October 16, 2025 • 16 mins
George Noory and author Adam Nimoy discuss growing up as the son of actor Leonard Nimoy, best known as Mr. Spock on Star Trek, how he was able to reconcile with his father after a strained relationship as a child, and how Nimoy grew into the role of Spock and brought his own personality to the character.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast Am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
George Nori with you, Adam Nimoy with us as we
talk about the life of Adam and his father. Adam
did did your father ever talk about his days as
a cab driver in the time he picked up John F. Kennedy.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that was one of a big
moment in his life, made a big impact on him.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
He uh, he picked up I think.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
The the uh, the fair was to pick him up
at the Beller Hotel and take him to the Beverly
Hilton for some kind of uh uh meeting, a Democratic meeting.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Uh and uh en route uh you know he uh.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
He told Kennedy that he was from Massachusetts. I mean
this was you know, Senator Kennedy at the time, and
not many people knew who he was and uh and
uh and Kennedy's commented on the fact that there was
that their businesses were very much the same, politics and acting.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, my dad told him me he was aspiring
to become an actor. That was what his dream was.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And and Kennedy told him, there's you know, it's very competitive.
I'm sure it's very competitive, but there's always room for one,
one more good one, he said, And that was a
big inspiration. My dad had been an inspiration to a
lot of people. You know that. That's my dad's hold credo.
You have to have passion about what you love to
do and want to do, and not worry about the
(01:25):
odds against it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
My dad came to LA you know, the odds were.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Against him tremendously. He came to LA with nothing, no connections.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
He brought with him a Boston accent. That was about it.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
He had no money and no prospects, but there was
you know, he was undeterred through those seventeen years, really
from forty nine to nineteen sixty six. He arrived in
LA in nineteen forty nine. But he never gave up
on his dream and his passion.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I heard he was a pretty good singer.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Well that's you know, that's a matter of debate, George,
and in the ear of the beholder and from my
you know, in my mind, there's look, there's a lot
of his music I love. I mean, I still play
his stuff regularly in the car when I'm driving around.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
There's some stuff he did. I think that was really terrific.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
There's some stuff that, you know, really should have just
stayed on the on the Rhino Records Golden Throats album
and left it at that. I mean, there were some
things that were you know, a little bit questionable, I would.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Say, But he actually had a very good singing voice.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
He was in a number of musicals, you know, productions
in theater throughout the nineteen seventies, beginning with Fiddler on
the Roof summer of seventy one, and he was absolutely fabulous.
I mean he could sing and he could hold you know,
the show, and he was in Camelot.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And in Oliver.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I mean, he was a number of musicals, so he
could sing sometimes better than others.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And I'll always.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Remember him In search Of because I love that show
and it's like our radio program.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well exactly In search Of was something that was of
great interest to him, and it was a real godsend
because you have to understand Georgia in the nineteen seventies,
nobody from Star Trek was making any money. All the
residuals had run out, and even though the show was
in syndication five days a week, it was you know,
paramount that was making the money, but no actors were
(03:27):
being paid, and Gean Roddenberry certainly wasn't being paid.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So the fact that In Search Of was.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
There and was really kind of like sustained us during
this period of the nineteen seventies, enabling my.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Father to do the theater work he wanted.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
It doesn't theater does not pay, but it's very creatively
challenging and satisfying, and my dad really loved that career.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
But it was In Search Of that really helped pay
the bills during that period.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You came up with a documentary called For the Love
of Spock. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Well, I came up with the id, you know, my
dad and I in twenty thirteen. My dad and I
were doing very well together. We had a very good relationship,
and I just felt it was time that we maybe
go back to Boston and make a little documentary about
his life growing up there. And we did it and
had such a good experience that in twenty fourteen I
(04:21):
approached him aout the idea of making a spot documentary
to kind of celebrate the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Star.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Trek, the original series, which would be in twenty.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Sixteen at that point, and he jumped at the chance
of working together on the documentary and was very interested
and was doing the research with me, and we were
developing this project together. And you know, this is in
the end of twenty fourteen. He reminded me that we
were already at the fifty year mark from the date
(04:51):
of the first pilot of Star Trek, which was December
November December of nineteen sixty four. So this project was
moving along quite nicely. And then suddenly my father passed
away in February of twenty fifteen. But the show must
go on, and I think my dad really would have
wanted me to continue on with the project, and so,
(05:15):
working in collaboration with a number of other people, we
just we kept putting things together and celebrating the life
not only of mister Spock, but because of the passing.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Of my dad, the life of Leonard Nimoy as well.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Your dad was eighty three when he died, almost eighty four.
