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(CNN)Leonard Nimoy whose portrayal of Star Trek's logic driven half human science officer Spock made him an iconic figure to generations died Friday. He was 83.
Nimoy died this morning in Bel Air California his son Adam Nimoy told CNN.
According to his granddaughter Madeleine Nimoy the cause of death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
His Star Trek co stars including William Shatner and George Takei expressed sadness at his death.
We return you now to the stars Leonard. You taught us to 'Live Long And Prosper ' and you indeed did friend Takei wrote.
Fans honor Nimoy with tweets Vulcan salute
Nimoy's career in show business spanned more than six decades and included stints as a stage actor television guest star series regular and movie veteran. He also directed a handful of films including the box office hit Three Men and a Baby in 1987. He was a singer (of sorts) a published poet and an accomplished photographer.
But his lasting claim to fame remains Spock a native of the planet Vulcan whose pointed ears unemotional manner and frequently uttered fascinating endeared him to millions. Astronaut Chris Hadfield remembered him as an inspiration.
He felt a close connection to the character.
Spock is definitely one of my best friends. When I put on those ears it's not like just another day. When I become Spock that day becomes something special he told Starlog in 1989.
Still as an actor he wrestled with the typecasting that came with his close association with Spock. He titled a 1975 memoir I Am Not Spock. Though the book was less a rejection of the character than what he went through to develop him fans took umbrage.
Twenty years later he called another memoir I Am Spock.
He maintained a sense of humor about being confused with a 23rd century space voyager.
I had an embarrassing experience once many years ago he told The New York Times in 2009. I was invited to go to Caltech and was introduced to a number of very brilliant young people who were working on interesting projects. ... And they'd say to me 'What do you think ' Expecting me to have some very sound advice. And I would nod very quietly and very sagely I would say 'You're on the right track.'
To the stars
Leonard Simon Nimoy was actually born in Boston far from Vulcan on March 26 1931. (His longtime Trek colleague William Shatner was born four days earlier in Montreal.) His parents were Russian immigrants and he was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family.
He incorporated some of his religious heritage into the Star Trek character most notably the hand gesticulation accompanied by the phrase Live long and prosper. It was adopted from a blessing given by a Jewish priestly class called the kohanim. Nimoy credited writer Theodore Sturgeon for the phrase Live long and prosper a variation of a spoken blessing.
Nimoy continued to use the phrase long after his Star Trek days On Twitter he would close his tweets with the abbreviation LLAP.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had but not preserved except in memory. LLAP
Leonard Nimoy ( TheRealNimoy) February 23 2015
Upon graduating from high school Nimoy acted in small productions. After encouragement from other actors he applied to the Pasadena Playhouse in California and was accepted. He moved to the West Coast when he was 18.
His early years were bumpy he found the Playhouse disappointing and left after a few months and in between roles served in the military and took jobs such as driving a cab.
Nimoy eventually gained steady work as a character actor taking parts on such series as Bonanza The Twilight Zone and Dragnet. It was a 1964 appearance on a show about Marines The Lieutenant that brought him to the attention of Gene Roddenberry the show's producer.
Roddenberry had pitched a science fiction series as 'Wagon Train' to the stars and liked the idea of casting Nimoy as the series' science officer an alien originally with red tinted skin. Nimoy got the part in the show which was called Star Trek. (Roddenberry drew several other Trek performers from The Lieutenant including Nichelle Nichols Majel Barrett and future Trek guest star Gary Lockwood.)
Star Trek was never a major hit during its original broadcast run. It lasted just three seasons and got the third partly because of an intense viewer lobbying campaign. But the characters became indelible Shatner's gung ho Capt. James T. Kirk DeForest Kelley's wisecracking doctor Bones McCoy James Doohan's chief engineer Montgomery Scotty Scott and all the rest of a diverse and with the exception of the half Vulcan Spock all too human crew.
According to the Internet Movie Database Nimoy made $1 250 an episode for Trek's first season.
Though always popular with audiences Shatner remembered being disappointed that Nimoy got more fan mail than he did Spock wasn't a hit with network executives at least at first. His pointed ears made him look satanic the executives said and his character was dry and logical as opposed to the energetic Kirk.
But Nimoy brought a much needed humor to the character with selectively raised eyebrows and deadpan delivery and he quickly became a favorite of Trek fans. Nimoy even put out a few albums of songs.
The character has entered the culture as an archetype of an unemotional intellectual when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wants to criticize President Obama as being distant she refers to him as Spock.
Opinion Nimoy is Spock Spock is Nimoy
Into the movies
After three years Star Trek went off the air. Nimoy quickly rebounded by joining the cast of Mission Impossible as Paris part of Peter Graves' secret agent team.
In the '70s he made a few movies the most notable being the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a handful of TV guest appearances. He also hosted the syndicated show In Search of ... and appeared in a number of stage plays.
But Spock was never far away.
Despite its short original run Trek's 79 episodes had become rerun gold after the show's cancellation creating hardcore fans nicknamed Trekkies and bringing the voyages of the starship Enterprise to a new generation. The show was revived for a cartoon series in the mid 1970s.
Then Hollywood came calling with a theatrical feature 1979's Star Trek The Motion Picture which reunited the original cast. Though the film garnered mixed reviews it was a box office success and led to a series of sequels under the Trek banner that continue to this day.
The Trek movie series also gave Nimoy a chance to direct. He helmed both the third and fourth films 1984's The Search for Spock (which takes place after the Spock character dies in the second film though he's eventually revived) and 1986's The Voyage Home.
Following The Voyage Home Nimoy directed the biggest box office hit of 1987 Three Men and a Baby. As a director his other films include 1988's The Good Mother and 1990's Funny About Love.
Though Spock kept Nimoy busy and well employed he found plenty of time for other endeavors. He received an Emmy nomination for the TV movie A Woman Called Golda where he appeared with Ingrid Bergman. He lent his voice and appearance to one of the best loved Simpsons episodes Marge and the Monorail in 1993 (and later was in 1997's The Springfield Files ).
He narrated documentaries provided voice over for video games and sent up his image in some commercials including Priceline ads with his old friend Shatner and an Audi commercial with his movie successor as Spock Zachary Quinto.
My heart is broken Quinto tweeted Friday.
He also took roles in a few other TV series notably in the paranormal series Fringe as Dr. William Bell. He lent his voice to Sentinel Prime in 2011's Transformers Dark of the Moon.
And he immersed himself in photography a hobby he'd taken up as a teenager. His works include Shekhina a controversial series of female nudes and The Full Body Project.
'I would choose Spock'
For all that Nimoy knew how he'd be remembered. He hadn't left Spock behind after all He acted in the first two of the rebooted Trek movies playing Spock Prime in 2009's Star Trek and 2012's Star Trek Into Darkness.
He and the character were now on very good terms.
I am not Spock he wrote. But given the choice if I had to be someone else I would be Spock. If someone said 'You can have the choice of being any other TV character ever played ' I would choose Spock. I like him. I admire him. I respect him.
Nimoy married his wife Susan Bay in 1989. She survives him as do his two children by his first wife Sandra Zober.
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