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Leonard Nimoy Dies At 83
Esther Schindler writes: According to the NY Times, Leonard Nimoy died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83 years old. He was, and always shall be, our friend.
From the article:
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”).
Sad day.
I am truly sad. Is it time to launch the Genesis device?
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Leonard Nimoy @TheRealNimoy Feb 23
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
Yeah, you didn't mention The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
Still, :(
I come to Slashdot for interesting news, not sad news. That said, I watched rerun after rerun of TOS growing up, and the vision expressed in Star Trek permanently impressed on me, with Leonard Nimoy excellent portrayal of Spock and the importance of logic and careful analysis playing a strong role in my career choice. I am confident in saying that I am hardly alone in that, but I'm also confident in saying that I think Mr. Nimoy was well aware of how he had shaped generations of young minds through the medium of acting. Thank you for what you did for all of us.
Seriously - Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock probably inspired more people to enter science, engineering, and intellectualism in general than any other figure in pop culture. He turned anti-intellectualism on its ear by making being a "nerd" not just cool, but even sexy.
Look at any major technology or research company making the world a better place, and I guarantee it was built by people who grew up aspiring to be more like Spock.
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Suborbital [spaceflight] is the special olympics of spaceflight. - Rei
A tear just left my eye.
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Agreed, very sad. Most know him for Star Trek, as do I, but he was also a great voice actor as well. His narrations in Civilization 4 were the best the series has ever seen. He will be greatly missed.
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.
So many other logical characters function as the butt of the joke. They're always the ones who "don't get it", or "lack compassion", or seem "out of touch".
Mr. Nimoy, through Spock, showed how such characters can be more than just socially awkward, how through logic one can derive strong ethics, compassion, and integrity.
A literal inspiration.
Civ 4 was a great game, and part of it was his narrations. He really had a way of saying things beautifully. Maybe my tribute will be playing out a game this weekend.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Sad day.
Indeed.
It honestly hadn't occurred to me that Spock COULD die. He was there on the grainy black and white TV where I first encountered Star Trek as a boy back in the 1960's. He's been ... a constant of the universe.
Other actors, yeah, you know they'll get old and they'll die. But somehow Nimoy seemed rather more immortal. Not because of the events of any of his characters, but just from the sheer icon nature of them.
We're here to mourn one of our fallen heroes. Fuck you for dragging this bullshit in! I will now count you in the same category as the Westboro Baptist Church.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
Though it can be viewed as sad news, he lived a long and "prosperous" life by any measure.
Think about his legacy.
He masterfully played a character who willfully disdained violence and used his massive intellect for the good of sentient beings everywhere.
A brilliant "avatar" for the future.
Leonard Nimoys legacy will live on and is probably the most iconic of all the Star Trek characters.
Spock is right up there with Gandalf and Yoda in the Nerd Trinity.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Honestly, yes, he died of smoking.
But he was 83. What is the median age of death?
It's like the great lines from George Burns:
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Suddenly, I feel old. For some reason, I always feel that way about the death of an actor who portrayed a revered character that inspired me in my childhood.
He offered a lot over his life. Really goddamned solid human.
"but he was also a great voice actor as well”
He was also a good stage actor. I saw him do Sherlock Holmes at Playhouse Square in Cleveland when I was a teenager. A Spock-ish role to some degree, but he was very good. One big applause line: “why sir, it is simplylogical!” with a raised eyebrow to the audience.
Damn.
... you have the con.
RIP, Leonard. Godspeed.
That is all.
This one hits close to home.
As a child in the late 1960s I was inspired to my present technical life and career by two major influences: Project Apollo and Star Trek. I thought Spock had the coolest job in the universe. He played with techie stuff and figured stuff out. I wanted that sort of job too. And I got it.
...laura
It'll be one of those moments I'll remember, like coming into work and being told about the Challenger disaster, or turning on the car radio and hearing the hushed voices of the announcers on 9/11. Like so many people I feel a connection to this wonderful man.
Of course he did more than play Spock; and in the early post-TOS years he was famously ambivalent about his association with the role. But he did something special with that role. It's easy in the fog of nostalgia to forget that man TOS scripts weren't all that great (although some of them were). The character of Spock might have become just an obscure bit of pop culture trivia; instead Nimoy turned Spock into a character that I feel sure actors in our grandchildren's generation will want to play and make their mark upon.
What Nimoy brought to that role is a dignity and authenticity, possibly rooted in his "alien" experience as the child of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. In less sensitive hands the part might have been a joke, but I think what many of us took away from Nimoy's performance was something that became deeply influential in our world views. Nimoy's Spock taught us that there was something admirable in being different even when that is hard for others to understand; that winning the respect of others is just as rewarding as popularity. The world needs its oddballs and misfits, not to conform, but to be the very best version of themselves they can be. Authenticity is integrity.
It's customary to say things in remembrances like "you will be missed", but that falls short. Leonard Nimoy, you will live on in the lives of all us you have touched.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Let's not forget his career as a singer:
...Ok, never mind. Let's forget his career as a singer....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
There's 311 posts so far and no mention of Nimoy's role as himself on Futurama.
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