels to the 31st Century, a time in which the Romulan and Vulcan peoples remember Ambassador Spock as the cause of their reunification on the planet Ni'Var, the newly renamed Vulcan.

Star Trek: Short Treks
In 2019, it was announced that the character Spock, as played by Peck would appear in two Star Trek: Short Treks, along with Captain Pike. He reprised the role in the episodes "Q&A" and "Ask Not".

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
In May 2020, it was announced that Spock (Ethan Peck) would return in the series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds alongside Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Number One / Una (Rebecca Romijn).

The Original Series
The earliest known mention of Spock occurred during a conversation between Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry, and actor Gary Lockwood, in which Lockwood suggested Leonard Nimoy for the role. The trio had previously worked together on Roddenberry's The Lieutenant, in the episode "In the Highest Tradition". Roddenberry agreed to the idea, but was required to audition other actors for the part. At the time, Roddenberry sought DeForest Kelley to play the doctor character in the pilot, "The Cage", but both NBC executives and director Robert Butler wanted Kelley to play Spock. Roddenberry offered the part to both Kelley and Martin Landau, but they both turned him down. When offered, Nimoy accepted the part, but was apprehensive about the make-up, which had not yet been determined.

During an interview segment of TV Land's 40th anniversary Star Trek marathon on November 12, 2006, Leonard Nimoy stated that Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Spock was George Lindsey. Because of the flippant way Nimoy makes the comment, it has been suggested that he was joking. The claim Lindsey was offered the role is given more credibility when Lindsey's close friend Ernest Borgnine writes in his autobiography, "my hand to God – he turned down the part of Mr. Spock on TV's Star Trek, the role that made Leonard Nimoy famous." The character evolved from having a metal plate in his stomach, through which he ingested energy, to being a half-Martian in the original 1964 pitch, with a "slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears". Due to Roddenberry's concern that a Mars landing might take place before the end of the series, Spock's home planet was changed. Lee Greenway conducted the initial makeup tests on Nimoy, but after four or five days, Fred Phillips was asked to take over. Phillips in turn asked John Chambers to create Spock's ears, as he was working on getting an appropriate shade of red for Spock's skin; this idea was later abandoned in favor of a yellow hue because of the effects on black and white television. Nimoy hated the ears, and Roddenberry promised him that if he was still unhappy by the 13th episode then they'd find a way to write them out. The NBC executives were also concerned, as they felt it made the character satanic.

At Roddenberry's insistence, Spock was the only character retained for the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". However, NBC demanded that he be only a background character, and when it went to series, the tips of Spock's ears were airbrushed out on promotional materials. It was during early episodes such as "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "The Naked Time" that Nimoy came to understand the nature of the character. After eight episodes, NBC executives complained to Roddenberry that there was not enough Spock in the series; "Spockmania" had begun. In response, Spock was moved to a more prominent role within the series, such as taking the lead role in "This Side of Paradise" over Sulu. The popularity of the character caused frictions with Shatner, and rumors spread that he was going to be dropped from the show and replaced as the lead by Nimoy as Spock. A drawn out contract renegotiation at the start of season two resulted in Roddenberry considering whether or not to replace Nimoy and the character. Both Mark Lenard and Lawrence Montaigne were seriously considered.

The character continued to develop, with Nimoy creating the Vulcan salute during the filming of "Amok Time". This was based on a Jewish Kohen he had seen as a child. During the course of the season, a rift grew between Nimoy and Roddenberry and by the end of the year, they only spoke through formal letters. After the departure of producer Gene L. Coon and the stepping back of Roddenberry during the third season, Nimoy found that the writing of Spock deteriorated. In particular, he did not like the character being made a fool of during the episode "Spock's Brain". The interracial kiss between Kirk and Uhura in "Plato's Stepchildren" had been intended by the writers to be between Spock and Uhura, but Shatner persuaded them to change it. For his role as Spock, Leonard Nimoy was nominated three times Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and is currently the only Star Trek actor to be nominated for an Emmy.

