Lazlowrocks. Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 'Star Trek' Star James Doohan DiesJul 20, 10:46 AM EST The Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85. Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said. He had said farewell to public life in August 2004, a few months after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The Canadian-born Doohan was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven different accents. "The producers asked me which one I preferred," Doohan recalled 30 years later. "I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, 'If this character is going to be an engineer, you'd better make him a Scotsman.'" The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science fiction fans, especially among teenagers and children, but not enough ratings power. NBC canceled it after three seasons. When the series ended in 1969, Doohan found himself typecast as Montgomery Scott, the canny engineer with a burr in his voice. In 1973, he complained to his dentist, who advised him: "Jimmy, you're going to be Scotty long after you're dead. If I were you, I'd go with the flow." "I took his advice," said Doohan, "and since then everything's been just lovely." "Star Trek" continued in syndication both in the United States and abroad, and its following grew larger and more dedicated. In his later years, Doohan attended 40 "Trekkie" gatherings around the country and lectured at colleges. The huge success of George Lucas' "Star Wars" in 1977 prompted Paramount Pictures, which had produced "Star Trek" for television, to plan a movie based on the series. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface187 Posted July 20, 2005 Share Posted July 20, 2005 (edited) This time it wasn't Scotty that beamed him up. R.I.P. EDIT: Wait a second, he is Scotty. Oops. Edited July 22, 2005 by Scarface187 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTA_kev Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Sad news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewMitch Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 Corny-ness factor 10 (He would've like'd it) Heaven, one to beam up. Fans say he was a nice guy, and he didn't care about his typecasting. And he still was able to get his game on and had a kid when he was 80. Plus, he had gall to talk honestly about the Shatman's attitude. He's also a wounded WW2 vet from D-Day. That deserves more praise than anything he did on TV or the silverscreen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kippers Posted July 21, 2005 Share Posted July 21, 2005 This time it wasn't Scotty that beamed him up. R.I.P. wise words... Scotty kicked ass R.I.P 習うより慣れろ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now