Oh my, what big ears the walls have

Press, 4 February 1987, Page 18

Oh my, what big ears the walls have

By

JONATHON COOK

Visitors to Leonard Nimoy’s home in Boston will know he is not joking when he says the walls have ears.

Hanging on one wall is a glass case containing the very last set of “pointed ears” he wore in the hugely successful'scifi series, .“Star Trek.” Playing the half-Vulcan, Spock, he says, was probably the most physically and mentally demanding role he has ever had to Play.

“Trying to be so emotionally self-restrained could be awful at times,” he reveals. “I remember once when I was in a

script meeting I suddenly broke down and cried in front of everyone for no apparent reason at all.” The . strain, which he now compares to a “pressure cooker,” eventually sent him into psychoanalysis for six months. “I found myself in an emotional dilemma,” he confesses. “I wasn’t Spock, but when a stranger on the street

used to call out that name my head would turn immediately. “I would also feel a wonderful warmth when I heard or read a compliment aimed at the Vulcan. I realise now I was suffering from some sort of identity crisis.” The character of Spock though enormously popular with the public — especially amongst

women who wanted to “mother him” — was not so well received by studio bosses who wanted the programme to be more “traditional” and “scary.”

“Star Trek” was actually Nimoy’s first full series. The first episode was broadcast in the United States on September 8, 1966, but the show, it seems, nearly went out minus those famous ears.

“Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator, only had the idea some 24 hours before we began shooting. This was all because in those days the networks thought it would be too expensive to have a ‘proper’ alien,” Nimoy recalls.

The make-up process made the part doubly difficult to play, he says, because it took a long time and was also very uncomfortble.

“I used about 150 pairs of ears during the series,” he says with a laugh. “They, were made of foam rubber and were glued on each time.

“It’s just as well I kept a pair as a souvenir though,” he adds, ‘“for when they came to do the new ‘Star Trek’ film the make-up men were very grateful to have a model to work from.”

Today, he concedes, he will probably always be best remembered for those ears, in spite of the fact he has played many distinguished parts since. On stage the 55-year-old actor has appeared on Broadway in “Equus,” and in New York he did a one-man show, which he wrote himself, called “Vincent,” about the life of Van Gogh. A few years ago he also played the husband of Golda Meir, opposite Ingrid Bergman in the film, “Golda.” Whilst on TV he has appeared in more than 80 shows, including the cult 1970 s series “Mission Impossible” and now more recently in Channel Four’s “Marco Polo.”

In 1979, however, Spock and the crew of the Starship Enterprise were called out of retirement

for Paramount’s “Star Trek — The Motion Picture.”

Nimoy admits the Vulcan is still very important to him. He has even written a book on the subject called “I am not Spock” and recorded several albums including, “Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy” and “Mr Spock’s Music From Outer Space.” Born in Boston, Nimoy says he was stage struck at the age of eight when Boston’s Peabody Playhouse chose him for a role in “Hansel and Gretel.”

He went on to study for four years at Boston College Drama School and then did graduate work at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

After marrying an actress, Sandi Zober, in 1954, he and his bride spent 18 months in Georgia, where he wrote, narrated and compered G.I. shows as part of his duties with the Army Special Services detachment. #

He then returned to Los Angeles, where to support his acting career he took various odd jobs, including cab driver, soda jerk, paper boy, theatre usher and pet-shop attendant. “I came to Hollywood in 1949 and until 1960 I was just barely making a living,” he recalls. “My kind of face just wasn’t contract material for the studios; they were looking for the Tab Hunters and the Guy Madisons.”

He credits his wife, Sandi, for keeping his faith in acting during those tough years. Today they have two grown-up children, Adam, aged 29, and Julie, aged 28. In Tinsel-Town this 32-year showbiz marriage is most unusual.

Friends says they believe it has a lot to do with Nimoy’s highly protective instincts. For example, the couple are seldom seen, in public together and are never photographed at home. This, he explains, is a conscious decision to protect his family and keep

his work and private life separate.

He says he enjoys nothing more than just being at home surrounded by the love of’his family. Like hiS friend, and costar, William Shatner, he also believes ‘in forces that are beyond our comprehension and has strong views on subjects, such as U.F.O.S and extra-sensory Nimoy says he once communicated with the spirit of author Edgar Allan Poe. Like the fans — or ‘trekkies’ as they prefer to be known — he is over the moon that “Star Trek” has returned. There is also talk of a new series, but with a totally new i cast. -<! ■ j Nimoy says he was pleased after an 18-year wait to get the chance to direct when he did, “Star Trek 3 —The Search For Spock.” : • This was his first feature film, although he had directed a number of . plays and a few TV series, including one episode of “T.J. Hooker” with William Shatner. “That was good fun,” says Nimoy, who is also directing “Star Trek 4” which is scheduled for release soon.

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