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TOM SNYDER LATE NIGHT SHOW |
"The great Leonard Nimoy is here tonight from Star Trek and many other fine productions... Spock in Star Trek is among the most recognizable and beloved characterizations in TV and movie history. He takes us behind the scenes of an enormously popular show in his new book "I am Spock" along with wonderful stories about his life. We are happy to welcome Leonard Nimoy..."
TS: "I Am Not Spock" in 1975... They really got pissed... (both laughing)...
LN: They are. I made a big mistake, I apologize, I am sorry. The title of the book, I made a mistake.
TS: You meant it as a joke, didn't you? You are not Spock, you are Leonard
Nimoy, why, tell us...
LN: We are living in a world of sound bites. And even 20 years ago people were reading titles, people
were not reading books... "Oh, you are not Spock, sure!" - it took me some time to deal with that.
TS: Let me ask you...
LN (interrupting): Thank you very much for allowing me to come to your show.
TS: You are very welcome
LN: And to talk about this and to clean up this debris whatever is left of this ill-will.
And I have been wanting to be on your show since... well how far back have you been
TS: A long time
LN: I've been Spock for 30 years.
TS: I've been doing this for 40. Not this particular show…
LN: Ever since I became Spock, Tom Snyder was there. I never got an invitation.
Never. What is going on here, what's wrong? Bill Shatner was at least here once. Several times?
TS (laughing): well, he's at least not here tonight.
LN: No really, you can tell me. I tried when I directed "Three Men And A Baby".
I tried to hire you as an actor. Your agent wouldn't even respond...
TS: What are you doing to me tonight?
LN: What I am doing to you? You got it backwards, Tom. I admire you and I am watching your work for years.
TS: Thank you. And I admire you.
LN: And I think "That guy is good, why can't I get on to the show?"
TS: If it were up to me...
LN: And the minute I sat down here the first thing you say to me is: "We are
short of time."
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TS: Let me ask something here that interests me... your relationship with Gene Roddenberry...
You have written you never completely resolved your relationship with Gene Roddenberry. And I don't know what that means.
LN: I don't know, I can't tell you what it was. It was a frustration.
I always felt in some way that we could never really be totally comfortable in each other's company.
I wanted very much to have a friendship with Gene. The best I could do was having a working relationship with him.
Somehow I felt that I threatened Gene, that something about me bothered him, made him nervous about me.
TS: Gee, I never knew him to perfection. (telling about his relationship with Gene)... He was not a man that would embrace you. There was always something between you and Gene Roddenberry...
as polite as he could be, he was always Gene Roddenberry.
LN: You are answering my question. You are answering your question of me.
LN: I always felt it was difficult to be his friend. He was uncomfortable in that kind of a relationship.
TS: Asking about NASA
LN: They offered a relationship. They said: "We like the show". Star Trek and NASA had a very good relationship. They used NASA to do some good science on Star Trek, what's really happening... It was very helpful. At the same time NASA felt that Star Trek was a good PR.
TS: In Hollywood they can teach you to robe a sheep, to hold a gun, but they cannot teach you how to handle popularity.
LN: Celebrity
TS: Celebrity
LN: They can't. Nobody can. In the music business, in the TV business, in the movie business... they have classes in any of these things that you mentioned, you can have classes... Nobody can help you when it comes to celebrity. You have to handle it yourself.
... (talking about the mistake he made choosing "I Am Not Spock" as title for the first biography.)
I was warned about a negative title and said: "What's with Gone With The Wind"? (Both laughing) TS: And also you realize that when you achieve a certain state of celebrity, every word you say becomes important.
LN: It becomes important and it becomes farther. Somebody can pick it up and play with it... Fan magazines picked it up, the press picked it up and said: "He rejects the character"...
TS: Go back!
LN (laughing): Go back wherever you were.
After the break phone calls come in.
Adam from Ottawa: ... Typcasting ...
LN: Sharing about people asking him fearfully what might come when Spock is over. I thought: "Over? What am I missing here?" (Everybody is laughing). "Typecasting" is usually used in a fearful sense as something terrible happening to a person. But if your are not typecastable it is very difficult to get work...
TS: That's right.
LN explaining why an actor needs a certain reputation. Otherwise people do not where to use an actor for.
TS: For the younger people here: What did you do before Spock?
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LN: I had a great career before Spock, a great career. People saw me in the street and said:
"I saw you at my cousin's wedding." (Both laughing) I had a great career of 15 years in the business. In 1950 I had an epic in a series called
"The Zombies From The Stratosphere."
TS laughs.
LN: Why are you laughing?
TS: It was funny.
LN: Well, it's the truth. I was making an honest living. I was supporting a family, Tom. (sadly) It's merely a laughing stuff.
TS (seriously): So, you were working in a series called "Zombies of The Stratosphere"...
LN: Yeah.
And goes on telling about his work as a taxi driver, picking up Senator
Kennedy...
LN: When he asked I was telling him that I was an actor, while driving the cab. And he said:
"There is always room for one more good one." And I carried that with me.
TS: Adam, thanks for calling.
LN: I have a son named "Adam". When you said "Adam" I thought: "Is this a setup?
What's happening?"
TS: I did not know you drived a cab. (Laughing) Did I say "Drived"? I'm sorry.
LN: You can drove, you can drive, you can driv, whatever you want to do. We are friends here.
First time on the show for 25 years. How do I care?
TS: You keep this up.
Asking about Leonard's appearing is costume at a festival.
They talk about Star Trek. Did anybody have any idea what the whole thing would turn into?
LN: Nobody could but I did. I got precognition.
TS: The "Zombies Of The Stratosphere" did that.
LN: That's right! That's where I got it. (Both pointing at each other and sharing a good laugh).
LN: We could never do that again.
TS: You are not Spock.
LN: Please, do not start this again, I came here to clean it up. (Both laugh)
After the break Donna from Cordova, AL, asks whether there is a chance or a possibility that Leonard appears in another Star Trek movie.
LN: There are always possibilities. We never say never in Star Trek.
I don't know how much of a chance there is but there is always a possibility. I appreciate the question.
I have a sense that the total cast will be of Next Generation. TS: The question is: Will you want to do it?
LN: They have got my phone number and they don't call me like Tom does not call me.
TS: How can I get off your list, pal? Cheese!
LN: It's the simple truth. Maybe after tonight we get over this.
TS: This would be a neat idea...
(explaining how he could come back as a "mature" Spock - having made clear before that he is choosing his words very carefully to avoid another mistake.)
Like in a stage of wisdom to the other Star Trek-... LN: Tom, you are absolutely on trek. You are right. I did that in an episode on the Next Generation called "Unification".
Yes, really, I am serious about this. (Summarizing the plot of the episode).
TS asks about Leonard's parents and he talks about their hopes they had had for their children in America...
