Early this morning, multi-talented actor, director, singer, photographer, and poet Leonard Nimoy died in Los Angeles after a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 83.
Nimoy was best known as Spock—the half-human half-Vulcan first officer of the starship Enterprise on Star Trek—a role that garnered him an immense amount of fame, notoriety, and an incredibly devoted fan base. Beyond the role, which made such an impact on his life that he named his two biographies after it (1975’s I Am Not Spock and 1995’s I Am Spock), Nimoy was a celebrated director whose works included two of the Star Trek films (III and IV), and 1987’s Three Men and a Baby.
Last year, the actor revealed that he had COPD due to a smoking habit that he kicked thirty years ago. He strongly urged the world to quit smoking, via his Twitter, not long after. On Sunday, Nimoy posted his last tweet, a touching sentiment about a life full of wonderful memories. As always, he signed it with the Vulcan salute, “live long and prosper,” or LLAP for short.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015
Live long and prosper, Mr. Nimoy.
