SnakebyteXX
07-20-2005, 06:00 PM
Star Trek' actor James 'Scotty' Doohan dies at 85
Thursday, July 21, 2005 at 07:58 JST
LOS ANGELES — Canadian actor James Doohan, known to millions of "Star Trek" fans as starship Enterprise chief engineer Scotty, died Wednesday. He was 85.
Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his home in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, manager Steve Stevens said.
A veterean of D-Day in Normandy, Doohan first 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 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 in 1969.
"Star Trek" continued in syndication both in the United States and abroad, and its following grew larger and more dedicated. In his later years, Doohan attended 40 "Trekkie" gatherings around the country and lectured at colleges.
In a 1998 interview, Doohan was asked if he ever got tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty."
"I'm not tired of it at all," he replied. "Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun." (Wire reports)
web page (http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=343982)
Thursday, July 21, 2005 at 07:58 JST
LOS ANGELES — Canadian actor James Doohan, known to millions of "Star Trek" fans as starship Enterprise chief engineer Scotty, died Wednesday. He was 85.
Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his home in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, manager Steve Stevens said.
A veterean of D-Day in Normandy, Doohan first 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 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 in 1969.
"Star Trek" continued in syndication both in the United States and abroad, and its following grew larger and more dedicated. In his later years, Doohan attended 40 "Trekkie" gatherings around the country and lectured at colleges.
In a 1998 interview, Doohan was asked if he ever got tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty."
"I'm not tired of it at all," he replied. "Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun." (Wire reports)
web page (http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=343982)