What finally succumbed him?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well, he was a cigarette smoker, George, for thirty years,
That's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You know, he dodged the cancer bullet. He was very lucky,
but he.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD, and was just flat
out out of breath. He just could not breathe in
the end, without oxygen assistance and a lot of you know,
medical therapy which he finally just had given up on
and decided he was done.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
He was you know, he was at the hospital under.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Doctor's care, and they sent him home and he you know,
immediately slipped into a coma and was gone a couple
of days, a day later. Really happened very quickly. It
was very It was shocking, really, but yeah, COPD, it's
a killer.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
While you were doing the documentary, Adam with him, did
it give you any new revelations about your relationship?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Mean it was it was another kind of episode in
the reconciliation and the and the camaraderie that we really
experienced and enjoyed. Uh we you know, it was going
to be another way to bring us closer together, to celebrate.
You know, the point was we were really celebrating my
(06:48):
dad in his career. And it's so it was so
satisfying for him because he was able to look back
and see the incredible trajectory that he had experienced in
his professional career. It was satisfying for me because I'm
honoring him, you know. So it was just it was
a labor of love for both of us, and we
I learned more and more about you know, digging deeper
(07:09):
about the spot Charecter. I didn't know that Charles Shram
is the guy who really invented the ears. Now, Charles
Shram was a makeup artist at MGM and worked on
Wizard of Oz. So, uh, you know, these little factoids
were things that kept coming out.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
That my dad was remembering and sharing with me.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
What did your dad think of the ears?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Well, at first, you know, the ears were a struggle
because Geene Roddenberry wanted them, but they were having difficulty
in creating them. They had they were working with a
with a you know, a kind of make up a
special effects house that could make big monster alien makeup.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
They were very good at dad, but but the the
ears were much more challenging.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
They're very it's very refined, it's a very it's if
to have a real craftsmanship to create something that looks authentic,
like it's really a part of the person's body. And
he talked about this a lot in the documentary. And
that's why Fred Phillips, who's his makeup was Dad's makeup artist,
is is the guy who decided at the very last
minute to run over to Shram and MGM and have him.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Create the prototypes.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
And it happened very quickly, and that is what they
used for.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The rest of the series.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Now, you know, they were going to give up because
they couldn't really create something that was believable, and it
was Gene Roddenberry according to my father, who insisted that
he make it happen.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
It was a critical part of the character.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And we're forever grateful that he you know, he stuck
to his guns on that one.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Adam, was there a revelation doing the documentary that you
did not know about before?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
H Yeah, I mean there were, Look, there were a
number of things that came up about a little bit
about the behind the scenes stuff, and you know, one
of the things I really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
For example, one example was This Side of Paradise.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It was a love story between Spock and I allowed
played beautifully by Jill Ireland. And this was happened in
the first season and my dad told me, I didn't
really understand this, but he said he was really worried
about doing a Spock love story because the first time
they were going to let the character loose and to
show more emotion when he was just getting really comfortable
(09:20):
with the kind of restrained part of Spock and the
and the struggle to control his emotions. So he was
worried about He was really, you know, kind of on
a roll with that, and he was worried about losing
that with this new episode that was going to allow
Spot to express more of his human side.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So that was really interesting.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
But it was a milestone and one of my favorite
episodes of all time because we can really see, you know,
the human side of Spock, the struggle that.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Spock is going through that we're all going through.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
This is why people relate and resonate, you know, Spock
resonates with them. So that was an interesting one of
many many interesting revelations.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
When he went out, did people recognize him more as
doctor Spock or Leonard Nimoy?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Well, Uh, doctor Spock is is the Benjamin Spock is
a baby doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
They recognized him definitely as Spock, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When he was confusing him with the character, I mean,
he was trying to make the point that uh, you know,
a letter was not you know.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
From Vulcan, he was from Boston.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
People just really were confused about who they were talking
to when they were talking to the actors. So you know,
look Spot, you know, people always I would be walking
with him in public and people would just be amazed
about the fact that that, you know, Spock was walking
down the street. I always loved that experience because you know,
(10:43):
it's it's like you never forget a moment like that
when you bump into something. I still have these kind
of memories of bumping into celebrities. And he was very
satisfying to be with him, and the way he interacted
with the fans.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But it was definitely Spock that they were relating to,
and he was Jewish. Ukrainian was yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
My grandparents were refugees or you know, they immigrated from
Ukraine because of violence against Jews, and they left in
the nineteen twenties, ended up in Boston there with some
relatives in New York who had already left beforehand.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And there was from a small town a Stadle we called.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
A village in the middle of Ukraine between Kiev, the capitol,
and Leviv on the very Western border and they were
able to escape. You know, my grandfather had to go
to my dad's father before they got married. My dad
his father had to go to Argentina for a year.
