R.I.P Mr. Spock

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http://pagesix.com/2015/02/27/leonard-nimoy-who-played-spock-dies-at-83/

Leonard Nimoy dies at 83
By Maggie Coughlan and Post Wire Report
February 27, 2015

nimoy.jpg

Leonard Nimoy played Spock on "Star Trek."Photo: Getty Images / Paramount
Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on “Star Trek,” has died.


He was 83.

The actor died Friday morning at his home in Bel Air, California, his wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed to the New York Times. The cause of death was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In February 2014, Nimoy revealed his lung disease diagnosis and urged his fans to quit smoking via Twitter (although he had quit 30 years prior).

“Smokers, please understand. If you quit after you’re diagnosed with lung damage it’s too late. Grandpa says learn my lesson. Quit now,” Nimoy wrote to his followers at the time.

He returned to his anti-smoking message a few weeks before his death.

In his portrayal of Spock, a pointy-eared half-Vulcan, Nimoy become synonymous with the catchphrase of the Starship Enterprise’s chief science officer: “Live long and prosper.”

However, in 1977, Nimoy published an autobiography titled “I Am Not Spock.” Then, in 1995, he published another, titled “I Am Spock.” He also published poetry and shared it with his fans on Twitter.

Although Nimoy followed his 1966-69 “Star Trek” run with a notable career as both an actor and director, in the public’s mind he would always be Spock. His half-human, half-Vulcan character was the calm counterpoint to William Shatner’s often emotional Captain Kirk on one of television and film’s most revered cult series.

After “Star Trek” ended, the actor immediately joined the hit adventure series “Mission Impossible” as Paris, the mission team’s master of disguises. From 1976 to 1982, he hosted the syndicated TV series “In Search of …,” which attempted to probe such mysteries as the legend of the Loch Ness Monster and the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart.

He played Israeli leader Golda Meir’s husband opposite Ingrid Bergman in the TV drama “A Woman Called Golda” and Vincent van Gogh in “Vincent,” a one-man stage show on the life of the troubled painter. He continued to work well into his 70s, playing gazillionaire genius William Bell in the Fox series “Fringe.”

He also directed several films, including the hit comedy “Three Men and a Baby,” and appeared in such plays as “A Streetcar Named Desire,” ”Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” ”Fiddler on the Roof,” ”The King and I,” ”My Fair Lady” and “Equus.”

But he could never really escape the role that took him overnight from bit-part actor to TV star, and in a 1995 interview, he sought to analyze the popularity of Spock, the green-blooded space traveler who aspired to live a life based on pure logic.

People identified with Spock because they “recognize in themselves this wish that they could be logical and avoid the pain of anger and confrontation,” Nimoy concluded.
“How many times have we come away from an argument wishing we had said and done something different?” he asked.

In the years immediately after “Star Trek” left television, Nimoy tried to shun the role, but he eventually came to embrace it, lampooning himself on such TV shows as “Futurama,” ”Duckman” and “The Simpsons” and in commercials.

He became Spock after “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry was impressed by his work in guest appearances on the TV shows “The Lieutenant” and “Dr. Kildare.”


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFods1KSWsQ


The space adventure set in the 23rd century had an unimpressive debut on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966, and it struggled during its three seasons to find an audience other than teenage boys. It seemed headed for oblivion after it was canceled in 1969, but its dedicated legion of fans, who called themselves Trekkies, kept its memory alive with conventions and fan clubs and constant demands that the cast be reassembled for a movie or another TV show.

Trekkies were particularly fond of Spock, often greeting one another with the Vulcan salute and the Vulcan motto, “Live long and prosper,” both of which Nimoy was credited with bringing to the character. He pointed out, however, that the hand gesture was actually derived from one used by rabbis during Hebraic benedictions.

When the cast finally was reassembled for “Star Trek — The Motion Picture,” in 1979, the film was a huge hit and five sequels followed. Nimoy appeared in all of them and directed two. He also guest starred as an older version of himself in some of the episodes of the show’s first spinoff TV series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

“Of course the role changed my career — or rather, gave me one,” he once said. “It made me wealthy by most standards and opened up vast opportunities. It also affected me personally, socially, psychologically, emotionally. … What started out as a welcome job to a hungry actor has become a constant and ongoing influence in my thinking and lifestyle.”

In 2009, he was back in a new big-screen version of “Star Trek,” this time playing an older Spock who meets his younger self, played by Zachary Quinto. Critic Roger Ebert called the older Spock “the most human character in the film.”

Among those seeing the film was President Barack Obama, whose even manner has often been likened to Spock’s.