Revival attempts and the film franchise
Nimoy agreed to return to Spock during one of the early 1970s attempts to create a Star Trek film, entitled Star Trek: The God Thing, but dropped out after his likeness as Spock was used without permission to advertise Heineken beer. He was persuaded to return to the role of Spock as the lead for the planned Trek film titled Planet of the Titans to be directed by Philip Kaufman. When this project was killed in favor of a new television series, Star Trek: Phase II, Nimoy was reportedly just offered only a recurring part by Roddenberry, so refused to appear at all. When the decision was made to turn the TV pilot script into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, director Robert Wise insisted Nimoy to return as the character, which was only accomplished by Jeffrey Katzenberg forcing Paramount to settle the dispute with Nimoy over licensing use of his image. As on the series, Nimoy, calling on method acting training, would often not break character between takes.

Dissatisfied with the first Trek feature, Nimoy was reluctant to return for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan but was convinced by the promise of a dramatic death scene. Nimoy enjoyed the production of the film so much that despite his character's on-screen death he wanted to return for a sequel. The film's success allowed Nimoy to successfully negotiate to direct the next installment in addition to briefly appearing as a reanimated Spock. The resulting film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was successful enough that Nimoy was asked to direct once more for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The following film of the series, the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was initially unacceptable to Nimoy because it called for Spock to betray Kirk and side with his newly introduced half-brother Sybok. Nimoy felt his character had already come to terms with his human-side thus Sybok would have no influence on him, and forced the script to be changed before signing on. Nimoy subsequently organized Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, choosing the director, writers and producers. To hand over to Star Trek: The Next Generation at the time of The Undiscovered Country, Nimoy agreed to appear as Spock in the episode "Unification". Nimoy subsequently turned down the directing role on Star Trek Generations as he wanted to rework the script, and refused reprising the role of Spock for what was essentially a cameo appearance; and his character's lines were subsequently given to Scotty.

When recasting the role for 2009's Star Trek, Nimoy was asked his opinion. He highlighted the work of Zachary Quinto, as he felt he looked similar and could portray the inner thought process of the character. Quinto became the first actor to be cast for the film, and Nimoy agreed to return as the version of the character from the "Prime" universe. Nimoy said that he returned because of the enthusiasm from director J. J. Abrams and the writers, and because it made him feel appreciated. Nimoy made a final appearance as Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness as a favor to Abrams. At the time, he did not rule out returning again, but he died prior to the following film. In Star Trek Beyond, Quinto's Spock mourns the loss of Spock Prime, as played by Nimoy.

Reception
"Given the choice", Nimoy said years after the show ended, "if I had to be someone else, I would be Spock." He recalled, more than a decade after the show's cancellation:

"The 'Star Trek' phenomenon continues to amaze and confound me. It was incredible, and it still is, although it is gentler now than it used to be. For a time, it was hysterical – it was so wild I had to be very careful where I went. If I went to a restaurant, I had to plan my entrances and my exits so I wouldn't be mobbed and hurt. Same thing in hotels and airports – any public place. It isn't that hysterical any more, but it is still a potent force."

From early on, the public reacted very positively—even fanatically—to his character, in what The Boston Globe in 1967 described as "Spockmania". Headshots of Spock became popular souvenirs, with the rare ones of the actor laughing the most valuable. Nimoy reported that "within two weeks after ["Amok Time"], my mail jumped from a few hundred letters to 10,000 a week". When he appeared as Spock as grand marshal of a Medford, Oregon parade in April 1967, thousands gathered to receive autographs: "They surged forward so quickly that I was terrified someone would be crushed to death; and then they started pressing against the bandstand so hard it began to sway beneath my feet!" After being rescued by police, "I made sure never to appear publicly again in Vulcan guise", Nimoy stated.