He couldn't get a visa into the country. But my
(11:40):
dad's grandfather was already in Boston. He was a leather
worker and sent money back for my dad's mom and
her brothers to come to America.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
That was fascinating. What do you think he'd be saying
about the Russian Ukraine War right now, Adam.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Well, he's my dad was you know, would stand with Ukraine,
no doubt about it. I mean, was he still considered it,
you know, his homeland.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And in fact, he was invited.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
To screen Star Trek four The Voyage Home, which he
directed in Moscow in the I think it was the
late probably the late eighties, maybe early nineteen nineties, and
he asked as a condition to going if he could
go visit the town that his parents came from and
visited some relatives who were still there.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So he was very connected to That's.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
The thing about my dad that I really admired is
that he was very connected to his tradition of being
you know, Jewish and of his roots where he came from,
and his affinity for the relatives who were still there
in Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Adam, what was the moment that it really started to
click for you in your relationship with your father, that
you figured that this is starting to work.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Well?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Really happened finally when my wife was sick and I
was calling my dad for help because you.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Know, I didn't know who to turn to. I needed
to talk to somebody, and he was available, you know,
and was at all hours. My dad was on the
phone with me.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
And that was the critical point where I realized we
really had come full circle and and and you know,
we would nothing would ever be the same again.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We would never go back to the relationship we have before.
That it was going to be. You know, I was
determined that was going to be strong bond between us
and loving bond. I George, you have to understand.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I just didn't want to have any regrets, you know,
and I didn't care about stuff that happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
He was willing to let go as well.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
And I needed help, you know, I really really it's
very tough on the caregiver when you, you know, when
your spouse is sick with cancer, and it was very challenging.
Just it was just devastating to lose Martha. But my dad,
you know, really wanted to step up for me, and
that's when I realized that we were going to you know,
(14:00):
it was going to be a strong bond.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Between us for the rest of our lives. That's great.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Did you ever see him cry at him?
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yeah, I've seen him have a couple of breakdowns, definitely.
You know, he got emotional a couple of times with me,
you know, that's for sure. Yeah, there was a couple
of times where he was willing to show that that
side of himself where he was really struggling. But mostly,
you know, my dad was very difficult to relate to
(14:31):
during my years growing up. He was very reserved, very introspective,
and very restracted, much like Spock. George, you have to
understand that my dad, you know, there's a lot of
Leonard and Spock, and a lot of Spock in Leonard,
and he was not very good at at showing.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
His more vulnerable side.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Let me say that, what would you want the world
to think of your father with the legacy of Spock.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Well, that it's okay to be different, you know, and
that you know, this is the whole point of And
when I was making the documentary, this is what people
were saying to me. All the fans were saying pretty
much the same thing. They loved Spock because Spock was different.
And this is the whole point of my dad's journey
as Spock. You have to understand that my dad was
(15:13):
very much the outsider. All he saw himself that way
when he was growing up in Boston. Boston, you know,
the West End was an immigrant bubble of Italians and
Irish and Russian Jews, and my dad, you know, was
wanted to be assimilated in society, was not, you know,
a part of what was going on in American culture.
