Captain, This is Not Logical- A Star Trek Memory by Tony Piazza

During 1977 my activities in the film industry started winding down- my last assignment for the casting agency was some “extra” work on a re-make of the 1956 science fiction film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” This one starred DONALD SUTHERLAND, BROOKE ADAMS, and LEONARD NIMOY, and the setting was changed from Los Angeles to the Bay Area.

My scene was a book signing party. The location was a children’s bookstore on California Street. All the “extras” were separated into groups, given drinks and were told to act as if we were mingling (but quietly) among ourselves as Leonard Nimoy’s character- a psychiatrist made his way through the crowd to the back of the room.

Now, keep in mind that the original “Star Trek- The Motion Picture” had not been filmed yet. In fact the press had been going on for months with stories regarding negotiations with the actors and whether all the original crew would sign on- and even speculating the odds that it would ever be made.

Flashback to the bookstore. My little group was standing directly in Leonard Nimoy’s path- he had to weave through us to get to the back of the room where his scene played out. As we went through numerous rehearsals for the camera, I happened to glance down at a nearby bookshelf where I spied several copies of a children’s “Star Trek” book that featured a drawing of Mr.Spock prominently on the cover- pointy ears and all!

Well, I don’t know what got into me, but I instantly hatched a plan that my group would all be reading the books (held up close to our faces- so the cover could easily be seen) on the next rehearsal approach of Mr. Nimoy.

At first he didn’t see it, but was drawn to it by the laughter of the rest of the crew.

His response with a gleam in his eye, “Come on, guys, give me a break!”

As evidenced a year later (1979)- he had those pointy ears back on, and kept them on… up and until his most recent incarnation as the old Spock in 2009s Star Trek feature.

Source: authortonypiazza.com

“Movies from an Alternate Universe”: What If Recent Films Had Been Made Decades Earlier?

by Matt Goldberg Posted:January 17th, 2012

Classic films are getting remade left and right, but what if it went the other way? What if our original films of recent years were thrown back to an earlier era? Who would star? Who would direct? What would the poster look like? Artist Peter Stults ran with that idea and came up with some wonderfully creative and thoughtful posters based on recent movies. I’m not sure if I see Leonard Nimoy as John McClane, but I can absolutely see James Dean starring in a 1950s version of Drive.

Source: Collider

Leonard Nimoy's former home is sold
The traditional-style Westwood-area house was bought by Leonard Nimoy and his first wife, Sandra Zober, in 1968 when Nimoy was playing Spock on "Star Trek." The buyer paid $1.95 million, more than the asking price.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Alex Rocco talks about Magic City, The Godfather and more

[AVC:] The actor: Arguably still best known for playing Las Vegas “businessman” Moe Greene in The Godfather, Alex Rocco has one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood, one which he has put to use on repeated occasions as Roger Meyers, Jr. on The Simpsons. Rocco, who won an Emmy for his work on the short-lived but critically acclaimed series The Famous Teddy Z, is returning to regular TV work with a recurring role on Starz’s Magic City.

(...)

[AR:] By the way, I don’t know if you know this, but I took Leonard Nimoy’s acting class when I first got out to L.A. You know, Mr. Spock? I wouldn’t spend five bucks to see Leonard in a film, but he was one of the greatest coaches I ever had.

AVC: Is it true that Nimoy told you to take speech lessons to drop your Boston accent?

AR: Oh, you know about that? Yeah. The reason he’s a great coach is that he really embarrassed me. Some people go to acting classes to learn. I just kind of went for the dates. [Laughs.] But Leonard saw, I guess a germ of an idea in me. So I went to Los Angeles City College, to a speech clinic, and I started rounding my R’s or whatever you do. Now I sound like a New Yorker, but that’s totally acceptable in the business. But “pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd,” that don’t work. Either way, I’m probably not gonna do any Westerns. [Laughs.]

