Skip to main content

Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek dead at 83

Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek dead at 83

Share this story

Leonard Nimoy, the actor known for playing Spock on Star Trek, died today at age 83, according to The New York Times. He's reported to have died in his home of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease that he attributed to years of smoking. Nimoy was also a writer, a photographer, and a musician, but none could touch the impact he made defining Spock, the Enterprise's logical and emotionless science officer. Even through Nimoy's final tweet, he was signing off with one of his character's most memorable phrases: "live long and prosper."

Alongside William Shatner, Nimoy starred in the original Star Trek series through its three-season run in the late 1960s. He continued to make appearances as Spock as the series went through new incarnations, including voicing an animated version of his character, making appearances in spinoffs, and even taking a role in J.J. Abrams' reboot as an older take on Spock. Nimoy's relationship with Star Trek ran deeper than just his appearances: he also directed two of the films, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. The character became intertwined with Nimoy's life. He wrote two autobiographies dealing with his relationship to the character, I Am Not Spock in the 1970s and I Am Spock in 1995.

You can read a thorough look at Nimoy's life and work over at The New York Times.