Initially, Filmation was only going to use the voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Majel Barrett.

An adaptation of the song, named " Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth ", was written by Charles Randolph Grean, Fred Hertz and Leonard Nimoy ( Nimoy recites the text as Spock explaining how the star-people wish upon an earth and so forth ).

A very abridged spoken word reading of " There Will Come Soft Rains " and " Usher II " was made in 1975 with Leonard Nimoy as narrator.

For example, " The Great Paris " ( Leonard Nimoy ), Hand's replacement in the fourth and fifth seasons, was also an actor, make-up artist, magician and " master of disguise.

The neck pinch itself ( referred to in scripts as ' FSNP ', or ' Famous Spock Neck Pinch ') was created by Leonard Nimoy, who objected to a scene in one early episode that required Spock to knock a guard unconscious by hitting him over the head.

Nimoy thought that such overt violence was uncharacteristic of the strictly-logical Spock, and suggested the neck pinch as a less-emotional alternative.

Reportedly, Leonard Nimoy was asked to wear it and refused, so it was passed on to Shatner ; when he also refused, Nimoy reluctantly agreed to wear it.

Leonard Nimoy felt that the act was too reminiscent of a TV western ( some accounts say that he objected to a pacifistic Vulcan taking such overtly hostile action ), and thus introduced the famous non-lethal maneuver.

Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the West End, to Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Soviet Union ( now Ukraine ).

His mother, Dora Nimoy ( née Spinner ), was a homemaker.

Their characters were from opposite sides of the Iron Curtain, though with his saturnine looks, Nimoy was predictably the villain, with Shatner playing a reluctant U. N. C. L. E.

Following Star Trek in 1969, Nimoy immediately joined the cast of the spy series Mission: Impossible, which was seeking a replacement for Martin Landau.

Nimoy was cast in the role of Paris, an IMF agent who was an ex-magician and make-up expert ' The Great Paris '.

When a new Star Trek series was planned in the late 1970s, Nimoy was to be in only two out of eleven episodes, but when the show was elevated to a feature film, he agreed to reprise his role.

Nimoy was featured as the voice-over narrator for the CBS paranormal series Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories in 1991.

In an interview published on the official Star Trek website, Nimoy said that Alien Voices was discontinued because the series didn't sell well enough to recoup costs.

Nimoy was given casting approval over who would play the young Spock in the newest film.

Spock's death was intended to be irrevocable, but Nimoy had such a positive experience during filming that he asked if he could find a way for Spock to return in a later film.

After directing The Search for Spock, cast member Leonard Nimoy was asked to direct the next feature, and given greater freedom regarding the film's content.

Before The Search for Spock was released, its director Leonard Nimoy was asked to return to direct the next film in the franchise.

Nimoy and the other producers were unhappy with Mangini's attempts to create the probe's droning operating noise ; after 18 attempts, the sound designer finally asked Nimoy what he thought the probe should sound like, and recorded Nimoy's response.

Mancuso asked Leonard Nimoy to conceive the new film to serve as a swan song for the original cast.

When asked by Paramount Pictures if he wanted to reprise the role for the third feature, Nimoy agreed and told them, " You're damned right, I want to direct that picture!

He asked if I would come and bring Nimoy and Justman and you.

Nimoy has long been active in the Jewish community, and he can speak and read Yiddish.

* Heinlein revealed in the liner notes to the Leonard Nimoy – read album The Green Hills of Earth that he partially based Rhysling's unique abilities on a blind machinist he worked with at the Philadelphia Naval Yards during World War II.

Wyatt commented that although she generally disliked working with actors who were directing, she found Nimoy an exception because he could concentrate on being part of the cast as well as setting up the crew.

Nimoy and Murphy acknowledged his part would attract non-Star Trek fans to the franchise following the rising popularity of Murphy, but it also meant the film might be ridiculed.

" On learning about the scene, Kirk Thatcher, an associate producer on the film, convinced Nimoy to let him play the role ; Thatcher shaved his hair into a mohawk and bought clothes to complete the part.

