To Sleep, Per Chance to Dream... or retire?

Nimoy to boldly go into retirement after ‘Fringe’ season finale
By Bill Burke Thursday, May 20, 2010
(originally posted on the Boston Herald website)

The way Leonard Nimoy sees it, he’s going out on top. Nimoy, 79, is retiring from acting following his onscreen appearance as Dr. William Bell on the second-season finale of Fox’s “Fringe” (tonight at 9 on WFXT, Ch. 25). “I had a wonderful time working on the new ‘Star Trek’ movie with J.J. Abrams, who directed it,” Nimoy said during a recent conference call with reporters. “When it was done, he asked me to look into the possibility of playing William Bell on ‘Fringe.’ I felt that I owed J.J. a favor. He did a great job on the ‘Star Trek’ movie and treated me extremely well.”

Thus began Nimoy’s brief but pivotal run as the enigmatic Bell. It wraps up tonight in what is essentially the famous final scene of a career that began when Nimoy left his hometown of Boston six decades ago.

“I set out to be an actor when I was 17 or 18 years old,” Nimoy said. “I left Boston and traveled to California to try to build a career.” For the man who would embody the iconic Mr. Spock from classic “Star Trek” and its series of big-screen sequels, that career began rather humbly on a Saturday afternoon serial called “Zombies of the Stratosphere.”

“It was very primitive and very crude, but I was eager to do the work and happy to get it,” he said. “It’s been exciting to me to work on soundstages and on locations all around the world.” Nimoy’s final scene was shot one night recently in Vancouver with “Fringe” star Anna Torv. It was something he didn’t want to end. When they wrapped, the entire company gathered around, he said.

“There was a lot of love exchanged. I said to them, ‘I’ve been at this for 60 years. I have never worked with a better company.’ I meant it. It just feels really good to know that I’m saying goodbye to the work on a very positive, good note.” Regrets? “No, it’s not hard to say goodbye,” Nimoy said. “I’ve had 60 years of working in films and television. I’m very grateful for all the great opportunities that I’ve had and all the people that I’ve met, the people I’ve worked with.” So what lies ahead for the newly retired actor?

First, a reaffirmation of his plans: “I will not be doing any more television or movie acting or directing.” But he will focus on preparing for an exhibition of his photography opening July 31 at MassMoCA in North Adams.

Putting a definitive expiration date on his acting career has given him an opportunity to reflect. “When I first started out, I was in awe of the people who had great stories to tell about different locations they’d been to and different directors they’d worked with, different actors they’ve worked with and so forth,” he said. “Now, I discovered I was the guy doing that, telling the stories about directors I worked with 40 years ago. It’s time to get off the stage. I think we’ve had our run.

Check out the Promo below, and be sure to head over to the Fox website to watch the episode!