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Leonard Nimoy: His Most Glorious Moments

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Leonard Nimoy, the Star Trek legend, has sadly passed away aged 83.

- Read Nimoy’s Poignant Final Tweet
- Leonard Nimoy Dies Aged 83

But rather than get sad about his death, we’d rather celebrate his amazing, and frankly bonkers life, because there was a lot more to Nimoy than Mr. Spock. Here’s just a few amazing episodes from the long and prosperous life of Leonard.

The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

In 1967 Nimoy released this superb slice of 60s kitsch, complete with video featuring ladies with pointy ears. Surprisingly catchy.

His “arty” book

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Nimoy was a respected photographer, and created a coffee table book called The Full Body Project - a collection for which he shot nude photos of plus-sized and obese women. As you’d expect, his reasons for doing so were very interesting and unsurprisingly logical: “The first time I had photographed a person of that size and shape, it was scary,” he remarked in a 2007 NPR interview. “I didn’t know quite how to treat this figure. And I think that’s a reflection of something that’s prevalent in our culture. I think, in general, we are sort of conditioned to see a different body type as acceptable and maybe look away when the other body type arrives. It led me to a new consciousness about the fact that so many people live in body types that are not the type that’s being sold by fashion models.”

The Simpsons cameo

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One of the THE great ‘Golden Age’ ‘Simpsons’ episodes - ‘Marge vs. the Monorail’ – included a memorable Nimoy cameo.

The Audi advert

Old Spock met new Spock (Zachary Quinto) met in this memorable Audi ad that saw him spoof the Bilbo Baggins song, his Wrath Of Khan death and finally deliver a Vulcan death grip.

The Lazy Song

Never let it be said Nimoy didn’t keep up with the kids. He was on hilarious form in the alternate video for Bruno Mars’ smash-hit tune ‘The Lazy Song’, which sees him taking a wee, buying a porn mag and ends with him rolling a joint.

LaserDisc aficionado

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In 1981, Nimoy’s persona made him the perfect spokesperson for the new space age technology known as LaserDisc. The mustachioed star fronted an amazing infomercial for Magnavision’s DVD precursor which saw him talking to a bleeping crystal.

“Yes, I can understand you, I’m Leonard Nimoy.”

3 Men and a Baby

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Leonard may be best known for directing the third and fourth ‘Star Trek’ films but did you know he also helmed classic 80s Steve Guttenburg comedy ‘3 Men and a Baby’? He didn’t return for the sequel, perhaps wisely.

Mission Impossible

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Nimoy’s proficient TV career extended beyond ‘Star Trek’ appearing in episodes of ‘The Outer Limits’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, and ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ (William Shatner also appeared in the same episode of the spy series), but his biggest show outside of ‘Trek’ was ‘Mission Impossible’. He starred in two series as The Great Paris, a retired magician with a specialty in disguises.

Civilization IV voiceover

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Video game fans in the early 00s will remember Leonard fondly as the narrator in turn-based strategy game ‘Civilization IV’. He recorded countless quotes giving gamers tech tips.  Sample quote: “Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind they can change our world.” Well said Lenny.

SNL sketch

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For the release of JJ Abrams’ first ‘Star Trek’ film in 2009, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto appeared on US sketch show Saturday Night Live. It was a skit about pleasing Trekkers and Nimoy came on stage to support the new Kirk and Spock.

“To not like it…” starts Leonard.

“To not like it would be illogical?” asks host Seth Meyer.

“No, I was going to say, to not like it would make them dickheads.”

Well said.