Wed, 19 October 2011
Roundtable 127 - The Leonard Nimoy Edition

Guess who's 80 years young this year? That's right, Leonard Nimoy! So join Deanna Toxopeus, Gary Mitchel and Scott Duschene as they look at the career of this geek icon. And while, it is Spock heavy, they also take time to look at his musical career (5 albums!), his photography career, his audio production company and his other acting. They also examine his cultural impact as Spock.

On the subject of Twitter, in the last couple of weeks William Shatner has been making tweets indicating he is recording another musical album. And over the last month he has tweeted to Leonard Nimoy that he wants his old friend to join him:

William Shatner: Come out of "retirement" @TheRealNimoy. I got an exciting record I’m working on. You’d be perfect to add another voice to it. My best, Bill (May 11)

William Shatner: @TheRealNimoy, If you’re on the album where do you want to eat? My best, Bill (May 13)

William Shatner: Going to lay down a track: Bohemian Rhapsody. Perhaps as the beginning of a new record… My best, Bill. (May 25)

For his part, Nimoy has not replied to Bill’s requests via Twitter, so it isn’t known if we will get a duet of Shatner and Nimoy.

So was there a musical rivalry between you and Leonard Nimoy in the late '60s when you were both putting out records?
I just thought that his record was terrible.

All of them?
I didn't know he made more than one. Mine weren't that bad.

I once wrote a song-by-song analysis of how Leonard's The Way I Feel is the best album ever to make love to, which aired on CBC Radio. What's your favourite album to make love to?
I pay more attention to the person I'm making love to than the music.

So you're always in the mood and don't need anything to get you into the mood?
That's correct, and especially not Leonard Nimoy.

As a card-carrying “Star Trek” fan, it was an honor and a privilege to interview Leonard Nimoy last year when the great “Star Trek” reboot came out. I was a little worried about meeting one of my heroes, because I didn’t want to be disappointed, but he was even nicer (and a lot cooler!) than I ever could have hoped.

(...)

Other journalists asked about Nimoy’s post-retirement plans, which included his critically acclaimed photography, but if this is indeed his last hurrah in front of the camera, at least I got to speak with one of my heroes one last time.

More here.

SCIFI: On to more general genre stuff... What is your first memory of science-fiction?

AT: Star Trek initially, the original Star Trek. And my brothers watched it, so I remember watching. I wasn't a huge sci-fi fan to begin with, I am now, but I wasn't as a young girl. I was a Little House on the Prairie girl, but my brothers loved Star Trek, and so I remember watching it with them, and thinking that Leonard Nimoy was really freaky [laughter], and, yeah, loving it though.

(...)

I don't know whether gourmet is the right word, since a lot of the stars provide pretty low-brow recipes. Paul Revere (of the Raiders) offers his chili dog chili recipe. Lesley Gore -- of "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To" fame -- reveals her fave recipe for "Snick Snack Hamburgers" (tomato soup is the secret ingredient). And Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy has a yen for "Cold Soup Nimoy" made with sour cream and two cans of cream of celery soup.

“I’m still not done with all the voices,” Bay explained to us recently when we brought up “Revenge of the Fallen” robot casting for the film, which hits theaters on June 24th.

As loyal fans of the robots-in-disguise remember, Mr. Spock himself - Leonard Nimoy - was the voice of characters like Galvatron in the 1986 cartoon “Transformers: The Movie.” And “Revenge” writer Roberto Orci has said that he’d like to see Nimoy return for the summer blockbuster. Further clouding the issue, however, is the fact that Bay and Nimoy are…related?

You might think that their familial ties would make such a deal easier; Bay, however, told us it’s quite the opposite.

“You know, he’s related to me,” laughed Bay. “And now that you are filming this, maybe you can send it to him.”

“[Nimoy] is married to Susan Bay, who’s a cousin to me,” Michael explained, saying that he’s afraid of insulting his relative with the mere pittance allotted to pay his voice actors. “I just feel kind of bad about asking him. Like ‘I can’t pay you that much? But would you do this voice?’”

So Michael hasn’t worked up the nerve yet to ask his famous cousin – who appears in next month’s “Star Trek” – to lend him his vocal talents. Instead, the pair have been using a third relative as a go-between.

“Would he do it?” Bay asked. “He suggested to my mom that he might do it.”

It’s the summer of 2001 and the telephone rings in my lonely office at the old Knights of Pythias building in Virginia City, Nevada. We’re in performance, this hot, miserable summer, with Richard III and Twelfth Night in repertory. I’m hating my life. The voice on the other end sounds awfully familiar. It asks to speak with me.

“This is she.”

“Hello. This is Leonard Nimoy calling.”

“That’s funny. You sound just like Leonard Nimoy.”

He chuckles enthusiastically.

I feel as if I’ve won a hundred gallons of fresh strawberry ice cream.

