{"id":95179,"date":"2015-02-28T05:59:46","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T05:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=95179"},"modified":"2015-02-28T05:13:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T05:13:22","slug":"leonard-nimoy-star-treks-mr-spock-dies-at-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=95179","title":{"rendered":"Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek’s Mr Spock, dies at 83"},"content":{"rendered":"

US actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr Spock in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, has died at the age of 83 in Los Angeles, his family has said.<\/p>\n

His son, Adam, said he died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Nimoy had a long career as both an actor and director.<\/p>\n

However he was best known for his portrayal of the half-human, half-Vulcan character in both the TV franchise and series of films.<\/p>\n

Last year, the actor revealed he was suffering chronic lung disease COPD, despite stopping smoking 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

It was reported earlier this week he had been taken to hospital on 19 February after suffering from chest pains.<\/p>\n

He later tweeted: “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.”<\/p>\n

He signed off what was to be his final tweet with “LLAP” – a reference to his character’s famous catchphrase, “Live long and prosper”.<\/p>\n

\"Nimoy<\/div>\n

The same Twitter account was used by his granddaughter to confirm that he died at home on Friday in Bel-Air, California.<\/p>\n

Dani Nimoy said her grandfather was an “extraordinary man, husband, grandfather, brother, actor, author – the list goes on – and friend.”<\/p>\n

She added that special merchandise was being added to Nimoy’s website, with all proceeds going to the COPD foundation.<\/p>\n

\"Leonard
Leonard Nimoy, cast member of the new film “Star Trek Into Darkness”, poses as he arrives at the film’s premiere in Hollywood REUTERS\/Fred Prouser<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek and was a friend of Nimoy’s, paid tribute to the actor.<\/p>\n

“The word extraordinary is often overused but I think it’s really appropriate for Leonard”, Mr Takei told US broadcaster MSNBC.<\/p>\n

“He was an extraordinarily talented man but he was also a very decent human being.”<\/p>\n

Among the torrent of tributes on Twitter was a message from Nasa crediting Nimoy and Star Trek as an inspiration.<\/p>\n

\"tweet\"<\/div>\n

Thousands took to Twitter to pay tribute after Nimoy’s death was announced, including Star Trek actors past and present.<\/p>\n

William Shatner, who as Captain Kirk acted alongside Nimoy for years in Star Trek, said he loved the actor “like a brother”.<\/p>\n

“We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love,” Mr Shatner said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

\"LeonardLeonard Nimoy often gave Spock’s famous salute<\/div>\n

Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, said: “We stood on your shoulders, and wouldn’t have had a galaxy to explore if you hadn’t been there, first. Thank you, Leonard, Rest in peace.”<\/p>\n

More than a Vulcan<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was Nimoy’s casting as Spock in 1966 that made him in a star and, in many ways, defined his acting career.<\/p>\n

He played the character in all three of the original series of the programme and later in several big-screen spin offs.<\/p>\n

Nimoy had an ambivalent relationship with Spock, seeming to both cherish and resent his close association with the role.<\/p>\n

His two volumes of autobiography – “I Am Not Spock” in 1975 and “I Am Spock” two decades later – seemed to epitomise his mixed feelings.<\/p>\n

Nimoy did have success outside of his Spock costume, in both acting and directing, and he pursued music, painting, and photography.<\/p>\n

After the end of Star Trek’s initial run, he played master of disguise Paris in the hit adventure series Mission Impossible.<\/p>\n

Later he directed two of the Star Trek films, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home, and in 1987 helmed the hit comedy Three Men and a Baby, one of the highest-grossing films of that year.<\/p>\n

Nimoy announced that he was suffering from COPD last year, writing: “I quit smoking 30 years ago. Not soon enough. Grandpa says, quit now!!”<\/p>\n

COPD is an umbrella term for several lung diseases including chronic bronchitis, emphysema and some forms of bronchiectasis.<\/p>\n

Sufferers experience increasing breathlessness during the advanced stages of the disease but it can be symptomless for a long time as it develops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr Spock in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, has died at the age of 83 in Los Angeles, his family has said. His son, Adam, said he died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Friday morning. Nimoy had a long career as both an actor and director. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":95180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-95179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-togbe-afede"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}