Leonard Nimoy portrays the cool, logical Spock. Nimoy was born to Jewish parents, who immigrated from USSR. He was born in Boston in 1931, just four days from William Shatner's birthday. "Hansel And Gretel" was his first stage appearance when he was just eight years old. He attended Boston College only to relocate to California to pursue an acting career. In 1954, he married Sandi Zober, an actress. He then went into the army and spent a gruelling eighteen months serving at Ft. McPherson in Georgia. Nimoy wrote, narrated and emceed GI shows for the Army's Special Services Branch. Nimoy also played "Stanley" while in the army, which he directed in the Atlanta Theater Guild's production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." After the army, Nimoy enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse and worked as a soda geek, movie usher and cab driver to pay for his bills, while he was studying acting. His would set his sight on a film career, rather than at theater and left the Playhouse. Nimoy ran a drama studio in North Hollywood and taught for a year at Synahon. He had two children at that time. "Queen For A Day" was Nimoy's film debut in 1951. It was based on a popular television series and was a theatrical film. His next film was the "Rubarb", where he played a baseball played. His first starring role was in the 1952 film, "Kid Monk Baroni", where he played a youth with a deformed face that becomes a boxer. Then came "Francis Goes To The West", "Zombies Of The Stratosphere", and "Old Overland Trail". Nimoy began to act in television as well in the '60's. His guest appearance includes "Rawhide", "The Virginian", "Profiles In Courage", "Dr. Kildare", "Outer Limits", "Sea Hunt" and "The Lieutenant". In "The Lieutenant", Nimoy had the chance to meet the late Gene Roddenberry, who would eventually cast him in a science fiction show, that he created, called "Star Trek", whom he would play an alien with pointy ears. His first promotional trip for the show was when he was Grand Marshall of Medford, Oregon's annual Pear Blossom Festival. Thanks to his fame on "Star Trek", he won roles on "Monserrat", "Visit To The Small Planet" and "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof". Nimoy also had vocal talents when he released an album, dedicated to the character Mr. Spock, entitled "Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space.". "Visit To A Sad Planet", was the album's biggest hit. The sales of the record, ensued Nimoy's success, thus he released a second album. He also made five narrative albums including "War Of The Worlds", and "The Martian Chronicles.." After "Star Trek's" cancellation in 1969, Nimoy joined "Mission: Impossible", which he replaced Martin Landau. In 1971 he starred in "Fiddler On The Roof", and "Catlow". In 1974, he appeared in a television movie called "The Alpha Caper" and "The Missing Are Deadly". In 1975, Nimoy went back to school and earned a master's degree in education at the Antioch College. In 1977, Nimoy returned to film, playing Marin Dysart in the play "Equus". In 1978, he starred in a remake of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers". From 1978-1981, he toured the country for his one-man play "Vincent", which was based on the play "Van Gogh". "Vincent" was videotaped and broadcast on A&E cable network after more than 150 performances. Next came the subsequent "Star Trek" feature films, where he opted not to reprise the role for the second film, unless the story was featured about Spock. Thus the death at the end, reassured Nimoy that the character had potential, thus remained until the end of the voyage at "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". He would, however, make a special guest appearance on an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" series in the two-part episode "Unification". Nimoy's first directorial debut came with "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock" and then "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" His efforts landed him the directorial role for "Three Men And A Baby", "The Good Mother" and "Funny About Love". He then went back to television, this time a mini-series, in which he starred in "A Woman Called Golda" and "Marco Polo". In 1986, Nimoy separated from his wife of 32 years and remarried. His hobbies include black and white photography, in which his talents can be seen in the pages of several volumes of poetry, his first being "Why Not You And I?". In 1991, Nimoy starred in and produced the film "Never Forget". He has also written two biographical books, "I Am Not Spock" and "I Am Spock", detailing his days spent on the "Star Trek" sets. FILMOGRAPHY 1951 "Queen For A Day" DIRECTORIAL CREDITS 1984 "Star Trek III: The Search For Spock" |
