"Scotty" passes away....

[Dr Mordrid]

Actor James Doohan, AKA: Commander Montgomery Scott from Star Trek, has passed away at age 85.

Cause of death: pneumonia and the effects of Alzheimer's.

Second star to the right and straight on 'till morning Scotty

Dr. Mordrid

[cjolley]

RIP Scotty.
And thanks.

[Nowhere]

[Technoid]

[GNEP]

[Elie]

May you rest in peace

[cjolley]

He was also a war hero.

James Montgomery Doohan was born March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, B.C., youngest of four children of William Doohan, a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist, and his wife Sarah. As he wrote in his autobiography, "Beam Me Up, Scotty," his father was a drunk who made life miserable for his wife and children.

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on the screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

After the war Doohan on a whim enrolled in a drama class in Toronto. He showed promise and won a two-year scholarship to New York's famed Neighborhood Playhouse, where fellow students included Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone.

His commanding presence and booming voice brought him work as a character actor in films and television, both in Canada and the U.S. Oddly, his only other TV series besides "Star Trek" was another space adventure, "Space Command," in 1953.

Doohan's first marriage to Judy Doohan produced four children. He had two children by his second marriage to Anita Yagel. Both marriages ended in divorce. In 1974 he married Wende Braunberger, and their children were Eric, Thomas and Sarah, who was born in 2000, when Doohan was 80.

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."

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

[Helevitia]

Rip

[Tjalfe]

[Dilitante1]

Rip

[xortam]

He was quite a man. I saw him interviewed on the movie "Trekkies" as he recalled helping a suicidal girl get her life back together and pursue an engineering degree. He always made a point to contact her and meet up with her at Star Trek conventions. You could clearly see he was proud and touched by his influence on this sad girl.

[Dr Mordrid]

I too met him at a Star Trek convention many years ago. He stopped and talked to our then ~8 year old son about Star Trek and Mr. Spock for several minutes, never showing anything but interest in what Chris had to say.

A nicer man you'd never want to meet.

Dr. Mordrid

[omegaRED]

Rest in peace

[Jon P. Inghram]

"Capn', the engines canna take the strain any longer!"

[Gurm]

Bit o' Trivia: Never once in the entire series did Kirk say "Beam me up, Scotty".

"See what you do is... if it'll take you a day, you say it'll take you a week. The captain will tell you he needs it in two days, maybe three tops. Then, when you do it in one... you're a MIRACLE WORKER!"