Fans asked Nimoy questions about current events such as the Vietnam War and LSD as if he were the Vulcan scientist; one even asked the actor to lay his hands on a friend's eyes to heal them. When a biracial girl wrote asking for advice on how to deal with persecution as "a half-breed", Nimoy responded that young Vulcans had treated Spock similarly and that she should, as he did, "realize the difference between popularity and true greatness". The actor believed that the character appealed to viewers, especially teenagers, because

"Spock understands the trauma of human existence, for he is not home with earthmen or Vulcan; he can function only in the fabricated and neatly ordered society of the Enterprise. There, he knows who he is; he relates to his role very specifically, and this gives him a kind of cool."

To Nimoy's surprise, Spock became a sex symbol; Isaac Asimov described the character as "a security blanket with sexual overtones" and Nimoy reported, "I've never had more female attention on a set before. And get this: they all want to touch the ears!" (When a young woman asked "Are you aware that you are the source of erotic dream material for thousands and thousands of ladies around the world?", he replied "May all your dreams come true".) Nimoy speculated that Spock appealed to women because

"Down comes a stranger—tall, dark, thoughtful, alien and exotic. Somewhat devilish in appearance. He has a brilliant mind, the wisdom of a patriarch and is oh, so cool.

With one raised eyebrow, he suggests he is above game-playing and role-playing—which are just hangovers from Earth's Victorian Age—that he and he alone understands the deepest needs and longings of the Earth female."

NASA made Spock an informal mascot. Nimoy was invited to be guest of honor at the March 1967 National Space Club dinner and to take an extensive tour of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The actor concluded from the warm and intense reception he received that astronauts like John Glenn and aerospace industry engineers, secretaries, and shareholders alike all regarded Star Trek, and especially the character of Spock, as a "dramatization of the future of their space program".

An asteroid in the Eos family discovered on August 16, 1971, was named Mr. Spock after the discoverer James B. Gibson's cat (which had been named Mr. Spock, who was likewise "imperturbable, logical, intelligent, and had pointed ears").

Spock proved inspirational to many budding scientists and engineers. Nimoy has said that many of them, on meeting him, were eager to show him their work and discuss it with him as if he were a scientific peer, as opposed to an actor, photographer, and poet. His stock response in these situations was "it certainly looks like you're headed in the right direction".

In 2004, Spock was ranked number 21 in Bravo's list of The 100 Greatest TV Characters. In 2008, UGO named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters. According to Shatner, much of Star Trek's acting praise and media interest went to Nimoy.

In 2012, IGN ranked the character Spock, as depicted in the original series and the 2009 film Star Trek, as the second top character of the Star Trek universe, with Kirk in the top spot.

In 2016, Adam Nimoy released his documentary film For the Love of Spock, about his father and his iconic character.

In 2017, Screen Rant ranked Spock the 5th most attractive person in the Star Trek universe, in between Michael Burnham and Seven of Nine. In 2018, they ranked Spock as one of the top 8 most powerful characters of Star Trek (including later series).

In 2018, CBR ranked Spock the 6th best Starfleet character of the Star Trek franchise.

Reaction to Spock's death
The Wrath of Khan had its first public screening at a science-fiction convention in Overland Park, Kansas on May 8, 1982, almost a month before general release. Although Paramount executives were concerned that Spock's death would set fans against the movie, the audience actually applauded after Spock's death scene. "It was sensational. I hate to be given to superlatives but it absolutely reached everything we wanted it to. I couldn't ask for anything better," said co-producer Robert Sallin of the advance audience's reaction.

Critical reaction to Spock's death was mixed. Film critic Roger Ebert lauded Spock's death: "He makes a choice in Star Trek II that would be made only by a hero, a fool, or a Vulcan. And when he makes his decision, the movie rises to one of its best scenes, because the Star Trek stories have always been best when they centered on their characters." Conversely, The Washington Post's Gary Arnold states that Spock's death "feels like an unnecessary twist, and the filmmakers are obviously well-prepared to fudge in case the public demands another sequel."