Source: A.V. Club

TOM SELLECK, TED DANSON, STEVE GUTTENBERG

LEONARD NIMOY

“During filming of “3 men and a Baby” all my guests on my floor.

The Disney production gave me for all of them a nice basket containing a baby in a bed, which I had to place very early in front of their doors.

Every week we had a party in Ted Damson’s suite.

Who himself needed each time a water glass of Tequila to keep him away from his shyness.

In his little kitchen I cooked mostly Turkey and ones a Goose.

The dining room table were loaded with all kind of delectable goodies to enjoy. It would be to much to count on the names of all guests, mostly fellow actresses/actors staying at the hotel. Truly HOLLYWOOD NORTH.

They attended ones a hockey game and was was driving them there and picking them up. That night I was early and suddenly some back door flew open

they came running out, jumping into the car screaming “DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE.

Behind them probably 20 people hammering on the car roof and trying to open the locked doors. We got away and I ask them: “What the hack has happen?”?

Lots of laughter followed: “ WE SCREAMED FOR THE WRONG CLUB AND THEY DID NOT LIKED IT”!!!

Those 4 guy’s were really something else and kept me on my toes day and night.

Source: Memories of BUTLER to the STARS or “look who is talking”

Wed, 19 October 2011
Roundtable 127 - The Leonard Nimoy Edition

Guess who's 80 years young this year? That's right, Leonard Nimoy! So join Deanna Toxopeus, Gary Mitchel and Scott Duschene as they look at the career of this geek icon. And while, it is Spock heavy, they also take time to look at his musical career (5 albums!), his photography career, his audio production company and his other acting. They also examine his cultural impact as Spock.

On the subject of Twitter, in the last couple of weeks William Shatner has been making tweets indicating he is recording another musical album. And over the last month he has tweeted to Leonard Nimoy that he wants his old friend to join him:

William Shatner: Come out of "retirement" @TheRealNimoy. I got an exciting record I’m working on. You’d be perfect to add another voice to it. My best, Bill (May 11)

William Shatner: @TheRealNimoy, If you’re on the album where do you want to eat? My best, Bill (May 13)

William Shatner: Going to lay down a track: Bohemian Rhapsody. Perhaps as the beginning of a new record… My best, Bill. (May 25)

For his part, Nimoy has not replied to Bill’s requests via Twitter, so it isn’t known if we will get a duet of Shatner and Nimoy.

So was there a musical rivalry between you and Leonard Nimoy in the late '60s when you were both putting out records?
I just thought that his record was terrible.

All of them?
I didn't know he made more than one. Mine weren't that bad.

I once wrote a song-by-song analysis of how Leonard's The Way I Feel is the best album ever to make love to, which aired on CBC Radio. What's your favourite album to make love to?
I pay more attention to the person I'm making love to than the music.

So you're always in the mood and don't need anything to get you into the mood?
That's correct, and especially not Leonard Nimoy.

As a card-carrying “Star Trek” fan, it was an honor and a privilege to interview Leonard Nimoy last year when the great “Star Trek” reboot came out. I was a little worried about meeting one of my heroes, because I didn’t want to be disappointed, but he was even nicer (and a lot cooler!) than I ever could have hoped.

(...)

Other journalists asked about Nimoy’s post-retirement plans, which included his critically acclaimed photography, but if this is indeed his last hurrah in front of the camera, at least I got to speak with one of my heroes one last time.

More here.

SCIFI: On to more general genre stuff... What is your first memory of science-fiction?

AT: Star Trek initially, the original Star Trek. And my brothers watched it, so I remember watching. I wasn't a huge sci-fi fan to begin with, I am now, but I wasn't as a young girl. I was a Little House on the Prairie girl, but my brothers loved Star Trek, and so I remember watching it with them, and thinking that Leonard Nimoy was really freaky [laughter], and, yeah, loving it though.

With Leonard Nimoy @ Ace Gallery in Los Angeles

I worked with Leonard Nimoy in 2003 @ Ace Gallery in Los Angeles. What a great space! It was fun, we had the entire gallery at our disposal. Leonard was great to work with, fun, smart ideas, open to collaboration and was extremely focused on what he was shooting. Alison Caterall modeled with me.

