Leonard Nimoy Has Died
My eyebrows just frowned and I don’t think they’ll ever be the same again. The New York Times reports that Leonard Nimoy has been beamed up to heaven. Leonard’s wife, Susan Bey Nimoy, says that he died at his home in Bel Air this morning from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The original Spock tweeted last year that he had COPD and got it from years and years of smoking. He quit smoking almost 30 years ago, but it wasn’t soon enough. He was 83.
Leonard was hospitalized for a little bit at UCLA Medical Center last week after complaining about chest pains. He was released and sent home.
Before Leonard became a pop culture icon as Spock on Star Trek, he acted in dozens of B-movies and guest starred in at least a million TV shows (I’m underestimating, probably) including Dragnet, Get Smart, The Twilight Zone and Perry Mason. Wikipedia says that after 10 years in the acting game, Leonard got the role of Spock in Star Trek. Leonard had to decide between taking Spock or a role in Peyton Place. He obviously chose right, because it made him a star and he was nominated for three Emmy awards. After the Star Trek TV show ended after 3 years (It was only on for 3 years?!), he replaced Martin Landau in Mission: Impossible and stayed with the show for 2 seasons.
When he wasn’t playing Spock in most of the Star Trek movies, he continued to act in TV shows, movies and theater productions. In 2010, Leonard said that he was hanging up his Spock ears for good and said it was time for Zachary Quinto to take over the character, but he continued to play Spock and played Spock Prime in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness.
Leonard is survived by his wife Susan Bey Nimoy, their two children, a stepson, a brother, six grandchildren, one great grandchild and of course, his best frenemy forever William Shatner.
Rest in peace, Leonard Nimoy. You lived long and you prospered. You are now in heaven where you’ll never have to perform The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins again (even though the angels are going to demand it because it’s gold).