That's why you knew he had to leave Boston at
(15:35):
the age of eighteen. He left in nineteen forty nine,
so he, you know, very much so trying to integrate
himself in American society. That is Spot's story. He's the
only alien on the bridge.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
In the enterprise, there's.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
It's multinational, multi ethnic, multiracial, but only one alien on
the bridge and that Spock. And his whole objective was
to try to give the best that he could as
an outsider. And and you know, integrate himself and connect
with his community.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Well where a lot of us are like that and
that and that.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Just gave heart to a lot of people. I think
that is the legacy of mister Spock, is.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
That it's okay to be an outsider.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
You don't have to be popular or successful to have
a meaningful life and you and it's okay to be different.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And that's the critical I think that's the critical message.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam
dot com for more
Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast Am on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
And welcome back to Coast to Coast.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
George Nori with you, Adam Nimoy with us as we
talk about the life of Adam and his father. Adam
did did your father ever talk about his days as
a cab driver in the time he picked up John F. Kennedy.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that was one of a big
moment in his life, made a big impact on him.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
He uh, he picked up I think.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
The the uh, the fair was to pick him up
at the Beller Hotel and take him to the Beverly
Hilton for some kind of uh uh meeting, a Democratic meeting.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Uh and uh en route uh you know he uh.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
He told Kennedy that he was from Massachusetts. I mean
this was you know, Senator Kennedy at the time, and
not many people knew who he was and uh and
uh and Kennedy's commented on the fact that there was
that their businesses were very much the same, politics and acting.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, my dad told him me he was aspiring
to become an actor. That was what his dream was.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And and Kennedy told him, there's you know, it's very competitive.
I'm sure it's very competitive, but there's always room for one,
one more good one, he said, And that was a
big inspiration. My dad had been an inspiration to a
lot of people. You know that. That's my dad's hold credo.
You have to have passion about what you love to
do and want to do, and not worry about the
(01:25):
odds against it.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
My dad came to LA you know, the odds were.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Against him tremendously. He came to LA with nothing, no connections.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
He brought with him a Boston accent. That was about it.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
He had no money and no prospects, but there was
you know, he was undeterred through those seventeen years, really
from forty nine to nineteen sixty six. He arrived in
LA in nineteen forty nine. But he never gave up
on his dream and his passion.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I heard he was a pretty good singer.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Well that's you know, that's a matter of debate, George,
and in the ear of the beholder and from my
you know, in my mind, there's look, there's a lot
of his music I love. I mean, I still play
his stuff regularly in the car when I'm driving around.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
There's some stuff he did. I think that was really terrific.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
There's some stuff that, you know, really should have just
stayed on the on the Rhino Records Golden Throats album
and left it at that. I mean, there were some
things that were you know, a little bit questionable, I would.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Say, But he actually had a very good singing voice.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
He was in a number of musicals, you know, productions
in theater throughout the nineteen seventies, beginning with Fiddler on
the Roof summer of seventy one, and he was absolutely fabulous.
I mean he could sing and he could hold you know,
the show, and he was in Camelot.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
And in Oliver.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I mean, he was a number of musicals, so he
could sing sometimes better than others.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And I'll always.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Remember him In search Of because I love that show
and it's like our radio program.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Well exactly In search Of was something that was of
great interest to him, and it was a real godsend
because you have to understand Georgia in the nineteen seventies,
nobody from Star Trek was making any money. All the
residuals had run out, and even though the show was
in syndication five days a week, it was you know,
paramount that was making the money, but no actors were
(03:27):
being paid, and Gean Roddenberry certainly wasn't being paid.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So the fact that In Search Of was.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
There and was really kind of like sustained us during
this period of the nineteen seventies, enabling my.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Father to do the theater work he wanted.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
It doesn't theater does not pay, but it's very creatively
challenging and satisfying, and my dad really loved that career.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
But it was In Search Of that really helped pay
the bills during that period.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
You came up with a documentary called For the Love
of Spock. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Well, I came up with the id, you know, my
dad and I in twenty thirteen. My dad and I
were doing very well together. We had a very good relationship,
and I just felt it was time that we maybe
go back to Boston and make a little documentary about
his life growing up there. And we did it and
had such a good experience that in twenty fourteen I
(04:21):
approached him aout the idea of making a spot documentary
to kind of celebrate the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of Star.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Trek, the original series, which would be in twenty.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Sixteen at that point, and he jumped at the chance
of working together on the documentary and was very interested
and was doing the research with me, and we were
developing this project together. And you know, this is in
the end of twenty fourteen. He reminded me that we
were already at the fifty year mark from the date
(04:51):
of the first pilot of Star Trek, which was December
November December of nineteen sixty four. So this project was
moving along quite nicely. And then suddenly my father passed
away in February of twenty fifteen. But the show must
go on, and I think my dad really would have
wanted me to continue on with the project, and so,
(05:15):
working in collaboration with a number of other people, we
just we kept putting things together and celebrating the life
not only of mister Spock, but because of the passing.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Of my dad, the life of Leonard Nimoy as well.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Your dad was eighty three when he died, almost eighty four.
