The word was out this morning. Leonard Nimoy is no more. That makes me very sad.
I grew up with Star Trek. I loved science fiction but apart from the anthology shows the only thing I could find on TV was Lost In Space.
Now, don't get me wrong. Since my childhood I have seen Lost In Space again and realised that it's delightfully silly, camp 1960s stuff, and that if you watch carefully you'll find people who are better known than you might expect. Michael Rennie was in an episode, "The Keeper". The composer of much of the music was a certain "Johnny Williams" who went on to compose the music for Star Wars and other such films. Another composer was Alexander Courage, composer of the Star Trek music. A lot of guest actors also appeared in Star Trek. The dashing Guy Williams, head of the Space Family Robinson, was Zorro. And little Billy Mumy went on to be one of the most popular characters in Babylon 5. So, yes, there was much to admire in that series.
But when I saw my first episode of Star Trek, "Mudd's Women", I sighed, "Thank God! SF for adults!" Even if I wasn't yet an adult myself. And I knew I would never get back to Lost In Space.
And much of what I loved about Star Trek was the characters, especially Spock. He was the man who didn't quite belong anywhere, though he had friends who loved him. And which teenager doesn't have that feeling?
Spock inspired fan fiction from me. It's not that I wasn't writing - I was writing dreadful historical novels in my teens - but my very first published work was stories about Spock. I learned a lot about writing through fan fiction. Mr Nimoy cared about the character. It wasn't just a job to him.
So, in some ways, I owe some of my writing skills to him.
Rest in peace, Leonard Nimoy, and thanks for giving me a lot of enjoyment over the years.
That's beautiful, Sue. Nimoy had some problems being typecast, I guess, but I love the fact that he didn't just moan about it, he did something about it. He made his own one man stage show and took it on the road.
ReplyDeleteI once read a beautiful story on a blog by someone who met him pretty much by accident, as the only person to turn up to an autograph session, and only because they were doing it for a friend. The meeting turned into a lovely conversation. Nimoy sounded so cool about the whole thing, which was why I liked the story.
LL&P
Oh, he did plenty! I have seen him in several roles apart from Spock - and he became a much-respected director, who was known for getting his projects in on time and within budget.
ReplyDeleteHe was a dear friend of our own Diane Marchnt,who had his signed photo on top of her coffin at the funeral. She told a story about his visit to Melbourne, when he was staying with her, and he was worried that people might mob him in the street...and then was disappointed because nobody recognised him out in the street. :-)