FAREWELL, LEONARD NIMOY

LEONARD NIMOY, whose portrayal of the half-Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock on Star Trek made him a pop-culture staple, died today of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; he was 83. Nimoy first played Spock on the '60s TV series, and continued to find nuances in the impeccably logical character in films with the original cast and then in the contemporary reboot films.

A theater-trained actor with an abiding affection for and involvement in Jewish culture, Nimoy portrayed Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and frequently partcipated in events related to Yiddish literature. He has noted that the famed Vulcan salute has Jewish origins:

He also wrote poetry and was an avid (and published) photographer.

He earned an Emmy for his performance in the 1982 film A Woman Called Golda, which co-starred Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir.

But Spock earned him worldwide fame, which he parlayed into a couple of books (1977's I Am Not Spock and 1995's I Am Spock) a well as a couple of LPs worth of songs.

We join the rest of the world's nerds (and regular peeps who just loved the dude) in feeling pretty sad today.