James Doohan James " Jimmy " Montgomery Doohan portrayed Montgomery " Scotty " Scott on and the first seven " Star Trek " movies . He also appeared in the episode and in the archive footage used in the episode . His work as Scotty ranged over a twenty - nine year period , with his first being in in and his last live appearance being in in . His image also appeared in , in a photograph that was among Spock ' s possessions bequeathed to . Early life and World War II . Doohan was born in March of 1920 in the city of Vancouver , British Columbia . Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War , nineteen - year - old Doohan enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Canadian Artillery . After rising through the ranks to Sergeant , he won a place at Officer Training School , becoming a Lieutenant in the 13th Field Artillery Regiment . On 6 June 1944 , Doohan , by then promoted to Command Post Officer ( Captain ) , was among the Canadian forces sent to take Juno Beach in Normandy as part of the D - Day invasion . He was in command of 120 men . That night , Doohan was hit by machine - gun fire when returning to his command post , sustaining wounds in the leg , right hand and chest – a cigarette case caught a bullet that would otherwise have killed him – and lost the middle finger of his right hand ( because of this injury , outside of rare occasions , Doohan would conceal that portion of his right hand in film shots . ) " I was twenty - four , " Doohan wrote in his book " Beam Me Up , Scotty " , " And if the Germans had been marginally better shots , I wouldn ' t have seen twenty - five . " After convalescing in England , Doohan became a qualified pilot at 43 Operational Training Unit , Andover , England , winning Air Observation Post pilot ' s wings in early 1945 . He was posted to 666 ( AOP ) RCAF Squadron , where he flew the AUSTER Mark V aircraft , a dangerous , low - level flight tasking for artillery officers who photographed enemy positions , and directed artillery fire from the air . Although 666 ( AOP ) RCAF Squadron was not sent into battle , the unit was stationed at Apeldoorn , Holland , through the summer of 1945 to conduct " air taxi " duties , as documented in the 1945 publication ( and 2006 republication ) , " Battle History 666 " ( Calgary : Abel Book Company , 2006 ) , and in the 2002 publication entitled " Canada ' s Flying Gunners " , by Col . Dave Fromow . Radio and early television . After the war , Doohan started work in radio , but quickly branched out into TV , movies , and plays . By the 1950s , he had moved to America and had begun appearing as a guest star in minor television shows and movies . By the 1960s , he had credited guest star roles on such historic shows as " The Twilight Zone " , " The Outer Limits " , " Have Gun Will Travel " , " The Virginian " , and " Gunsmoke " . His roles in these series also had Doohan coming into contact with several future " Star Trek " actors , including Skip Homeier and Keith Andes who appeared with Doohan in an episode of " The Outer Limits " . " Star Trek " . Doohan ' s special ability to do multiple accents originated from his time as voice actor on Canadian radio and this specialty landed him in the role of Scotty in 1965 . Director James Goldstone and producer Gene Roddenberry asked him to read some lines from the script of , proposing for the role of the not named Chief Engineer , doing different accents . Doohan did several different ones , including German and Italian , from which he finally choose Scottish , citing Scotsmen ' s great engineering skills . ( " The World of Star Trek " ) At around this same time , Doohan did a Scottish accent in the pilot of the Western " Iron Horse " which was directed by Goldstone , who co - created that series with Stephen Kandel , the writer and producer of that show ' s pilot . Steve Ihnat also appeared in that episode . The only other time Doohan did a Scottish accent prior to the debut of " Star Trek " was in a 1963 episode of the sitcom " Hazel " entitled " Hazel ' s Highland Fling " . Roddenberry originally wanted to leave out Doohan and the character of Scotty after the second pilot , but Doohan ' s agent got angry when he heard the news of his client planned to be fired , and eventually convinced Roddenberry to keep Scotty in the series . ( " " ) A skilled voice actor , Doohan contributed many voices to both the original series and the , including ( among others ) Lt . Arex . Doohan also created the first words of the Klingon language , Klingonese , which was later