Spock Is Dead: Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015
His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Mr. Nimoy announced last year that he had the disease, which he attributed to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.
His artistic pursuits — poetry, photography and music in addition to acting — ranged far beyond the United Federation of Planets, but it was as Mr. Spock that Mr. Nimoy became a folk hero, bringing to life one of the most indelible characters of the last half century: a cerebral, unflappable, pointy-eared Vulcan with a signature salute and blessing: “Live long and prosper” (from the Vulcan “Dif-tor heh smusma”).
The actor had been rushed to the hospital just over a week ago:
Law enforcement sources say the legendary “Star Trek” star was transported to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday.
We’re told paramedics weren’t taking chances with Captain Spock and got him in front of a doctor ASAP. Nimoy’s been in and out of hospitals multiple times in the last few months.
Nimoy was always identified with Spock:
A little like Spock struggling between his two sides, Mr. Nimoy was torn between his real self and his “Star Trek” identity, the one fans were so passionate to prolong.
And like Spock, Mr. Nimoy was gracious about the pressure, allowing for human weakness even when he didn’t share it. Everyone wanted him to be Spock, forever. Once in a while, Mr. Nimoy complied.
He lent his voice to a Spock action figure on a 2012 episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” in which Sheldon (Jim Parsons) dreams that his toy Spock is real. Even that brief cameo alludes to Mr. Nimoy’s ambivalence about his stardom. Sheldon rhapsodizes about what it would be like actually to be on the bridge of the Enterprise. The miniature Spock replies dryly, “Trust me, it gets old after a while.”
And the series in which Nimoy came to fame dared go where few series had gone before:
As a television program, “Star Trek” proved groundbreaking in many ways. It served up allegorical tales about violence, greed, jealousy, prejudice, peace and love — the roiling social issues of the 1960s — in the guise of intergalactic adventure.
It did so, said television scholar Robert Thompson, “at a time when American television completely shied away from any kind of relevance or social controversy, except in the news.”
Its 23rd-century starship crew was a utopian federation of men and women, blacks and whites, Americans, Russians and Asians — and Spock, who was born on the planet Vulcan in a civilization that has mastered control of its feelings. (The Vulcan aphorism “live long and prosper” became a catchphrase.) He becomes the science officer and first mate aboard the Enterprise and was, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once observed, a “creature of pure reason and no emotion.”
Here’s Nimoy’s final tweet on Twitter:
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015
Copyright 2015 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
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Dwendt44 February 27th, 2015 at 18:32
A candle in the darkness flickers and dies.
Obewon February 27th, 2015 at 19:39
All that he was is still. ‘Nothing can be created or destroyed. just transmuted’-Einstein. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc81Un8ltS4
Hirightnow February 27th, 2015 at 22:10
Matter/Energy cannot be destroyed…only altered.
frambley1 February 27th, 2015 at 21:41
I wish the people who run our country would pay more attention to the lessons learned on the Enterprise.
—
I hope Sheldon ends up cloning Mr. Nimoy eventually, he does possess his DNA.
—
Fry: Hey, do the thing.
Leonard Nimoy’s head: I don’t do that anymore.
—
fancypants February 28th, 2015 at 05:32
I wouldn’t mind seeing this in theatres It might be the biggest syfi ever if they decide to make it happen
RIP leonard nimoy
http://youtu.be/o5S5tBuNJdM
libpatriot February 28th, 2015 at 21:30
In my heart
Is the seed of the tree
Which will be me.
Nourished by understanding
Warmed by friends
Fed by loved ones
Matured by wisdom
Tempered by tears.
PATIENCE…
The seasons pass,
The seed sprouts.
The young branches begin to form,
To reach out for new experiences,
New contacts,
To test their size and shape
As a child discovers
Its own hands and feet.
Speed is glory
Speed is fame and fortune
Speed is a gold medal
Speed is honor
Speed is success
Speed is a thief
Some rush about in preparation
Some struggle to be nearest to the gate.
Some climb to be at the highest place
And yet,
we shall all be born.
All will move about
In time
And space.
Life comes and goes.
Laughter of the past
Rings through empty hallways.
The seasoning is bittersweet.
Searching for me,
I wander
Through a house of mirrors.
I see a myriad of images,
But none are mine.
Only distorted reflections
Of a stranger.
Someone I’ve met
But don’t really know.
I cry out my name,
But the hollow echo that responds
Tells me I must wait.
It is not yet time.
I am not alone.
There are times when I think I am,
Feel like I am
Alone and lost.
But as the river bends,
And the drifting traveler
Sees the unfolding of new vistas,
New horizons,
New landmarks,
I find a new communion
With the turn of time,
A new sense of
Universal connection.
And then…
One day in the spring of my life
The buds and the blossoms appear
I am alive
I am here
I have joined the earth.
Like a tidepool…
Filled by the mist
And the great waves.
Giving of myself
To the air and the earth.
Living at peace
With the sun and moon.
Cousin to the fog and rain.
The melody is simple
and the words are sweet.
I am not immortal.
Whatever I put off for later
May never be.
Whoever doesn’t know now
That I love them
May never know.
I have killed time,
I have squandered it.
I have lost days…weeks…
As a man of unlimited wealth
Might drop coins on the street
And never look back.
I know now, that there will be an end.
A limit.
But there IS time
Valuable and precious time
To walk,
talk,
breathe.
Time to touch,
taste,
care.
To warm the child
Who is cold and lonely
There is time to love
I promise myself…
I will.
I am
I am ready
I am ready to give
I am ready to give and receive
I am ready to give and receive love.
–Leonard Nimoy, YOU AND I