He Was, And Will Always Be, Our Friend: Remembering Leonard Nimoy : NPR

In 1966, when Leonard Nimoy was offered a minor role on a new space drama, he was thrilled. As he told Archive of American Television: "You have to understand that prior to Star Trek I never had a job that lasted longer than two weeks in any TV show or movie. Never. Two weeks — max. And here I was, looking at a season of work."

The actor beloved for his role as the pointy-eared half-human, half-Vulcan died of lung disease at his home in Los Angeles on Friday. He was 83.

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Nimoy flashes the famous Vulcan salute at the 2013 premiere of Star Trek: Into Darkness. He originally based the gesture on a Jewish blessing.

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Before he became an interplanetary sex symbol, Nimoy was a two-bit character actor knocking around Hollywood. He tended to play a lot of ethnic roles — Cherokees, Basques, Mexicans, Russians, Italian-Americans.

He Was, And Will Always Be, Our Friend: Remembering Leonard Nimoy : NPR