Growing up with Leonard on the television set all the time, it was a bit surreal because I was so accustomed to his voice already. Especially from “In Search Of…” I loved that show and his voice is singed into my memory from that. But, I quickly got over that and went about modeling business. It was fun. He has done some special things for me afterwards and I’ll always be grateful.

Source: Zoe

I don't know whether gourmet is the right word, since a lot of the stars provide pretty low-brow recipes. Paul Revere (of the Raiders) offers his chili dog chili recipe. Lesley Gore -- of "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To" fame -- reveals her fave recipe for "Snick Snack Hamburgers" (tomato soup is the secret ingredient). And Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy has a yen for "Cold Soup Nimoy" made with sour cream and two cans of cream of celery soup.

“I’m still not done with all the voices,” Bay explained to us recently when we brought up “Revenge of the Fallen” robot casting for the film, which hits theaters on June 24th.

As loyal fans of the robots-in-disguise remember, Mr. Spock himself - Leonard Nimoy - was the voice of characters like Galvatron in the 1986 cartoon “Transformers: The Movie.” And “Revenge” writer Roberto Orci has said that he’d like to see Nimoy return for the summer blockbuster. Further clouding the issue, however, is the fact that Bay and Nimoy are…related?

You might think that their familial ties would make such a deal easier; Bay, however, told us it’s quite the opposite.

“You know, he’s related to me,” laughed Bay. “And now that you are filming this, maybe you can send it to him.”

“[Nimoy] is married to Susan Bay, who’s a cousin to me,” Michael explained, saying that he’s afraid of insulting his relative with the mere pittance allotted to pay his voice actors. “I just feel kind of bad about asking him. Like ‘I can’t pay you that much? But would you do this voice?’”

So Michael hasn’t worked up the nerve yet to ask his famous cousin – who appears in next month’s “Star Trek” – to lend him his vocal talents. Instead, the pair have been using a third relative as a go-between.

“Would he do it?” Bay asked. “He suggested to my mom that he might do it.”

It’s the summer of 2001 and the telephone rings in my lonely office at the old Knights of Pythias building in Virginia City, Nevada. We’re in performance, this hot, miserable summer, with Richard III and Twelfth Night in repertory. I’m hating my life. The voice on the other end sounds awfully familiar. It asks to speak with me.

“This is she.”

“Hello. This is Leonard Nimoy calling.”

“That’s funny. You sound just like Leonard Nimoy.”

He chuckles enthusiastically.

I feel as if I’ve won a hundred gallons of fresh strawberry ice cream.

How many times must he have heard that comeback or a variation thereof? Yet he responds to me as if I’m unique, clever, and spontaneous. He summers at Lake Tahoe and is looking for models for his forthcoming book, Shekhina, inquiring whether anyone in my theatre company might be attracted to the idea. Once we’re done with the details of his needs and the women in my company who might be available, et cetera, he offers to perform for us at a fund raiser. I ask about his fee and he, again, chuckles. He explains that his offer is to be of service to our non-profit arts organization, not to make money. Of course, I accept (how can he be so generous?! I mean, isn’t he inundated with requests all the time?!) and we set a date.

My experience with Leonard has been that uncomplicated ever since.

(...)

Make no mistake. This is no god, no angel, no saint. This is a man who eats and breathes and drinks (but not alcohol) and doesn’t smoke anymore (but used to be “an Olympic smoker”) and hollers at times, and fails every once in a blue moon, a gentleman who loves his wife, children, grandchildren, and various and sundry family members. He abundantly enjoys and fully lives in his various homes, and loves his dog and his friends and the world. He also gets weary and over-worked and over-taxed and bone-tired. He’s human and needs peace and quiet and, by god, he’s earned it. But his son’s come out with a memoir and Leonard has made a new Star Trek film. His life will not be his own again for a long, long time, if ever.

