Monday, March 02, 2015

Sentential Links (the Leonard Nimoy edition)

Bloggers I like react to Leonard Nimoy's passing:

:: I met him one night at an event at the New School. He was there with director Stanley Donen. It was just a quick “Hi, how are you” kind of introduction, but he was one of those celebrities where it was impossible to believe that it was actually him, there in the flesh. His face, as Spock, with the ears and the eyebrows and the hair, is so much a part of our culture that seeing him outside of it, as just a regular elderly guy in a suit, laughing with Donen, that face, that look, is so distinct that it floated around in my head as I looked at the real-life guy. I thought, “Now THAT’S the role of a lifetime, if it’s an after-image forevermore.” And he handled it beautifully.

:: I imagine it’s a strange thing to be a famous actor, anyway. People love and admire you for your having impressed yourself on their imaginations as various someones who are not you. Must be stranger still to be famous for one particular not you.

:: I have all of Nimoy's albums, and while I don't share his assessment, I do think that as a singer he's a terrific actor. I don't think they're embarrassing, but they can be very earnest and Nimoy's vocal range almost doesn't exist.

:: This quote I found on Daily Kos is true: “We lost the man who played the first ‘cool’ science nerd… Maybe that’s why his death is having a bigger impact on many of us than we would have thought, until now.” As his last tweet read: “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.”

:: Not much of an anecdote, I know, but it's all I've got. I really didn't know the man but if that's what he was always like, I wish I had. (This is a great anecdote.)

:: To be honest, I think I felt more grief yesterday than I did when I lost my real grandfathers, neither of whom I was close with. But Leonard… ah, Leonard I felt like I gotten to know, and I liked him. It’s not the loss of “Spock” I’ve been mourning. It’s the kind, good-humored old Jewish man with the quick smile and the big laugh and the unmistakable voice, the lively wit and strong sense of social justice, the celebrity who seemed genuinely concerned for his fans when he urged them to learn from his example and stay away from cigarettes.… (Jason has to outlive me so he can write my obit. That might be inconvenient for him, as I plan to live to the age of 137, but them's the breaks.)

2 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

From the Facebook of Bob Eggleton

Interesting Leonard Nimoy story. He recalled when he was making INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS in 1978, he and the cast stayed at what was apparently a tad of a dive of a motel/hotel. He came in one night to find all his clothing -BUT no money or his wallet-missing. He called the police. He then received a strange phone call in which the caller told him he was *wearing* all of his stolen clothing. Nimoy said "I would like my clothing back please and I shall not press charges" and the caller told him not to worry that it would be returned in the morning. Sure enough there was a bag at his door with all of his missing clothing, cleaned, and neatly ironed and folded. He said it was the single weirdest thing that ever happened to him...

Jason said...

Hey, I can do 140, no problem! ;)