1967 - Product of Two Worlds

"The kids dig the fact that Spock is cool." Leonard commends the fact that children frequently try to see his father and his mother in their working places.

Gene Roddenberry said he chose the name "Spock" because he wanted a strong, one-syllable name and only learned later about Dr. Benjamin Spock and Leonard Nimoy gave the character more depth than a pair of pointed ears: "I don't want to play a creature or a computer. Spock gives me a chance to say some things about the human race." Later on: "… I'm having a ball. It's the first steady job I've had in 17 years."

Jobs he did beside acting included jerking sodas, delivering newspapers, selling vacuum cleaners, servicing vending machines, working in a pet shop, ushering in movie theatres and driving a cab. Leonard would hang around in theatres day and night as a young kid because of his love for theatre. He attended drama school of Boston College and went to Hollywood in 1949. ("I didn't even know there was such thing as a Boston accent.")

18 months he spent in Georgia, stationed at Fort McPherson writing, narrating and emceeing GI shows and working with the Atlanta Theater Guild in his spare time.
Later on he appeared in movies like "Seven Days in May" and "The Balcony" and produced and starred in "Deathwatch" together with Vic Morrow. "I guess I'm the only actor in the world who has appeared in two movies from Genet plays."

Leonard sings folk songs to his own satisfaction ("If I'd kept studying, I'd now be playing bad classical guitar instead of fair folk").

Only his parents and a few old friends call him "Lenny", even on the set he is called "Leonard". Since he works on the series, he is not home as much as he used to be.

About his pet dachshund: "I was raised in a tenement neighborhood, where you couldn't have a dog. The first time I bought a house, I bought a dog."

He speaks of the great cellist Pablo Casals: "He has this simple and sincere attitude of knowing where it's a – of saying, 'This is the way it is.' If I thought I could carry some of that into my life, I would be happy."