Ladies and Gentlemen: If Leonard Nimoy has enriched your life, you can give him a wonderful gift. When you see him in person, remember that, despite the benefits the dual identity has brought to him and the joy it’s brought to you, he doesn’t belong to you. Give him a smile and a wave, maybe a “thank you for your career!” and leave him the hell alone.

"In December of 2004 I was dancing with Big Burlesque, a full-figured burlesque company. Heather, the company founder, offered the dancers a chance to be part of a photo shoot that recreate some famous nude supermodel images of the 1990s. Heather told us the photographer’s name was Leonard Nimoy, and all I could think about was how much it would have to suck having that name. I found out later that I wasn’t the only one of the models that missed that it was THAT Leonard Nimoy. I wasn’t that nervous about doing the shoot, my parents are both artists, and I wasn’t raised to think that there was anything shameful about the human body. And of course this was art, not porn. And the likely hood that anyone I knew would see these pictures was so remote, why worry?"

Contact with celebs made my job fun, but I didn't always click with stars. All I could think about when I met Paul and Linda McCartney was his thinning hair and paunch and her horribly hairy legs.

David Essex, too, was a disappointment. The sight of the hottest sex symbol of the day displaying skinny, pale-fleshed ankles below his half-mast trousers repulsed me.

Sometimes the opposite was true and I would find myself attracted to someone completely unexpected, as when I met Mr Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, on the set of the film Catlow, which was being shot in Almeria, Spain.

(...)

A Caesar haircut and pointy ears had never been my thing but for the first time I realised that sex appeal has little to do with classic good looks. Although he was some 20 years older than me, had smallish eyes, a long nose, and a beard (oh how I hated beards!), he was sex on legs and I was lovestruck.

His wife was on location with him but clearly there was something between us and one day he invited me for a walk into the nearby hills. I insisted the Fab photographer join us as a chaperone but, as we talked and laughed together, he obviously felt like a spare part and wandered off, leaving us alone.

At that point, Mr Spock gave me the most unforgettable kiss I had ever had. Later, I found the nerve to ask him about his wife.

'Oh, she's gone to Madrid shopping,' he told me. That was all he had to say on the subject.

That was the only time we were alone together. When it was time for me to leave Almeria, I was distraught. If he hadn't been married, I would have done anything to spend more time with him - but he was, so there didn't seem any point.

Not long after the film came out at the end of that year, the Nimoys split up and he eventually found a younger woman. I liked to think that she looked a bit like me.

I soon got over Spock and in July that year I attended a press reception at the Savoy Hotel for Andy Williams, whose smooth voice had soothed me so often during the unhappy years of my teens.

For the full article and higher resolution photo see Mail Online.

We've all been through our share of love-related misery, but probably most of us can look back on our teen years as the most horrific of them all, from unrequited love, tumultuous off-and-on romances, first times, moral dilemmas, and passionate moments amplified by the pure drama of adolescence.

This is precisely what the folks from Mortified bring to their readers in their second book, Love is a Battlefield, assembled by Mortified guru and editor David Nadelberg. And they go right to the source: Real diaries from real people about real matters of the heart.

LAist loves the first tome of pure angst, and loves going to see the readings live here in LA, so it's no surprise that we heart the love-themed volume that hit shelves earlier this month--yes, just in time for Valentine's Day.

The book offers a broad sampling of bad poetry and hair-band wannabe lyrics, notebook doodles, compulsive calendar chronicles, love letters (to Leonard Nimoy!) along with the delicious brand of wisdom proffered only by those who are anything but world-wise--but who think they are.