expanded by Marc Okrand . He also helped to shape some words and sounds for the Vulcan language . After " Star Trek " . After the end of the " Star Trek " TV series in 1969 , Doohan spent the 1970s performing various roles in television and film , in an attempt to continue his acting career . During this time , Doohan appeared in the 1971 films " Man in the Wilderness " and " Pretty Maids All in a Row " , the latter of which also featured William Campbell and Dawn Roddenberry and which was written by Gene Roddenberry . Doohan also guest - starred on the TV series " Marcus Welby , M . D . " , " Tarzan and the Super 7 " , " Daniel Boone " ( 1969 – " The Cache " , 1970 – " Perilous Passage " ) and " Return to Peyton Place " . Between 1973 and 1974 , Doohan returned to the role of Scotty in . He would later be cast as " Commander Canarvin " in the 1978 science fiction series " Jason of Star Command " . This series used several musical scores from the Animated Series and co - starred Sid Haig as the main protagonist . " Star Trek " films . Doohan was propelled back into the role of Scotty in 1979 , with the release of . In the 1980s , he appeared as guest star on the hit shows " Magnum , P . I . " , " MacGyver " , and " Fantasy Island " , but by 1982 , with the release of , Doohan was effectively typecast as Scotty , and spent the rest of his career appearing in the remaining major " Star Trek " films along with a few minor roles in various television shows . Doohan being typecast was exemplified by his cameo appearance as a " Scotty " in the 1993 spoof movie " Loaded Weapon 1 " ( also featuring fellow " Original Series " actor William Shatner ) where he reprised his famous role in a parodying manner , trying to fix a coffee making machine . In 1991 , Doohan appeared in a cameo role on the remake film " Knight Rider 2000 " . The next year , he reprised his role of Scotty for the episode . Alexander Singer , the director of the episode , was in concordance with his above quoted movie colleague Nicholas Meyer , reaffirming that Doohan " was a delight to work with , and he got all the jokes , so to speak " . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 24 , issue 3 / 4 , p . 24 ) Later life . Doohan ' s last on - screen role as Scotty was in 1994 when he appeared in . In 1996 - 97 , he appeared as a regular supporting character on the sitcom " Homeboys In Outer Space " . He played a character named " Pippin " ( the name which referred to his Scotty role as well as the athlete Scottie Pippen ) . By the 2000s , Doohan ' s age had limited his activities but he kept busy speaking at colleges and " Star Trek " conventions . In July 2004 , Doohan announced that he had been diagnosed with in addition to his existing Parkinson ' s disease and diabetes , and would be withdrawing from public life . His final public appearance took place on , at the ceremony for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Doohan ' s last credited film role was as a judge in a 2005 direct - to - TV sci - fi / horror film entitled " Skinwalker : Curse of the Shaman " . Doohan lost his battle with Alzheimer ' s disease , complicated by , at 5 : 30 a . m . on 20 July 2005 – a fitting date , as July 20 was the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing , arguably the greatest engineering achievement in Human history . He was 85 years old . He died at his Redmond , Washington , home with his third wife Wende by his side . He asked his family to have him cremated and his remains shot into space . After nearly two years of delays , this wish was finally granted : his ashes were launched into space on from New Mexico . More of his ashes were launched into space on board the first SpaceX Dragon capsule launched towards the International Space Station on . He left behind a total of seven children from his three marriages ; his most recent , Sarah , was born in 2000 when he was 80 years old . One of his twin sons , Christopher , has honored his late father by playing an transporter technician in and , and even reprised his father ' s role in the fan film series " Star Trek Continues " from 2012 onward . Doohan was among those to receive tribute in the 2006 Memoriam reel at the 79th Annual Academy Awards . The reel used a scene from in which Kirk tells Scotty , " " Thank you , Mr . Scott , " " to which Scott replies , " " Aye , sir . " " Several costumes and costume components worn by Doohan in " Star Trek " were sold off on the It ' s A Wrap ! sale and auction on eBay , including a stunt version of his undershirt .