How many times must he have heard that comeback or a variation thereof? Yet he responds to me as if I’m unique, clever, and spontaneous. He summers at Lake Tahoe and is looking for models for his forthcoming book, Shekhina, inquiring whether anyone in my theatre company might be attracted to the idea. Once we’re done with the details of his needs and the women in my company who might be available, et cetera, he offers to perform for us at a fund raiser. I ask about his fee and he, again, chuckles. He explains that his offer is to be of service to our non-profit arts organization, not to make money. Of course, I accept (how can he be so generous?! I mean, isn’t he inundated with requests all the time?!) and we set a date.

My experience with Leonard has been that uncomplicated ever since.

(...)

Make no mistake. This is no god, no angel, no saint. This is a man who eats and breathes and drinks (but not alcohol) and doesn’t smoke anymore (but used to be “an Olympic smoker”) and hollers at times, and fails every once in a blue moon, a gentleman who loves his wife, children, grandchildren, and various and sundry family members. He abundantly enjoys and fully lives in his various homes, and loves his dog and his friends and the world. He also gets weary and over-worked and over-taxed and bone-tired. He’s human and needs peace and quiet and, by god, he’s earned it. But his son’s come out with a memoir and Leonard has made a new Star Trek film. His life will not be his own again for a long, long time, if ever.

Ladies and Gentlemen: If Leonard Nimoy has enriched your life, you can give him a wonderful gift. When you see him in person, remember that, despite the benefits the dual identity has brought to him and the joy it’s brought to you, he doesn’t belong to you. Give him a smile and a wave, maybe a “thank you for your career!” and leave him the hell alone.

"In December of 2004 I was dancing with Big Burlesque, a full-figured burlesque company. Heather, the company founder, offered the dancers a chance to be part of a photo shoot that recreate some famous nude supermodel images of the 1990s. Heather told us the photographer’s name was Leonard Nimoy, and all I could think about was how much it would have to suck having that name. I found out later that I wasn’t the only one of the models that missed that it was THAT Leonard Nimoy. I wasn’t that nervous about doing the shoot, my parents are both artists, and I wasn’t raised to think that there was anything shameful about the human body. And of course this was art, not porn. And the likely hood that anyone I knew would see these pictures was so remote, why worry?"

Contact with celebs made my job fun, but I didn't always click with stars. All I could think about when I met Paul and Linda McCartney was his thinning hair and paunch and her horribly hairy legs.

David Essex, too, was a disappointment. The sight of the hottest sex symbol of the day displaying skinny, pale-fleshed ankles below his half-mast trousers repulsed me.

Sometimes the opposite was true and I would find myself attracted to someone completely unexpected, as when I met Mr Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, on the set of the film Catlow, which was being shot in Almeria, Spain.

(...)

A Caesar haircut and pointy ears had never been my thing but for the first time I realised that sex appeal has little to do with classic good looks. Although he was some 20 years older than me, had smallish eyes, a long nose, and a beard (oh how I hated beards!), he was sex on legs and I was lovestruck.

His wife was on location with him but clearly there was something between us and one day he invited me for a walk into the nearby hills. I insisted the Fab photographer join us as a chaperone but, as we talked and laughed together, he obviously felt like a spare part and wandered off, leaving us alone.

At that point, Mr Spock gave me the most unforgettable kiss I had ever had. Later, I found the nerve to ask him about his wife.

'Oh, she's gone to Madrid shopping,' he told me. That was all he had to say on the subject.

That was the only time we were alone together. When it was time for me to leave Almeria, I was distraught. If he hadn't been married, I would have done anything to spend more time with him - but he was, so there didn't seem any point.

Not long after the film came out at the end of that year, the Nimoys split up and he eventually found a younger woman. I liked to think that she looked a bit like me.

I soon got over Spock and in July that year I attended a press reception at the Savoy Hotel for Andy Williams, whose smooth voice had soothed me so often during the unhappy years of my teens.

For the full article and higher resolution photo see Mail Online.

We've all been through our share of love-related misery, but probably most of us can look back on our teen years as the most horrific of them all, from unrequited love, tumultuous off-and-on romances, first times, moral dilemmas, and passionate moments amplified by the pure drama of adolescence.

This is precisely what the folks from Mortified bring to their readers in their second book, Love is a Battlefield, assembled by Mortified guru and editor David Nadelberg. And they go right to the source: Real diaries from real people about real matters of the heart.

LAist loves the first tome of pure angst, and loves going to see the readings live here in LA, so it's no surprise that we heart the love-themed volume that hit shelves earlier this month--yes, just in time for Valentine's Day.

The book offers a broad sampling of bad poetry and hair-band wannabe lyrics, notebook doodles, compulsive calendar chronicles, love letters (to Leonard Nimoy!) along with the delicious brand of wisdom proffered only by those who are anything but world-wise--but who think they are.

