Leonard Nimoy.

Actor who played Spock in Star Trek.

Born: March 26, 1931;

Died: Feb 27 2015

Leonard Nimoy, who has died aged 83, was an actor, producer and director who played one of the most iconic characters in film and television history: the half-human, half-Vulcan scientist Spock in Star Trek. The character, famous for his struggle to be logical rather than emotional, appeared in every episode of the original television series in the 1960s alongside William Shatner as Captain Kirk as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation with Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard, and eight of the spin-off films.

He also directed two of them including one of the best in the series: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in which the crew of the Enterprise have to rescue two whales as a means of saving Earth.

By the time Nimoy came to direct that film in 1986, he was comfortable with the character of Spock and the fame it brought him, but it was not always so. His first volume of memoirs in 1975 was called I Am Not Spock and was an attempt, as he saw it, to break away from the Vulcan and be taken more seriously in other roles. Twenty years later, the title of his second volume of memoirs was an indication that he had changed his mind and finally embraced the character: the book was called I Am Spock.

The truth was the success as Spock which Nimoy once saw as a trap almost never happened. He first appeared as the character in the pilot Star Trek episode The Cage but Desilu Productions only wanted to commission a series if Spock was dropped, as they thought the pointy-eared character was too satanic and weird. In the end, the creator of the show, Gene Roddenberry, insisted on keeping him and, with a little softening of the make-up and special effects, he went on to appear in the series.

Some of the character's characteristics and habits that would become so famous were inspired by Nimoy's own life story and beliefs. Spock's preference for non-violence, for example, came from Nimoy, who created the character's famous Vulcan grip which could render enemies unconscious without the need for a gun or other weapon . Spock's V-shaped hand gesture, usually accompanied by the words "live long and prosper", was also dreamed up by Nimoy, who remembered preachers using the gesture in synagogues when he was a child.

Nimoy's Jewish heritage was only part of his identity though. He was also part Italian and part Irish and grew up in an immigrant neighbourhood in Boston. His father Max was an Orthodox Jewish immigrant from Ukraine who worked in Boston as a barber.

Although Nimoy had his first experience as an actor when he was just eight years old, appearing in a production of Hansel and Gretel in a local theatre, his parents were not pleased when he announced that he wanted to be an actor. "They were old school immigrant people - they wanted their kid to be a professional," said Nimoy in his memoirs. "They said to me we'll pay for your college but not for acting."

Nimoy was not for changing his mind though and, after selling vacuum cleaners and raising $100 for a train ticket, he went to California to pursue his acting ambitions, winning a place at an acting school in Pasadena. While trying to win small acting parts, he had to take other jobs, including driving a taxi for a time. He drove a taxi at night and attended auditions during the day and lived that way for several years.

By the late 1950s, he started to realise that acting was changing and that Marlon Brando and others were doing a new style of work. Nimoy wanted to be part of it and began to study under Jeff Corey, the celebrated acting teacher. Nimoy always credited Corey with changing his acting style and teaching him how to get to the interior life of a character.

He started to work steadily in television, mainly playing bad guys in shows such as Bonanza, Wagon Train, Dragnet, Perry Mason and The Man From U.N.C.L.E, before landing the job on the Star Trek pilot in 1965.

Although the producers at Desilu thought the show had potential, they had reservations about its lack of action as well as the character of Spock. The look of the Vulcan was softened and the main lead was recast, with William Shatner playing a captain who was always ready to punch, or smooch, his way to a happy ending.

A year after the pilot was made, the series proper began filming with Nimoy as one of the leads, although it took him a few episodes before he got to grips with the character and understood his logical outlook on life. Once he did, he was a big hit and, much to the chagrin of Shatner, began to receive the most fanmail of the show.

One of the most memorable episodes to feature Spock prominently was Amok Time, which tells the story of his return to his home planet to take part in a brutal Vulcan mating ritual. It was also the first episode to feature the Vulcan hand salute.

Although the series was reasonably successful on its first run, and had a cult following through its three series from 1966-69, it was not until it was widely repeated in the 1970s that it became a television phenomenon. Nimoy himself was glad to see it finish, as he had become unhappy with the quality of the scripts in the third series, but by the late 1970s there was a clamour for more, and after the success of Star Wars, calls for a movie version of the series.

It finally happened in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which led to many more movies, including seven more featuring Nimoy as Spock. When the series was refreshed in 2009, with Chris Pine leading a much younger cast, Nimoy appeared again as Spock, making him the only Star Trek actor whose appearances stretch from the pilot to the reboot movies: a span of more than 50 years.

Among Nimoy's work away from Star Trek, his most prominent role was as Paris in two seasons of the 1960s espionage drama Mission: Impossible. Paris was a master of disguise and usually appeared in a different guise each week, but after two years, Nimoy was bored and moved on.

He also found success as a director. He directed two of the Star Trek movies: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and found that he had a talent for directing comedy. In 1987, he directed Three Men and a Baby, the comedy starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson.

He retired from screen acting in 2010 and during his retirement continued to pursue his interest in photography. He also continued to do voice work and can be heard in a cameo role in the comedy The Big Bang Theory when Sheldon starts to hear his toy Spock talk to him. He also won acclaim for a number of stage roles, most notably in Fiddler on the Roof. He also played Sherlock Holmes on stage.

In 2014, he revealed that he was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and called on his fans to give up smoking. "I quit smoking 30 years ago," he said. "Not soon enough."

Besides his wife, he is survived by his children, Adam and Julie Nimoy; a stepson, Aaron Bay Schuck; and six grandchildren; one great-grandchild, and an older brother, Melvin.