Star Trek's Scotty, James Doohan, Dead At 85

KittyWampus

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Wed Jul-20-05 04:45 PM
Original message

Star Trek's Scotty, James Doohan, Dead At 85

Edited on Wed Jul-20-05 05:04 PM by cryingshame

James Doohan, 'Star Trek's' Scotty, dead at 85

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died early Wednesday. He was 85.

Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) at his Redmond, Washington, home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said.

The Canadian-born Doohan was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven different accents.

"The producers asked me which one I preferred," Doohan recalled 30 years later. "I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, 'If this character is going to be an engineer, you'd better make him a Scotsman.' "

The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science fiction fans, especially among teenagers and children, but not enough ratings power. NBC canceled it after three seasons.

When the series ended in 1969, Doohan found himself typecast as Montgomery Scott, the canny engineer with a burr in his voice. In 1973, he complained to his dentist, who advised him: "Jimmy, you're going to be Scotty long after you're dead. If I were you, I'd go with the flow."

"I took his advice," said Doohan, "and since then everything's been just lovely."

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&oi=news&start=1&num=3&q=...

- Beam me up, Scotty	proud2Blib	Jul-20-05 04:48 PM	#1
- Scotty has died...	Trailrider1951	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#2
- Beam him up!	acmejack	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#3
- The airhead on CNN just tripped over her tongue and called him	cornermouse	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#4
- Yeah, but it was the wrong Scotty	Dr.Phool	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#5
- hey	Greeby	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#6
- Bummer	proud patriot	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#7
- oh no...whose going to beam us up when the Neocons take over?	DebJ	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#8
- They won't take over	Norbert	Jul-20-05 05:17 PM	#18
- ahhh Fly on Angels wings Mr. Doohan and thanks for all the	AZDemDist6	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#9
- Another boyhood icon gone (sigh)	non sociopath skin	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#10
- the toilet tissue guy?	northzax	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#11
- For a sec I thought you meant Scottie McClellan	DoYouEverWonder	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#
- Bummer...	wysi	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#13
- Scotty must have been a Democrat	ochazuke	Jul-20-05 04:52 PM	#12
- He's dead, Jim......	pacoyogi	Jul-20-05 04:53 PM	#14
- Oh no!!!	Endangered Specie	Jul-20-05 04:56 PM	#15
- beam me up to Heaven	Parche	Jul-20-05 05:11 PM	#16
- Very sad	BlueStateModerate	Jul-20-05 05:11 PM	#17
- Locking	Moderator	Jul-20-05 05:23 PM	#19