“Everybody was saying I was Spock, so I figured I should check it out,” Obama said at the time.

Upon the movie’s debut, Nimoy told the Associated Press that in his late 70s, he was probably closer than ever to being as comfortable with himself as the logical Spock always appeared to be.

“I know where I’m going, and I know where I’ve been,” he said. He reprised the role in the 2013 sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

Born in Boston to Jewish immigrants from Russia, Nimoy was raised in an Italian section of the city where, although he counted many Italian-Americans as his friends, he said he also felt the sting of anti-Semitism growing up.

At age 17, he was cast in a local production of Clifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing” as the son in a Jewish family.

“This role, the young man surrounded by a hostile and repressive environment, so touched a responsive chord that I decided to make a career of acting,” he said later.

He won a drama scholarship to Boston College but eventually dropped out, moved to California and took acting lessons at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Soon he had lost his “Boston dead-end” accent, hired an agent and began getting small roles in TV series and movies. He played a baseball player in “Rhubarb” and an Indian in “Old Overland Trail.”

After service in the Army, he returned to Hollywood, working as a taxi driver, vacuum cleaner salesman, movie theater usher and other jobs while looking for acting roles.

In 1954 he married Sandra Zober, a fellow student at the Pasadena Playhouse, and they had two children, Julie and Adam. The couple divorced, and in 1988 he married Susan Bay, a film production executive.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz7lf2f4r2Y
 

Pancake

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I may not be

I may not be

I may not be the fastest

I may not be the tallest

Or the strongest

I may not be the best

Or the brightest

But one thing I can do better

Than anyone else...

That is

To be me

Leonard Nimoy -
 

Memento

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Dammit...this is just...it breaks my heart. Rest in peace, Mr. Nimoy...
 

Athos

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All the great ones keep dying.

Live long and prosper in the great beyond, Mr. Spock.
 

Mojo Ram

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Scotty, Dr McCoy and now Spock are now gone. Sad indeed. Chekov, Uhura and Sulu are still around and fucking Capt Kirk lives on.
I grew up with this tv show and nothing else will ever come close to my love for it as a boy and still today. It kinda sucks to reach a certain age where, your childhood heroes begin to pass away.

RIP Leonard
 

Mojo Ram

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"I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love."

-William Shatner
 

Mojo Ram

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"Today, the world lost a great man, and I lost a great friend. We return you now to the stars, Leonard. You taught us to "Live Long And Prosper," and you indeed did, friend. I shall miss you in so many, many ways."

-George Takei
 

CodeMonkey

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If it were possible, we would slingshot around the sun at warp 9 to turn back time for you Mr Spock!!! He truly did Live Long (never long enough) and Prosper. Nimoy was an inspiration and brought great joy, entertainment and happy memories to many. RIP
 

Mackeyser

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I couldn't post about this before today.

This hit me pretty hard.

For me, personally, he was a pretty big influence.

I went into a science field, studied Computer Engineering at Lehigh (didn't finish due to family issues), but eventually became a Network and Multimedia Engineer.

Mr. Spock was the first "science" person I had ever seen on TV as a young person. I grew up right after the Apollo missions, so I wasn't really raised on a steady diet of Astronauts on TV. Star Trek was one of my favorite shows, even though it was in syndication by then in the mid 70s, and while it seemed most of my friends were drawn to Capt. Kirk, I was drawn to Mr. Spock. While most of the guys wanted to fight the aliens and get the girl, I wanted to be the guy with the answers...

I wanted to look into that THINGY that looked like a huge Viewfinder! What wonders must be in that! If that was science, I wanted it! Bad!

But more than that, as I grew older, I came to understand something deeper about Roddenberry's vision and the grace brought by Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of the iconic Spock.

"Live long and prosper." Such a phrase infers that life is not a zero sum game and that in bidding farewell, it is logically beneficial (if not also graceful) for the person leaving to not only continue to exist, but to do so in a prosperous manner.

The philosophical ramifications for this still are nothing short of amazing. I hue to such a belief to this day.

I never knew him personally, although I have met people who did know him (having worked for a studio will allow for those secondary and tertiary connections) and I never heard a bad word about him. He was known to be kind, thoughtful and to have a fantastic sense of humor. In many ways, he was the antithesis of the emotionless Spock and, yet... by channeling his abilities, he created a television and film character that became a transcendent cultural icon the world over.

I am sad that he is gone.

I am glad that he touched so many lives in so many disparate ways and in ways I don't know that he ever imagined he could when he decided to don the pointed ears.

If only there were one more Genesis probe left...

RIP, Leonard Nimoy.