I know for many, Leonard Simon Nimoy - actor, director, writer, artist, photographer, scholar, and U.S. veteran - will always be thought of as Mr. Spock from the "Star Trek" universe. But for me, I was enamored of him as Paris from one of my very favorite shows as a kid (and to this day), "Mission: Impossible" - a series that fired up my imagination like few did back then and, I feel, fed my earliest desires to write. He was so smooth, so slick as Paris, and while I have never considered myself exactly a 'Trekker,' in the years since there was always something so magnetic about Nimoy - in anything he did - that I've always followed his career (he even directed my favorite of the films from the original "Trek" franchise, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home). And though it only lasted about sixty seconds, I think it was around 1997 or so when I had the total pleasure of meeting Nimoy myself, just by chance during the intermission of a play at the Coronet Theater on La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles, when I didn't even know he was in the audience. He was reserved yet generous, taking a stroll with his wife but still kind enough to sign an autograph and accept praise from a fan. Will never forget it ... and just wanted to say thank you, Paris, for all those impossible missions - and impossible inspirations - you made seem possible. May you always live long, and prosper, in a better place than this.
Very nicely written. I never saw him on Mission: Impossible - the channel that played re-runs only played the first two seasons...three times!
ReplyDeleteI have seen him as Paris and as I said elsewhere, was in his UK fan club or many years, joining it long after his Mr Spock appearances. As you say, there was something magnetic about him and he proved to be a great director too: both of the Star Trek movies and also "Three Men and a Baby". I know he was a great photographer in his later years, exploring his faith, and found great contentment with his second wife. A life well-lived.
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