Entertainment

Leonard Nimoy wasn’t speaking to William Shatner when he died

When Leonard Nimoy died, he hadn’t spoken to William Shatner in five years. Nimoy shut him out after Shatner filmed him without permission for a documentary he was making about the captains of the Starship Enterprise.

“I thought he was kidding;” Shatner writes in his new book, “Leonard.” “It was such a small thing.”

Which shows you that even though Shatner says he considered Nimoy his best friend, and that the two are forever linked as cultural icons Captain Kirk and first officer Mr. Spock of “Star Trek,” their relationship wasn’t always smooth. (It should be noted, too, that five years of radio silence didn’t stop Shatner from writing a book — where his name is almost as big as Nimoy’s on the cover).

Nimoy and Shatner first met working together on a 1964 episode of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” The following year, Nimoy was cast in the pilot of a new show created by Gene Roddenberry. A sci-fi epic set 300 years in the future, the concept was a long shot. The pilot was the most expensive ever produced. And the network hated it.

Given a second chance, Roddenberry replaced the entire cast except for Nimoy. Shatner told Roddenberry that he liked the original pilot but it seemed like everyone in it was taking themselves too seriously. “About the only person who smiled in the whole episode was Spock,” he told Roddenberry. The producer agreed and gave Shatner the role.

Mr. Spock was a half-alien, half-human hybrid with straight eyebrows and pointed ears. Before casting him, Roddenberry had requested actors who looked like Lincoln. For his portrayal, Nimoy was inspired by Michael Rennie’s performance in the 1951 film, “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” a calm, rational alien who arrives to warn Earth against creating an atomic age. Meanwhile, Spock’s minimal movements were inspired by a Harry Belafonte concert Nimoy had attended where the singer had remained motionless for 10 full minutes. When Bellafonte simply raised his hand in the air, the crowd exploded. “It was gigantic,” Nimoy reportedly said, “because it came from a very minimal place.”

Shatner and Nimoy in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”Paramount

Nimoy’s principal goal was to create a character with a great internal struggle. He was caught between two different worlds and two distinct sides of himself, one that was alien and rational, and one that was emotional and human. “Spock wasn’t simply an alien — he was alienated,” writes Shatner.

But then Shatner noticed something that disturbed him — Spock got the most fan mail. “I hadn’t expected it, and I wasn’t especially thrilled about it,” he admits.

Nimoy was the most recognized “Trek” actor. One day on set, he and Nimoy were sitting at a table when two large hands landed on Nimoy’s shoulders. A familiar voice said, “I recognize you. You had your ears fixed!” It was John Wayne.

The relationship grew even more contentious as Shatner played little pranks on his co-workers, including Nimoy. At one time, Shatner started hiding Nimoy’s bicycle. The bicycle had been Nimoy’s best bet to get to the cafeteria in time to eat and get back to set during their short breaks. Shatner, who was a runner, didn’t like that with the bike, Nimoy could beat him. So one day he hid the bike in the rafters, and another in his trailer. Finally, on the last day, Nimoy drove his Buick onto the set and locked the bike inside it.

But soon Shatner began seeing himself side-by-side with Nimoy, in arms against the producers. Neither of their contracts offered them residuals from the show, nor did they have any control over the commercial use of their images. When Nimoy discovered that Spock was being used to sell Heineken beer in England, he took the producers to court.

Nimoy and Shatner at a Paramount Studio press conference about the new “Star Trek” movie in Los Angeles in 1978.AP

On one occasion, Nimoy was offered $2,000 to appear as Spock at an event. He asked to leave the set early to make a 6 p.m. flight. However, Roddenberry had started his own licensing company and wanted a cut. When Nimoy explained that he was already paying an agent 10 percent for the gig, Roddenberry asked for 20. Again Nimoy refused. That’s when Roddenberry threatened, “The difference between your agent and me is that your agent can’t get you out of here at 5 o’clock and I can.”

Nimoy left for his flight in spite of Roddenberry’s protests. Shatner was impressed. It cemented what he describes as the first seeds of a growing friendship between the two men. Soon they began negotiating every part of their “Star Trek” contracts together. What Nimoy got, Shatner got, and vice versa.

It was on the convention circuit that the two became closer, and Nimoy was there for Shatner through personal tragedy.

Nimoy, who had joined AA because of a drinking problem, tried to counsel Shatner’s wife Nerine Kidd, who had been arrested for drunk driving. Kidd didn’t listen, however, and later drowned in the family pool. Nimoy was there for support. “I got it from my children and from the people around me, especially Leonard,” Shatner writes.

Nimoy and Shatner at a book signing in 2002.Bauer-Griffin

With a twinge of loneliness, Shatner notes that an actor’s life means he gets close to people while working with them, but afterward they drift away. “Actors’ friendships are like that. They tend to be deep and temporary,” he writes. “Every series, every movie or play I’ve done, they were all my good friends, and I never saw them again.”

The exception, he says, was Nimoy.

“Honestly until Leonard and I developed our relationship . . . I never had a real friend; I didn’t even know what a friend was.”

Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man,” by William Shatner with David Fisher, Thomas Dunne Books