The next fan up first said to James he looked very handsome in person and up close. James cracked some joke about being tired, but ultimately thanked her "because I'm learning to take compliments." Her question was about what James feels at events like this, when he's asked a question by a girl and the moment he opens his mouth to answer, the woman in question is reduced to a pile of goo that spouts gibberish. "I think that's delicious, are you kiddin' me? I think that's just fabulous!" He then told us a story about meeting his hero, Leonard Nimoy, when he was campaigning for George McGovern during his presidential bid. He went up to the microphone to ask Nimoy a question, "and I was just reduced to jell-o. And he didn't like my question, because he was trying to talk politics, so he replied, 'They glued them on with glue, kid.' So I know what it feels like. I used to come to these things when I was younger, man! Spock ears glued on, big 'fro, yeah! Getting my freak on!"

LEONARD NIMOY - I LOVE TUNA!

The sage-like star of "Star Trek" and "In Search Of..." turned out to have more of a sense of humor than anybody would have thought--but, alas, not enough to appear in THE FINGER.

We tracked Mr. Nimoy down at a Borders Books promoting his collection of science fiction radio plays called "Alien Voices." Spock's discussion was peppered by enthusiastic fans nitpicking about various "Trek" episodes and whether Nimoy believes in God. He does.

We asked Nimoy to sign his book, I AM SPOCK and quickly pitched THE FINGER. We "disguised" the project a bit by saying it was a book about hand-gestures in general. "You know, the peace sign, the Spock sign...(clears throat)...THE FINGER. Could give us the Spock sign?" Nimoy chuckled and moved into the famed pose.

Next, we asked if he could flip us off if we made him angry enough. "No, " was all he said.

However, our pal Joe did come away from the signing with a real treasure. "I'm sorry, this was the only book I could afford!" he blurted out as he handed the "Starkist Tuna for Today Cookbook" over to Mr. Nimoy to sign. "Could you please write, 'I love tuna'?" he asked innocently. Nimoy raised a Vulcan eyebrow. "Does that mean something?" he asked, slyly. Was the logical Mr. Spock afraid we would trap him into admitting he liked pussy? Of course.

People Magazine
By Tom Gliatto
November 14, 1994

Hollywood Ex-Wives Club

Divorced from Your Spouse but Still Seeing Him on Nick at Nite? Quick, Call The...Hollywood Ex-Wives Club

ON A MILD, SUNNY AFTERNOON SIX years after her divorce, Sandi Nimoy, a petite woman in a blue pantsuit, is nestled into an armchair in the densely furnished living room of Jackie Joseph's Burbank bungalow. Talking about life after Leonard—who left her for actress Susan Bay, the current Mrs. Nimoy—Sandi is surrounded by the sympathetic company of eight other Hollywood ex-wives, including Joseph, who was married to former Mayberry RED, star Ken Berry from 1960 to 1977. "It's not easy to forget a person who still is in your face," says the 61-year-old Nimoy, who had two children with the man now internationally recognized as Star Trek's Spock. And last spring, she mentions, the couple had a close encounter of the unexpected kind. "I ran into him," says Nimoy. "He acted like I was some stranger on the street."

"Sandi," soothes Lynn Landon, 61, who was for 19 years Mrs. Michael Landon No. 2 and is the mother of five of his nine children. "There's nothing you can do about his reaction."

"I know," agrees Nimoy, "but we were married for 32 years and 10 months. I grew up with him." She recalls the lean years when he was a struggling actor. "I had a $10 a week food allowance. We lived in a housing project. I took our babies to a clinic."

"That was probably a good time," says Landon, providing an upbeat spin, "a time of building together."

But Nimoy is back in the exasperating here-and-now of a marriage she never expected to end. "I got a letter from Brandeis University," she says. "They invited me to some Star Trek: The Next Generation fund-raiser! This is crazy! Why are they sending this to me? It shakes me up."

Taking Action Is Best Revenge for First Wives
Divorce: For women of a certain age, the end of a marriage can be an emotional and financial free fall. But--as a new movie shows--it doesn't have to be.

October 04, 1996

Rather than revenge, the goal of LADIES (Life After Divorce Is Eventually Sane), formed 14 years ago by ex-wives of Hollywood celebrities, was healing and mutual support.

