Leonard Nimoy/Biography

Leonard Simon Nimoy was born in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, just four days after his Star Trek co-star William Shatner. Like Shatner, he was of Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry (his family name means "person who cannot speak" in Russian).
He entered Boston College on a dramatic scholarship, but dropped out and headed for the West Coast, knowing that, there, he would find more lucrative opportunities in the acting business. In 1954, he married Sandi Zober, with whom he had two children – Adam and Julie. In the early 1950s, Nimoy served as a member of the . He served for eighteen months in Special Services at Ft. McPherson in Georgia and received a discharge in 1955 as a . Unfortunately, Nimoy's Army personnel file was destroyed in , during a major fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
In the mid-1950s, Nimoy began appearing in various television guest shots. In 1963, Nimoy landed a guest role on The Lieutenant, a series created by Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry was also developing a science fiction series at the time and thought Nimoy would be perfect for it. Although he was initially up for the role of the ship's chief medical officer, Nimoy accepted the role as a half-Vulcan/half-Human named Spock on Roddenberry's series, entitled Star Trek, which made his career and changed his life. Nimoy played the role on and off over a period of forty-nine years, from to 2013.
After the cancellation of Star Trek, Nimoy moved on to another Desilu/Paramount series, Mission: Impossible, playing the regular character of Paris for two seasons. He returned to the role of Spock in the first six Star Trek movies.
In a hospital scene in , a voice can be heard paging "Dr. Sandi Zober." His second wife, Susan Bay, starred in two episodes of , as Admiral Rollman in and .
In December 2002, Nimoy announced his retirement from acting and his plans to spend his retirement as a photographer. He came out of retirement to play the Prime Spock in J.J. Abrams' . Regardless, Nimoy thereafter enjoyed a new career in his senior years as a professional photographer, showing his prints all over the United States and throughout the world.
Nimoy, after being seen at New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport being pushed in a wheelchair with an oxygen cylinder, disclosed in a tweet on that he had . He stated that it was due to his many years of being an "Olympic champion smoker" and, though he quit around the time he filmed , the damage was done. Nimoy appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Live on to discuss his condition. Nimoy is okay, but has COPD from years of smoking. Leonard Nimoy appears on "Piers Morgan Live" to discuss COPD.
Nimoy passed away on , as a result of his illness at the age of eighty-three. Several of his Star Trek co-stars payed tribute to Nimoy after his death.Leonard Nimoy, Spock of 'Star Trek', Dies at 83.
On 2 June 2015, NASA honored Nimoy when they named an asteroid after him, 4864 Nimoy.Leonard Nimoy's Legacy Lives On in the Asteroid Belt.
His son, Adam, made the 2016 documentary For the Love of Spock in Nimoy's memory.
His legacy continued through the 2017 documentary film created by his daughter, Julie, son, Adam, and narrated by John de Lancie, titled Remembering Leonard Nimoy, designed to raise awareness of .Remembering Leonard Nimoy