Leonard Nimoy R.I.P.

A friend of mine, being a snot on Facebook, wrote this the other day, after the great Leonard Nimoy died, & people started expressing their feelings about what he meant to them:

"I was saddened to learn of the passing of Leonard Nimoy, but not surprised, since Mr. Nimoy was 83 years of age. What has been surprising has been to learn that so many of my Facebook friends knew him personally."

Disregarding the first sentence, which is weirdly worded & a bit nonsensical (Nimoy's famous co-star William Shatner is 83 & seems in great health; the assumption that all 83 year olds are near death is a little dumb), it is very rare, I think, to see such an amazing example of someone who just really, really doesn't get it.

It may not be obvious to you, but I do know this friend couldn't give a shit about Star Trek or science fiction in general, so he can be forgiven.  What he wrote is supposed to be a joke - somewhat barbed, I guess (in the Shatner "Get A Life" sort of way), but a joke nonetheless.

Here's the thing: it was the power of Nimoy's inhabiting of the character of Spock for decades that, for those of us who do get it, made you feel you knew him personally.  There are great actors out there who are terrific, even stunning, in movie roles.  But the minute I, as a child, became entranced by the super-strong, magic Vulcan-nerve-pinching, cold & logical, pointy-eared character on the screen, I was not simply going to thrill to the sort of thing a comic book loving nerd child would always love, like Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk or anyone holding a laser gun.  No indeed.  As I grew older, I came more & more to appreciate the nuance that Nimoy put into Spock.  I came to see that, despite often silly plots & cheap-o sets, Nimoy's chemistry with William Shatner & DeForest Kelly made that show.  So many plays, movies, television shows fail because there's no connection between the leads.  Nimoy was instrumental in making us believe there could be such a thing as a half-human, half-Vulcan Science Officer on board a starship in the future.  We shared his struggles.  We cared about him.

I never saw Nimoy in person.  I am a huge Star Trek nerd but have never been to a convention.  But I have watched his performances & presentations on Youtube & read transcripts, & by all accounts, he was a kind, generous, warm, wise, & funny man.  Buzzfeed gave us a list of 21 reasons why he was so awesome, & I have no reason to doubt any of it.

It's funny, he, as an actor, struggled with being typecast as this monumental character which he, in the 1970s, had no idea would become a cultural icon.

It's a dilemma most of us will never have to ponder.  After the success of the movies - plus his emergence as a fine director - Nimoy obviously found Spock to be something worth embracing.  While I think we, as fans, might have sympathized perhaps with his ambivalence, most of us were a little baffled that he would even need to struggle.  Because we saw his performance as Spock, & it utterly mesmerized us.

I took his death personally.  I cried, I cried at the loss of someone I deeply loved.  A true artist, as he was, has the capacity to make you feel as though he or she is someone with whom you have a personal relationship.  It's not foolish, or delusional, to feel grief from such a loss.  The connection is real.

I'm sad that I now have to live in a world without Leonard Nimoy.  I am happy I got to grow up in a world that had Leonard Nimoy in it.  Because of how great he was, he made me feel I knew him personally.  & I think he would be flattered & humbled by that statement.