"In the end, living well is the best revenge," said Sandi Nimoy, 64, who was divorced eight years ago from "Star Trek" star Leonard Nimoy. She said she suffered a breakdown after the public breakup of her 33-year marriage and had to learn who she was besides somebody's wife.

"Now I'm not somebody's wife. I have built my own image," she said. "I say to people, if I can make it, anybody can make it."

The other women not only provided social support, she said, but they also exchanged valuable information about which lawyers to trust and accompanied one another to court.

Now, the former celebrity wives are helping other women become emotionally and financially independent, speaking at community colleges and volunteering at organizations such as Women Helping Women Services in Los Angeles and Women Work! in Washington, D.C.

The hardest women to reach, Nimoy said, are wives like she was--those who "don't want to give up the fantasy that it's never going to happen to them. . . . We have to look at it a little more pragmatically."

Source: Los Angeles Times

'Star Dumps Wife' Headline Sparked Birth of Group
March 12, 1988

He walked out on her birthday, a few months shy of their 34th wedding anniversary. She was devastated. For two weeks, she stayed in bed under heavy sedation.

Weeks later, she was still so depressed she could not lift her arms and was barely able to walk. Somehow, she managed to get to a therapist, who is now helping her put together a life that focuses on her, not her husband.

She is Sandi Nimoy, former wife of actor/director Leonard Nimoy, better known as Mr. Spock of "Star Trek" fame. When she saw the supermarket tabloid headlines shouting, "Star Dumps Wife on Her Birthday for New Love," she "started to scream," she said last week at a women's conference at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

Many of the divorced women in the audience cried as Nimoy, also tearful, told her story. Their own breakups may not have made the front page of the National Enquirer, but otherwise they strongly identified with what she was saying.

"I met Leonard in 1953; we were married in 1954. I believed--well, we all did, then--that my husband and children came first, and I put all my energy into that. I read scripts for him. I did whatever I could to help his career.

"I went from my father's house to being with my husband. I didn't have that time in between when you find out you're a person."

Nimoy is now one of several wives and former wives of the famous involved in a group called L.A.D.I.E.S (Life After Divorce Is Eventually Sane), which offers support not only to women who have been married to celebrities but to other divorced and separated women rebuilding their lives.

It was with other L.A.D.I.E.S members, not her husband, that Nimoy celebrated her 34th wedding anniversary. At the Saddleback conference, she was joined by Jackie Joseph (former wife of actor/dancer Ken Berry) and Tasha Schaal (once married to actor Dick Schaal).

Although former wives of celebrities have unique problems to deal with ("Sandi opens a magazine, and there's an ad for a commemorative plate with her husband's picture on it," Joseph pointed out), their stories are those of divorced women everywhere. Joseph said when the first group of wives got together at the home of Lynn Landon (former wife of actor Michael), "in essence, it seemed we all were married to the same person."

Source: Los Angeles Times

Director Garry Marshall certainly knew how to set the scene while making the upcoming feature Frankie and Johnny, a sweet and sour love story starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. When Pacino as Johnny, an ex-con trying to carve out a new life, hears someone in his apartment, he's supposed to knock down the door and find an ex-con buddy with a girlfriend inside. But with Star Trek VI shooting right across the Los Angeles soundstage, Marshall had a better idea. ''Garry asked Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, in their full Star Trek regalia, to stand in the set,'' recounts executive producer Alex Rose. ''So Al bursts open the door, expecting to see this actor and actress, and instead there were these two Trekkies standing there! He was totally astonished.'' Entertainment Weekly

Guttenberg: Yes, thank you.

Danson: Yeah.

Guttenberg: And our man.

Danson: Yeah, Leonard Nimoy, who boy, I'm a huge fan. Thank you so much Leonard.

Guttenberg: Yes. Thank you Leonard.

Danson: And a little tip to all actors and actresses that work with him in the future, he does yell, but if you pinch him on the behind, he giggles like a schoolgirl.

Guttenberg: It's true. And thank you people for this award. Thank you.