On the contrary, Nimoy explains in this book that Spock has always been a part of him.

Leonard Nimoy ( Star Trek's Mr. Spock ) claims this story was part of the inspiration behind Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Berry's second and final year was as a part of the Special Services Corp., under the command of Sergeant Leonard Nimoy, who would go on to become a legend himself as Star Treks Mr. Spock.

The video for " Going Down to Liverpool " features Leonard Nimoy, who plays the part of the band's chauffeur.

The narration is voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the English-language version.

For Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ( 1984 ) director Leonard Nimoy and writer-producer Harve Bennett wanted the Klingons to speak a proper language instead of made-up gibberish and so commissioned Okrand to develop the phrases Doohan had come up with into a full language.

The record received good reviews, and the video for " Liverpool " featured Leonard Nimoy, which helped to generate further publicity.

As reported by editor Ruth Berman ( issue # 1, Inside Star Trek, July 1968, pp. 15 – 16 ), " ardent rock hound and amateur lapidary " Roddenberry came up with the Vulcan philosophy after he presented Leonard Nimoy with a unique " hand-crafted piece of jewelry ," a " pendent " ( sic ) of polished yellow gold ( circle ) and florentined white gold ( triangle ), with a stone of brilliant white fabulite — an artificial gem " developed by the laser industry and used in space mechanisms for its optical qualities ," and thus well-suited as a gift for an actor in a science fiction show.

) On numerous occasions, for example in the 1983 TV special Star Trek Memories ( which is often syndicated along with The Original Series ), Nimoy recounts how as a child, he peeked during the blessing and witnessed the gesture, although the congregation are supposed to put hands over eyes or turn away at this moment in acknowledgement of the presence of the Almighty.

After the original Star Trek series, Nimoy starred in Mission: Impossible for two seasons, hosted the documentary series In Search of ..., and narrated Civilization IV, as well as making several well-received stage appearances.

Nimoy earned three Emmy nominations for his work on the iconic program that has defined American television science fiction, both for fans of science fiction, and beyond.

Nimoy appeared in various made for television films such as Assault on the Wayne ( 1970 ), Baffled ( 1972 ), The Alpha Caper ( 1973 ), The Missing Are Deadly ( 1974 ), Seizure: The Story Of Kathy Morris ( 1980 ), and Marco Polo ( 1982 ).

During this time, Nimoy also won acclaim for a series of stage roles.

In 1991, Nimoy teamed up with Robert B. Radnitz to produce a movie for TNT about a pro bono publico lawsuit brought by public interest attorney William John Cox on behalf of Mel Mermelstein, an Auschwitz survivor, against a group of organizations engaged in Holocaust denial.

Nimoy provided a comprehensive series of voiceovers for the 2005 computer game Civilization IV.

Nimoy returned as Dr. Bell in the autumn for an extended arc, and according to Roberto Orci, co-creator of Fringe, Bell will be " the beginning of the answers to even bigger questions.

Nimoy is also a frequent and popular reader for " Selected Shorts ", an ongoing series of programs at Symphony Space in New York City ( that also tours around the country ) which features actors, and sometimes authors, reading works of short fiction.

Nimoy has also provided voiceovers for the Star Trek Online massively multiplayer online game, released in February 2010, as well as Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as Master Xehanort, the series ' leading villain.

Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Birth by Sleep, stated that he chose Nimoy for the role specifically because of his role as Spock.

Nimoy also appears in the alternate music video for the song " Lazy Song " by pop artist Bruno Mars.

The Space Foundation named Nimoy as the recipient of the 2010 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award for creating a positive role model that inspired untold numbers of viewers to learn more about the universe.

However, the process of ungluing the ears was painful for Nimoy, and meant that he had to come in an hour and a half early before filming, and stay behind for a half hour each day after filming, to apply and remove the glued pieces.

In 1977, actor Leonard Nimoy recorded a dramatic reading of the story as the title track of an album for Caedmon Records.