By Steve Barnes
(Before ST I)

Before Leonard's name has become a household name, he was known in the trade as an "actor's actor", that succinct term of praise that says it all.

Beside his busy schedule, the music albums are mentioned as stage plays as "The Man in the Glass Booth" and "Full Circle". The lectures are described shortly and so are the books of poetry. "He also found time to campaign actively for the new governor of Massachusetts."

VERTEX asks about the lectures.
LN: "What I talk about is how the science fiction of the past has become the reality of the present. I read on it constantly because I'm trying to keep it a very up-to-date contemporary experience... And in many cases I try, if possible, on oncoming into a city or town to pick up that day's newspaper from that city or town and find items that relate to illustrate to my audience just how immediate and contemporary the whole things is."

"I tell people – if you want to know what's happened in the past, read the history books. If you want to know what's going to happen to us in the future, read the good science fiction authors. It's all there. All the things that Jules Verne talked about, all the things, unfortunately, that George Orwell talked about. They are all part of our contemporary life today. Plus the fact that I think science fiction makes it possible to present some sociological and philosophical concepts in a form that is more entertaining and more palatable to a lot of people than it would be if it were simply done realistically. Therefore I think that the writers are in a position to get the word out and to educate people to certain ideas and possibilities of the future of mankind without being so frightening that they get turned off... It is a very imaginative form, it's a theatrical form, plus the fact that it's a tremendous vehicle for social comment."

... "There is a lot of disillusionment with our time and I can understand the interest in going back in time when problems seemed more solvable, more simple, less complex... I think the reasons for looking forward and looking back are essentially the same..."

VERTEX: "You've been successful in almost all the creative fields... is there any chance at all that you might turn your talents to writing science fiction?"
Leonard: "I doubt that. (Hesitates) But then again, one never knows. I used to say I would never write ... at all. I didn't really think I was equipped or meant to be a writer. I always felt I was talented as an interpreter of words, but not a creator of words. And I suddenly found myself writing because there was something I wanted to say."

"I'm trying –hoping – to write a book about the whole Spock and Star Trek experience, a lot of cerebral concepts that should be dealt with. If I'm happy with it then I'll give it to the publisher. After that, I don't know. I might have suddenly something to say that might best be said in the science fiction form..."

About the planning of STTMP: "... But I'm a little concerned that there's a tremendous amount of anticipation being built up, and possibly, a lot of hopes and dreams to be shattered... I like to see the thing relaxing a little bit, because of the tension among so many people... but I just hope it works out."

VERTEX: "...any life-long ambition?"
"Well. Yes. There are several... I'd like to play Hamlet before it's too late. And I'd like to play Cyrano de Bergerac one of those days. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my life is so filled with activity that it is very difficult to set aside time for a project like that."

"I'll be doing an auto show in Detroit, then I start with some lecture dates... (grins) I love the challenge of change."