Twenty-five years later, Spock's death in The Wrath of Khan ranks number 2 on Total Film's list of 25 greatest Star Trek movie moments, and number 1 on IGN Movie's top 10 Star Trek movie moments.

Star Trek (2009)
Ty Burr of The Boston Globe described Quinto's performance in the 2009 film as "something special", and stated that Nimoy's appearance "carries much more emotion than you'd expect". Slate said Quinto played Spock "with a few degrees more chill" than Nimoy brought to the original character. Entertainment Weekly said that Quinto "...invests Spock with a new layer of chilly-smoldering sex appeal, [and] Quinto does a fantastic job of maintaining Spock's calm, no-sweat surface but getting quietly hot and bothered underneath."

Cultural impact
Spock has been parodied by, and has also been the inspiration for, pop culture works in various media. Composer/keyboardist George Duke's 1976 Solo Keyboard Album features two tracks which pay homage to Spock: "Spock Gets Funky" and "Vulcan Mind Probe". Rock guitarist Paul Gilbert wrote the song "Mr. Spock" on his Space Ship One album. Swedish synthpop band S.P.O.C.K makes music heavily influenced by the Star Trek universe. Assuming the Spock character, Nimoy recorded a number of novelty songs, the first being "Highly Illogical", in which Spock pointed out the foibles of human thought, such as relationships, automobiles, and greed. A second song, "A Visit to a Sad Planet", was darker in tone and told the story of Spock visiting Earth in the future and discovering it had been ruined by war, violence, and environmental irresponsibility. According to comic book writer and editor Bob Budiansky, The Transformers character Shockwave was inspired by Spock. Spock's utilitarian perspective that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" is cited in a legal decision rendered by the Texas Supreme Court. Leonard Nimoy's second-season Spock costume shirt was expected to sell at auction for over $75,000.

Spock's physical appearance in the Original Series episode "Mirror, Mirror" (1967) has itself spawned a trope of the "evil twin" archetype found in various fictional genres. In that episode, several members of the Enterprise travel to a parallel universe inhabited by evil versions of themselves. The parallel universe version of Spock is distinguished physically by his goatee. Science fiction blog io9 said that Spock's beard in the episode introduced "the best shorthand ever for evil parallel universe duplicates". Examples of the evil goatee's appearances in other media include the host segments of episode 611 of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Bender's "evil twin" Flexo in Futurama, and a 2009 episode of The Colbert Report featuring Stephen Colbert and Dan Maffei wearing fake goatees while pretending to be evil versions of themselves. The name of progressive rock band Spock's Beard is a direct reference to Spock's goatee in this episode.

Fan productions
In addition to television, feature films, books, and parodies, Spock has also been portrayed in non-canon fan fiction. Since 2004, the online fan production Star Trek: New Voyages has continued the further voyages of the canceled initial series. The fan-series' creators feel "Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest should be treated as 'classic' characters like Willy Loman from Death of a Salesman, Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, or even Hamlet, Othello, or Romeo. Many actors have and can play the roles, each offering a different interpretation of said character."

The fan series Star Trek: New Voyages has featured three actors in the role of Spock. Spock was portrayed by Jeffrey Quinn for the pilot and first three episodes, by Ben Tolpin in episodes 4 and 5, and by Brandon Stacy in episodes 6 through 11. Stacy also served as a stand-in for Zachary Quinto in the 2009 Star Trek film.

The independent online fan series Star Trek Continues featured Todd Haberkorn as Spock in three vignettes and eleven full episodes between 2013 and 2017.

In scientific illustrator Jenny Parks' 2017 book Star Trek Cats, Spock is depicted as an Oriental Shorthair.

"Spocking" Canadian $5 notes
There has been a practice of altering the portrait of Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's prime minister from 1896 to 1911, on Canadian five-dollar notes to look like Spock. After the death of Nimoy in 2015, there was an increase in that practice.

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title: Spock