Leonard Nimoy

The Boston Barber Who Looked to the Sky

Leonard Nimoy was born in Boston in 1931 to a family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. His father ran a small barbershop and his mother took care of the home. Before stepping onto a television set, he worked selling vacuum cleaners and cleaning fish tanks at a pet store.

Nobody handed him anything.

In 1951, he landed his first leading role in the film Kid Monk Baroni. The project was a total failure, and critics ignored it. But that thin young man with sharp cheekbones decided he would never return to his father's barbershop. He enlisted in the army and spent two years organizing shows for the troops in Georgia.

During the 1950s, he landed one tiny role after another in Western series. He would appear on screen for a few minutes, collect his paycheck and keep looking for the next job. In 1964, his luck changed when he met Gene Roddenberry on the set of an episode of The Lieutenant.

Roddenberry was looking for someone with an unusual face for a science fiction pilot. He needed an actor who could convey intelligence without moving a single facial muscle. Nimoy accepted the role of a science officer with latex ears purely for financial reasons.

Behind-the-camera control

In 1966, the series Star Trek premiered on American television. NBC hated the character because his look resembled classic depictions of the devil. But audiences reacted in the opposite way, and fan letters began arriving by the thousands at the production offices.

And the gamble paid off.

When the series was canceled in 1969, the actor found himself in a professional dead end. Casting directors only saw the logical alien in him. In 1975, he published a biography titled I Am Not Spock in an attempt to distance himself from the phenomenon. Fans of the franchise felt insulted, and the book's sales suffered from the community's rejection.

But Nimoy realized that if he couldn't escape the character, he had to take control of it. In 1984 he stepped behind the camera to direct Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It was a risky decision, since the studio doubted his technical ability outside of acting.

The film grossed 87 million dollars and helped him establish a career as a director. In 1987 he completely changed direction with Three Men and a Baby. That comedy was the highest-grossing film of that year in the United States, surpassing 160 million dollars in domestic box office.

The Shadow of the Pointed Ears

In the late 1980s, he devoted much of his time to conceptual photography. His exhibitions sparked controversy for showing nude bodies of overweight women. For him, aesthetics didn't depend on Hollywood's standards. He published several poetry books and recorded five studio albums featuring covers of popular songs.

In 1995, he published a second autobiography titled I Am Spock. It was his way of making peace with the legacy that had brought him fame and money. He accepted that his public identity would always be tied to that Starfleet officer.

During 2009 he returned to the universe that gave him everything in the film Star Trek, directed by J.J. Abrams. His presence helped validate the generational handover of the cast. In 2012 he lent his voice to a cameo on The Big Bang Theory and appeared in several episodes of the science fiction drama Fringe.

His last appearance on the big screen came in 2013 in a brief role in Star Trek Into Darkness. The shoot took place under strict security measures to keep his cameo a surprise.

He died in Los Angeles in 2015 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His Twitter account posted a final farewell message that the actor himself had scheduled days earlier. The funeral was held privately, following Jewish tradition.