While Leonard Nimoy will always be fondly remembered for his memorable performance as Spock, his family wasn’t initially convinced it was a part he should play.
The actor’s widow Susan Bay Nimoy tells PEOPLE her late husband’s family wasn’t very supportive at first of Leonard taking on the iconic role back in the 1960s.
“His family didn’t want him to do it, but he absolutely knew that it was right [for him],” the actress shares. “I think they didn’t understand his attraction to it: you know, shaving the eyebrows, wearing that Spock haircut.”
Nimoy debuted as the Vulcan first officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek, which ran for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. He would later reprise the character in Star Trek: The Animated Series, six films featuring the original Star Trek cast, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek.
From the start, Susan knew Spock was a “perfect fit” for Leonard.
“He [Leonard] was very internalized as a person,” she recalls. “He was very funny, in fact, but his natural kind of way of being was to be more of a listener than a talker. … Roddenberry picked Leonard as the first character for the whole Star Trek thing. And Leonard knew that it was a risk, that if it was really successful, he would be tied to that character for the rest of his acting career. But he believed that Spock could be a memorable character — and it was.”
By the time Leonard and Susan married in 1989, he had already appeared in four Star Trek films, with the fifth — Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — due out later that year. While Susan welcomed the global recognition Leonard received, his previous wife Sandra Zober apparently struggled with his fame.
“He became so wildly successful so quickly, [which] was challenging,” Susan acknowledges. “Although going out in public was crazy, but that’s true for most actors. Your kids don’t like it. Your wife wanted time with you, and you go to a restaurant and people are coming up and asking for autographs, so it’s hard. But Leonard was very proud of the work he did in Star Trek and very grateful. It created a safety net for him for the rest of his career.”
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Leonard died on February 27, 2015 at age 83 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but his legacy lives on. In October 2018, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance and The School of Arts & Architecture acquired the Crest Theater in Los Angeles and reopened it as The Nimoy Theater after Leonard in September 2023.
“Theater was the thing he loved most,” Susan says.
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