What finally succumbed him?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well, he was a cigarette smoker, George, for thirty years,
That's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
You know, he dodged the cancer bullet. He was very lucky,
but he.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD, and was just flat
out out of breath. He just could not breathe in
the end, without oxygen assistance and a lot of you know,
medical therapy which he finally just had given up on
and decided he was done.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
He was you know, he was at the hospital under.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Doctor's care, and they sent him home and he you know,
immediately slipped into a coma and was gone a couple
of days, a day later. Really happened very quickly. It
was very It was shocking, really, but yeah, COPD, it's
a killer.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
While you were doing the documentary, Adam with him, did
it give you any new revelations about your relationship?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well, yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Mean it was it was another kind of episode in
the reconciliation and the and the camaraderie that we really
experienced and enjoyed. Uh we you know, it was going
to be another way to bring us closer together, to celebrate.
You know, the point was we were really celebrating my
(06:48):
dad in his career. And it's so it was so
satisfying for him because he was able to look back
and see the incredible trajectory that he had experienced in
his professional career. It was satisfying for me because I'm
honoring him, you know. So it was just it was
a labor of love for both of us, and we
I learned more and more about you know, digging deeper
(07:09):
about the spot Charecter. I didn't know that Charles Shram
is the guy who really invented the ears. Now, Charles
Shram was a makeup artist at MGM and worked on
Wizard of Oz. So, uh, you know, these little factoids
were things that kept coming out.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
That my dad was remembering and sharing with me.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
What did your dad think of the ears?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Well, at first, you know, the ears were a struggle
because Geene Roddenberry wanted them, but they were having difficulty
in creating them. They had they were working with a
with a you know, a kind of make up a
special effects house that could make big monster alien makeup.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
They were very good at dad, but but the the
ears were much more challenging.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
They're very it's very refined, it's a very it's if
to have a real craftsmanship to create something that looks authentic,
like it's really a part of the person's body. And
he talked about this a lot in the documentary. And
that's why Fred Phillips, who's his makeup was Dad's makeup artist,
is is the guy who decided at the very last
minute to run over to Shram and MGM and have him.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Create the prototypes.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
And it happened very quickly, and that is what they
used for.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
The rest of the series.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Now, you know, they were going to give up because
they couldn't really create something that was believable, and it
was Gene Roddenberry according to my father, who insisted that
he make it happen.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
It was a critical part of the character.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And we're forever grateful that he you know, he stuck
to his guns on that one.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Adam, was there a revelation doing the documentary that you
did not know about before?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
H Yeah, I mean there were, Look, there were a
number of things that came up about a little bit
about the behind the scenes stuff, and you know, one
of the things I really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
For example, one example was This Side of Paradise.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It was a love story between Spock and I allowed
played beautifully by Jill Ireland. And this was happened in
the first season and my dad told me, I didn't
really understand this, but he said he was really worried
about doing a Spock love story because the first time
they were going to let the character loose and to
show more emotion when he was just getting really comfortable
(09:20):
with the kind of restrained part of Spock and the
and the struggle to control his emotions. So he was
worried about He was really, you know, kind of on
a roll with that, and he was worried about losing
that with this new episode that was going to allow
Spot to express more of his human side.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So that was really interesting.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
But it was a milestone and one of my favorite
episodes of all time because we can really see, you know,
the human side of Spock, the struggle that.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Spock is going through that we're all going through.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
This is why people relate and resonate, you know, Spock
resonates with them. So that was an interesting one of
many many interesting revelations.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
When he went out, did people recognize him more as
doctor Spock or Leonard Nimoy?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Well, Uh, doctor Spock is is the Benjamin Spock is
a baby doctor.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
They recognized him definitely as Spock, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
When he was confusing him with the character, I mean,
he was trying to make the point that uh, you know,
a letter was not you know.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
From Vulcan, he was from Boston.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
People just really were confused about who they were talking
to when they were talking to the actors. So you know,
look Spot, you know, people always I would be walking
with him in public and people would just be amazed
about the fact that that, you know, Spock was walking
down the street. I always loved that experience because you know,
(10:43):
it's it's like you never forget a moment like that
when you bump into something. I still have these kind
of memories of bumping into celebrities. And he was very
satisfying to be with him, and the way he interacted
with the fans.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But it was definitely Spock that they were relating to,
and he was Jewish. Ukrainian was yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
My grandparents were refugees or you know, they immigrated from
Ukraine because of violence against Jews, and they left in
the nineteen twenties, ended up in Boston there with some
relatives in New York who had already left beforehand.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And there was from a small town a Stadle we called.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
A village in the middle of Ukraine between Kiev, the capitol,
and Leviv on the very Western border and they were
able to escape. You know, my grandfather had to go
to my dad's father before they got married. My dad
his father had to go to Argentina for a year.
