Nimoy Retires

Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in various versions of Star Trek, has announced he is retiring from acting. Nimoy is 79.

Spock was the first "alien" to be a major character on American network television. He was also something of a sex symbol in the late 1960s, according to fanmail the show received. Female viewers were attracted to Spock's logical approach to life, and the way he treated everyone with the same respect.

Curiously, subsequent network aliens-- Mork from Ork, ALF, and the team from Third Rock From The Sun--have been played essentially for laughs. That may or may not say something about developments in American society and culture, but it's probably safe to predict that the sober, cerebral, logical Spock, and Leonard Nimoy, will be remembered far longer than any of the comedic followers.