Facts about Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy died at 83 years old
Born: March 26, 1931
Best known as: Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek



Leonard Nimoy Biography

Leonard Nimoy will be forever known as the emotionless Mr. Spock in the original cast of Star Trek. A pointy-eared science officer from the planet Vulcan, Spock served on the spaceship Enterprise and was the intellectual counterpoint to the fiery Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner). Leonard Nimoy became so closely tied to the character that he wrote a 1975 autobiography titled I Am Not Spock, but in later years he reached a peaceful coexistence with his alter ego. (In 1995 he wrote a second autobiography titled I Am Spock.) He reprised the character in seven different feature films based on the TV show, including playing an aged Spock in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness (in which the younger Spock character was taken over by Zachary Quinto). Nimoy also had a run as a regular star of the TV series Mission: Impossible from 1969-71, and a role on the series Fringe from 2009-12. Nimoy also began a second career as a director in the 1980s, helming two Star Trek films (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in 1984, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986), and the hit film Three Men and a Baby (1987). Nimoy also had a side career as a singer and troubadour on five albums, starting with the 1967 album Mr. Spock’s Music From Outer Space.

Extra credit

Leonard Nimoy was married to the actress Sandra Zober from 1954 until their divorce in 1987. They had two children: Julie (born 1955) and Adam (b. 1956). Adam Nimoy is a TV director and film professor… Leonard Nimoy married actress Susan Bay in 1989, and they remained married until his death in 2015… Nimoy toured for several years with a one-man show about Vincent Van Gogh… Leonard Nimoy invented the Vulcan “live long and prosper” hand gesture used in Star Trek, with the middle fingers of the hand split into a ‘V’… Leonard Nimoy served two years in the U.S. Army, from 1953-55. 


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