Leonard Nimoy – Mister Spock
Although he was treading the boards in Boston community theatre at age 8, actor Leonard Nimoy didn’t become a household name until 27 years later, when Star Trek and his landmark role of Mister Spock hit the airwaves. But while the iconic character made him famous, after the series ended he found the public’s continued fascination with Spock somewhat smothering. In 1977, he published an autobiography titled I Am Not Spock, a gentle attempt to distance himself from the character. But as Star Trek continued to provide Nimoy with opportunities in acting and later directing, a rapprochement was inevitable, and he later wrote a second autobiography titled I Am Spock.
Nimoy returned to the theatre for such productions as Vincent and Equus, and performed in numerous series and TV movies, including the Emmy award-winning A Woman Called Golda. After directing the feature films Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, he directed the hit comedy 3 Men and a Baby, which ranked as the highest grossing box office hit of 1987.
In 1992, the year of the final original-cast Star Trek film, he also appeared as elder Ambassador Spock in the landmark two-part Next Generation episode “Unificiation.”
Nimoy also published numerous books of poetry, and several critically acclaimed collections of black and white photography. In 2008, Los Angeles’ newly renovated Griffith Park Observatory dedicated The Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater, a 200-seat multi-media venue for educational programs and activities to which he and wife Susan Bay donated $1 million.
Nimoy once again returned as Spock in JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek (2009) and can be seen in the recurring role of Dr. William Bell on Fox Network’s sci-fi series Fringe.
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