Shatner- Nimoy friendship lived long, prospered
William Shatner offers a sad, joyous tribute in ‘ Leonard’
Star Trek fans looking for a trip down Memory Alpha lane should enjoy William Shatner’s Leonard: My Fifty- Year Friendship With a Remarkable Man ( St. Martin’s Press, 275 pp., out of four), his tribute to fellow icon Leonard Nimoy, the unemotional Mr. Spock to his passionate Captain Kirk.
Those who can’t tell a Romulan from a Klingon can find satisfaction, too, as Shatner, 84, who says he has had few real friends, explores the nature of male bonding and the connection created over years of competition, collaboration, triumph and loss. Less a deconstruction of their 79 Trek TV episodes and six films, Leonard, written with David Fisher, offers intriguing behind- the- scenes details of the franchise’s birth and evolution filtered through the relationship between Shatner and Nimoy, sons of Jewish immigrants and born four days apart in 1931.
Nimoy’s eclectic biography serves as the book’s spine as Leonard describes his Boston upbringing in a family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants; his pre- Star Trek journeyman’s career; his emergence as a star; and his achievements in directing, poetry and photography.
Shatner revels inthe Spock- like intellect and curiosity of Nimoy, who died last February at age 83, just one year before the franchise’s 50th anniversary.
Not surprisingly, Leonard reveals much about Montreal native Shatner, since their lives became forever intertwined after the 1966 TV premiere, with Spock the reflective, intellectual yang to Kirk’s swashbuckling, pleasure- seeking yin.
Shatner suspects that the contrast led to his casting: “Leonard was dark and brooding; I was blond and bright- eyed. Leonard displayed little emotion; I was a walking mood ring.”
Shatner, the Trek lead with the higher- profile credits, admits to being jealous when Nimoy’s Spock drew more fan mail. He rejoices at the accomplishments of the series, whose casting diversity ( ethnic, racial and interspecies, with half- Vulcan Spock) and commentary onwar, class and the environment were rare on TV. ( The short uniform skirts of female crewmembers fit the times.)
Star Trek, and their friendship, didn’t really bloom until after the show’s cancellation in 1969, with popular reruns and celebratory conventions spawning films that reunited the men, who shared a unique understanding of being tied forever to an iconic character.
Friendship deepened with age. They became a team in Trek dealings and supported each other through personal struggles.
Shatner writes admiringly of support from Nimoy, a recovering alcoholic, during the author’s marriage to Nerine Kidd, whose alcohol problems accelerated before her tragic drowning death in a swimming pool.
Shatner, who playfully acknowledges his own muscular ego, is refreshingly introspective in examining their relationship. There’s a melancholy as Shatner discusses Nimoy’s many years of smoking, eventual illness and death, which spawned national mourning. Shatner’s revelation of a late- in- life rift that remained unresolved amplifies the sorrow.
When Nimoy died in California, Shatner missed the funeral to remain in Florida for a fundraising dinner, saying it raised money to help many people.
He writes that he believes “in honoring people while they are alive. ... We should mourn the dead but celebrate life.” Shatner, whose daughters attended the funeral, was pained by criticism over his decision.
Sad moments are more than tempered by Shatner’s joy in accompanying Nimoy on a thrilling ride.
In a letter he hopes Nimoy saw before he died, Shatner wrote: “I have had a deep love for you Leonard — for your character, your morality, your sense of justice, your artistic bent. ... You’re the friend that I have known the longest and deepest.”