The next fan up first said to James he looked very handsome in person and up close. James cracked some joke about being tired, but ultimately thanked her "because I'm learning to take compliments." Her question was about what James feels at events like this, when he's asked a question by a girl and the moment he opens his mouth to answer, the woman in question is reduced to a pile of goo that spouts gibberish. "I think that's delicious, are you kiddin' me? I think that's just fabulous!" He then told us a story about meeting his hero, Leonard Nimoy, when he was campaigning for George McGovern during his presidential bid. He went up to the microphone to ask Nimoy a question, "and I was just reduced to jell-o. And he didn't like my question, because he was trying to talk politics, so he replied, 'They glued them on with glue, kid.' So I know what it feels like. I used to come to these things when I was younger, man! Spock ears glued on, big 'fro, yeah! Getting my freak on!"

LEONARD NIMOY - I LOVE TUNA!

The sage-like star of "Star Trek" and "In Search Of..." turned out to have more of a sense of humor than anybody would have thought--but, alas, not enough to appear in THE FINGER.

We tracked Mr. Nimoy down at a Borders Books promoting his collection of science fiction radio plays called "Alien Voices." Spock's discussion was peppered by enthusiastic fans nitpicking about various "Trek" episodes and whether Nimoy believes in God. He does.

We asked Nimoy to sign his book, I AM SPOCK and quickly pitched THE FINGER. We "disguised" the project a bit by saying it was a book about hand-gestures in general. "You know, the peace sign, the Spock sign...(clears throat)...THE FINGER. Could give us the Spock sign?" Nimoy chuckled and moved into the famed pose.

Next, we asked if he could flip us off if we made him angry enough. "No, " was all he said.

However, our pal Joe did come away from the signing with a real treasure. "I'm sorry, this was the only book I could afford!" he blurted out as he handed the "Starkist Tuna for Today Cookbook" over to Mr. Nimoy to sign. "Could you please write, 'I love tuna'?" he asked innocently. Nimoy raised a Vulcan eyebrow. "Does that mean something?" he asked, slyly. Was the logical Mr. Spock afraid we would trap him into admitting he liked pussy? Of course.

Director Garry Marshall certainly knew how to set the scene while making the upcoming feature Frankie and Johnny, a sweet and sour love story starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. When Pacino as Johnny, an ex-con trying to carve out a new life, hears someone in his apartment, he's supposed to knock down the door and find an ex-con buddy with a girlfriend inside. But with Star Trek VI shooting right across the Los Angeles soundstage, Marshall had a better idea. ''Garry asked Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, in their full Star Trek regalia, to stand in the set,'' recounts executive producer Alex Rose. ''So Al bursts open the door, expecting to see this actor and actress, and instead there were these two Trekkies standing there! He was totally astonished.'' Entertainment Weekly

Guttenberg: Yes, thank you.

Danson: Yeah.

Guttenberg: And our man.

Danson: Yeah, Leonard Nimoy, who boy, I'm a huge fan. Thank you so much Leonard.

Guttenberg: Yes. Thank you Leonard.

Danson: And a little tip to all actors and actresses that work with him in the future, he does yell, but if you pinch him on the behind, he giggles like a schoolgirl.

Guttenberg: It's true. And thank you people for this award. Thank you.

In 1975 my "Star Trek" brush-with-greatness moment came when the Tulane University programming committee (TUCP) arranged to have series stars Deforrest Kelly (Leonard "Bones" McCoy) and Nimoy appear as guests. While a crowd packed McAlister Auditorium watching "Amok Time," the episode that showed Spock returning to his home planet of Vulcan to "marry" his chosen mate, several lucky planners and I had the sheer luck to have dinner with the two actors in a private upstairs room at world famous Antoine's Restaurant. Nimoy wanted filet mignon; Kelly wanted seafood. The headwaiter suggested they have both. Other waiters kept interrupting the dinner to ask for autographs. It was very exciting and, as it turns out, expensive when we all were forced to repay the entertainment fund for what the dinner cost a few weeks later. Just prior to dinner, when we picked up Kelly and Nimoy at the Pontchartrain Hotel to bring them to the restaurant, they filled us in on what was then a new animated Filmation and Paramount Television series being run on Saturday mornings. Basically, it was the original actors doing voiceovers, so production costs were relatively low except for what the animation cost. Paramount didn't want to release a movie just yet because the studio was concerned about recouping costs from the original series and wanted to squeeze out as much of the syndication money as they could. Paramount did give in to public pressure, releasing the first of the Star Trek films about four years later in 1979. That meeting with Nimoy was also the time I learned about the Vulcan salute. Nimoy, an Orthodox Jew (Shatner is also Jewish, albeit less observant), used the priestly blessing of the Kohanim he had learned as a youth at his Hebrew school as the sign of peace. The picture seen here shows Kelly and Nimoy with a baked Alaska from Antoine's that bears the names "Dr. McCoy & Mr. Spock."