Comprehensive information and links about Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy (born March 26, 1931Leonard Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet and photographer best known for playing the character Spock in the

Life

Born in Boston, Massachusetts to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants, Nimoy spent much of his early career in the 1950s doing small parts in B-movies, TV shows such as , and serials such as Republic Pictures Zombies of the Stratosphere in 1952.

Nimoy served in the U.S. Army Reserve, receiving final discharge in November 1955 as a Sergeant. According to the National Archives and Records Administration, Nimoy's U.S. Army service record was destroyed in the 1973 National Archives Fire.

Nimoy has long been active in the Jewish community, and is an adherent of Reform Judaism. One of his better-known roles was that of Tevye the milkman, in the musical , based on the series of short stories by Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem. In 1997 he narrated the documentary , a photographic study of women intended to visualize the feminine aspect of God's presence, inspired by Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism.)

television series (1966 — 69). He earned three Emmy nominations for playing this character.

In a strange twist of fate, Nimoy and William Shatner (who would go on to play Spock's commanding officer, Captain James T. Kirk), found themselves on the opposite side of the Iron Curtain in the 1964 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "The Project Strigas Affair". With his saturnine looks, Nimoy was predictably the villain, with the slightly sleazy Shatner playing a reluctant U.N.C.L.E. recruit. Nimoy went on to reprise Spock's character in a voice-over role in from 1969-71. Although Nimoy said he enjoyed working with Peter Graves and other cast members, he regarded as one of the low points of his career. He considered the work boring and unchallenging. He has often said there are times he barely remembers doing the show. It was during the run of the show that Nimoy fell deathly ill with a stomach ulcer. Only expert medical attention saved his life.

, which investigated paranormal or unexplained events or subjects. He also has a memorable part as a new-age psychologist in Philip Kaufman's remake of . It was during this time that Nimoy won acclaim for a series of stage roles as well. He has appeared in such plays as 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 most famous role.

After directing a few television show episodes, Nimoy broke into film directing in 1984 with the successful third installment of the in 1987. Nimoy also did occasional work as a voice actor in animated feature films including the character of Galvatron in (1977). The title of this book was controversial, as many fans incorrectly assumed that Nimoy was distancing himself from the Spock character; however, Nimoy's stated intention was merely to remind the public at large that Spock and Nimoy were not one and the same.

(1995), and this title was meant to communicate that he finally realized that his years of portraying the Spock character had led to a much greater identification between the fictional character and the real person. Over the years, 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 this character. As such, in this autobiography Nimoy maintains that in some meaningful sense, he really is now Spock, and Spock is him, 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 entitled -related songs and cover versions of popular tunes. 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 films were released.

In addition to his own music career he also directed a 1985 music video for The Bangles' "Going Down to Liverpool". He makes a brief cameo appearance in the video as their driver.

Current work

Starting in 1995 Nimoy began to narrate Ancient mystery shows on The History Channel including "The Sacred water of Lourdes" and "The Last Days of the Romanovs". In 2003, he announced his retirement from acting in order to concentrate on his photography, but has subsequently appeared in several popular TV commercials with William Shatner for Priceline.com. He also appeared in a commercial for Aleve, an arthritis pain medication, which aired during the 2006 Super Bowl. Nimoy also provided a comprehensive series of voiceovers for the 2005 computer game episode where Spock was supposed to pistol-whip another character. He suggested the "pinch" as a non-violent illustration of Vulcans' mysterious powers.Nimoy also devised the Vulcan Salute consisting of a raised hand, palm forward with the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger. It is said to be 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 (ש). (This letter is often used as a symbol of God in Judaism, as it is an abbreviation for God's name .) Nimoy may also have derived the accompanying spoken blessing, "Live long and prosper" from this source, as the last phrase of the blessing is "May the Lord be forbearing unto you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26). Nimoy was asked to read the verses as part of his narration for The surname "Nimoy" is probably a misspelling of the Russian word немой (nemoi, pronounced span title="Pronunciation in IPA" A sample of Nimoy as Spock saying "Pure Energy" was used in the 1987 Information Society dance hit "What's On Your Mind?" Usage of digital samples in pop music was almost unheard of at the time and the rights issues proved difficult, but the band was eventually allowed to use this and other Star Trek clips in part thanks to the efforts of Leonard's son Adam, who was working as a copyright lawyer and was a friend-of-a-friend of the band.Was the only actor to appear in every episode of the original series, including the pilot "The Cage" featuring Christopher Pike.