He couldn't get a visa into the country. But my
(11:40):
dad's grandfather was already in Boston. He was a leather
worker and sent money back for my dad's mom and
her brothers to come to America.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
That was fascinating. What do you think he'd be saying
about the Russian Ukraine War right now, Adam.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Well, he's my dad was you know, would stand with Ukraine,
no doubt about it. I mean, was he still considered it,
you know, his homeland.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And in fact, he was invited.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
To screen Star Trek four The Voyage Home, which he
directed in Moscow in the I think it was the
late probably the late eighties, maybe early nineteen nineties, and
he asked as a condition to going if he could
go visit the town that his parents came from and
visited some relatives who were still there.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
So he was very connected to That's.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
The thing about my dad that I really admired is
that he was very connected to his tradition of being
you know, Jewish and of his roots where he came from,
and his affinity for the relatives who were still there
in Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Adam, what was the moment that it really started to
click for you in your relationship with your father, that
you figured that this is starting to work.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Well?
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Really happened finally when my wife was sick and I
was calling my dad for help because you.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Know, I didn't know who to turn to. I needed
to talk to somebody, and he was available, you know,
and was at all hours. My dad was on the
phone with me.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
And that was the critical point where I realized we
really had come full circle and and and you know,
we would nothing would ever be the same again.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
We would never go back to the relationship we have before.
That it was going to be. You know, I was
determined that was going to be strong bond between us
and loving bond. I George, you have to understand.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I just didn't want to have any regrets, you know,
and I didn't care about stuff that happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
He was willing to let go as well.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
And I needed help, you know, I really really it's
very tough on the caregiver when you, you know, when
your spouse is sick with cancer, and it was very challenging.
Just it was just devastating to lose Martha. But my dad,
you know, really wanted to step up for me, and
that's when I realized that we were going to you know,
(14:00):
it was going to be a strong bond.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Between us for the rest of our lives. That's great.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Did you ever see him cry at him?
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Yeah, I've seen him have a couple of breakdowns, definitely.
You know, he got emotional a couple of times with me,
you know, that's for sure. Yeah, there was a couple
of times where he was willing to show that that
side of himself where he was really struggling. But mostly,
you know, my dad was very difficult to relate to
(14:31):
during my years growing up. He was very reserved, very introspective,
and very restracted, much like Spock. George, you have to
understand that my dad, you know, there's a lot of
Leonard and Spock, and a lot of Spock in Leonard,
and he was not very good at at showing.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
His more vulnerable side.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Let me say that, what would you want the world
to think of your father with the legacy of Spock.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Well, that it's okay to be different, you know, and
that you know, this is the whole point of And
when I was making the documentary, this is what people
were saying to me. All the fans were saying pretty
much the same thing. They loved Spock because Spock was different.
And this is the whole point of my dad's journey
as Spock. You have to understand that my dad was
(15:13):
very much the outsider. All he saw himself that way
when he was growing up in Boston. Boston, you know,
the West End was an immigrant bubble of Italians and
Irish and Russian Jews, and my dad, you know, was
wanted to be assimilated in society, was not, you know,
a part of what was going on in American culture.
That's why you knew he had to leave Boston at
(15:35):
the age of eighteen. He left in nineteen forty nine,
so he, you know, very much so trying to integrate
himself in American society. That is Spot's story. He's the
only alien on the bridge.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
In the enterprise, there's.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
It's multinational, multi ethnic, multiracial, but only one alien on
the bridge and that Spock. And his whole objective was
to try to give the best that he could as
an outsider. And and you know, integrate himself and connect
with his community.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Well where a lot of us are like that and
that and that.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Just gave heart to a lot of people. I think
that is the legacy of mister Spock, is.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
That it's okay to be an outsider.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
You don't have to be popular or successful to have
a meaningful life and you and it's okay to be different.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And that's the critical I think that's the critical message.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at
one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam
dot com for more
The Best of Coast to Coast AM News
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