Leonard (31 page)

By our second season Spock had become part of the mainstream culture. Leonard had become a star and new opportunities suddenly were available to him. Here he appears in a 1967 skit on Carol Burnett's top-rated comedy show.

The highly logical Spock immediately resonated with viewers, but his dispassionate nature made it difficult on
Star Trek
's writers who continually searched for ways to force him to confront his human emotions, as in this scene with Jill Ireland in the 1967 episode
This Side of Paradise.

We all believed
Star Trek
was done when we ended production after three seasons. Leonard took a role on the established hit show
Mission: Impossible,
returning to his acting roots to create a different character each week. Pictured here with star Peter Graves, in this episode he is playing a South American dictator.

Both Leonard and I were raised in Orthodox Jewish homes, and Judaism continued to play an important role in his personal and professional life. He appeared in several movies with Jewish themes, including 1982's
A Woman Called Golda
and 1997's
David.
Ingrid Bergman's portrayal of Golda Meir was her final role before her death several months after filming was completed. The legendary actress was honored by being awarded an Emmy as the Outstanding Actress while Leonard was nominated as the Outstanding Supporting Actor for his performance as her husband.

Neither Leonard nor I ever anticipated a singing career, but the success of
Star Trek
made it possible. We both had successful—though critically questionable—singing careers, producing several albums. Here Leonard is performing on
The Dick Clark Show
in 1968.

As an actor, Leonard's real love was live theater and he appeared often on both regional stages and Broadway. He was especially intrigued by the artistic passion of Vincent van Gogh. He wrote and performed the one-person play
Vincent,
which was based on the hundreds of letters written between van Gogh and his brother Theo.

In real life as well as aboard the
Enterprise,
Leonard was never content unless he was exploring a new world. Among his many interests was flying and he became an accomplished pilot. But as with every other thing he did, when he was at the controls he focused completely on the job and didn't like being distracted.

At one point Leonard considered giving up acting to pursue his love of photography. He wasn't interested in shooting pictures of events, but rather using the camera to provoke thought and convey ideas. He had been developing and printing his own work most of his life and eventually his work was featured in books and sold in very well-regarded galleries.

He was an accomplished actor, an admired acting teacher, and a producer of several films and finally became a leading film director. Although he only directed six features, two of them eventually grossed more than $100 million, putting him in an exclusive group. They were the comedy
Three Men and A Baby,
which starred Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg (to his left), which was the top grossing film of 1987, and the 1986
Star Trek: The Voyage Home,
which remained the top grossing
Star Trek
film until J. J. Abrams' 2013
Star Trek Into Darkness
—which cost about six times more to make.