Ear-resistible? Leonard Nimoy told NBC 10 about pointed conversation with 'Star Trek' boss

Jay Kroll was a popular fixture on WJAR-TV from the 1950s, all the way into the late '60s.

One guest on his talk show was a Boston native named Leonard Nimoy. He talked about landing the role on the original "Star Trek" that came to define him.

"Fellow named Gene Roddenberry, who was the producer of a series called 'The Lieutenant' on NBC about three or four years ago, got the idea. I had worked for him on 'The Lieutenant' once, and he said to my agent, 'I have a science fiction show in mind and I'm going to put pointed ears on that guy,'" Nimoy related.

Nimoy wasn't enamored with Spock's ears at first.

"I'm a serious actor. What is this with pointed ears?" he told Kroll.

Nimoy said he went to Roddenberry and asked to ditch the ears.

"I think we've got enough going for us with the haircut and the eyebrows," Nimoy said.

• 75TH ANNIVERSARY: Jay Kroll was noted for celebrity interviews on WJAR-TV

Nimoy said Roddenberry assured him that "those ears are going to be very popular and very famous and they're going to make you popular and famous."

Nimoy said the two made a deal.

"He said, 'I promise you that If you'll do 13 shows with those ears, that at the end of the 13 shows if you're not happy with it, we'll write a script where you get an ear job,'" Nimoy said.

Nimoy went ahead and wore the ears, and the rest is "Star Trek" history.

"At the end of 13 shows, we laughed about it because I wouldn't give them up for anything," Nimoy said.

The pointed ears were popular with fans, but not apparently quite enough in some quarters. At the time of the interview, Nimoy said "Star Trek" was in danger of cancellation.

"Evidently, in the cosmopolitan areas such as this, and the West Coast and Chicago, the show does phenomenally well. But in the Midwest, it hasn't done that well," Nimoy said.

Famously, the original "Star Trek" ran just three seasons, but the franchise has lived long and prospered.