This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast more what you hear
weekday afternoons on the Drive. You certainly know his dad, Leonard Nimoy.
But Adam Nimoy is a writer and director and actor in his own rights,
from Star Trek five Fame, Babylon five, Star Trek the Next Generation.
But he's written a new book, and it's a book about his relationship with
his father, Leonard The Most Human. Reconciling with my father, Leonard Nimoy,
Adam Nimoy, Great to have you along. Thanks for having me on.
Let's start with your childhood. You went to what was called a lab
school in Berkeley. I can only imagine, Well, the lab school is
at UCLA's It was a grade school, elementary school. It's run by the
Graduate School of Education at UCLA. It's still there, experimental school, very
different than public schools, but incredible education. I was really lucky to go
there. They were taking kids from all socio and economic backgrounds, and I
happened to be the son of a struggling actor without a whole lot of money,
so they allowed me in. It was a very fortunate decision for me.
Okay, I thought maybe you were putting it down as maybe that's where
some of the disconnect you had with your father began. Well, what I
say in the book is that they did a lot of psychological experimentation with us
kids when we were at that school, and the experimentation continued when I matriculated
onto UC Berkeley with chemical substances from which I never quite fully recovered, and
that's when the problems really started with my dad. So you did have some
addiction problems, as many people of the day did. Well, Yeah,
I mean, I'm just your run of the mill pot smoker. But after
thirty years of you know, being high, it was time for me to
make a change in my life. And that's when I needed to think about
working on my relationship with my dad, which had been very troubled. He
was an admitted alcoholic and my pop problem didn't help our problems at all,
and he went into sobriety and recovery and so did I, and using some
of the tools of that program, we were finally able to reconcile and had
a very close relationship the last years of his life. The most human reconciling
with my father, Leonard Nimoy Adam niemoy is with us. It must have
been difficult because I remember seeing your father not only on Star Trek, but
on various episodes of Mission Impossible. But when that show initially went away Star
Trek, when it initially went away that he was so typecast at that point,
I imagine he had trouble getting work. Well. Yeah, I mean,
he was heavily identified with Spock, which is why he decided to write
an a biography, a memoir of his own entitled I Am Not Spock.
Was a little bit mistitled because he was simply making the point that people were
often confusing him with the character. You know, my dad, I think
was very grateful for the role. In the end, it really opened up
a lot of opportunity for him. I mean, he went writing in a
Mission Impossible and then and then after mission he was doing a lot of other
things in search of During the seventies, he was on the convention circuit for
Star Trek, he was he had an incredible theater career beginning in the seventies,
and all of that was opportunity that was opened up to him because of
Star Trek. I don't think he had any misgivings about it. And the
type cast thing is real. I mean, I think he had to contend
with that, but I don't think he would have changed. The thing was
his character, Spock. Was it more well known then or did it become
more well known as those who grew up watching Star Trek were aging into the
system. Well, I think Spock became very popular immediately. Mean, the
fan mail that we got at home was phenomenal, and just the character was
immediately by the fans who were happening to be watching the show. But it
was really in syndication in the seventies when Star Trek exploded worldwide. That's when
everybody started watching the reruns and getting a sense of what was going on with
this show, including myself. I hadn't watched it since the sixties, and
when I was at Berkeley, you know, I would be studying and the
dorm would end empty out because everybody would cram into the TV room at five
o'clock to watch Star Trek. So it was really syndication, which I think
broadened his appeal. Adam Niemoy, son of Leonard Nimoy, and the book
he has written is a touching account of the most human reconciling with my father,
Leonard Nimoy, And as were you aware that this character and was he
aware that this character would be as iconic as it became. No, I
mean not at all. We didn't. We had no. I don't think
he had any idea. I think this is the interesting thing about my dad.
My dad was very specific about the work. He lived one day at
time. You know, he was very much in the moment. He just
he just gave the best that he could to Spock and uh, and he
was just concerned about, you know, playing doing justice to the character,
which he did. He had no idea what the impact would be. We
had We had none whatsoever. It was just another TV show. It was
his first guest starring role that was significant, and it was the first time
he had work that lasted longer than two weeks. He was in that show
for three seasons. But no one had any idea the impact Spuck would have
on the planet. I mean, it's all over the World's fuck is identifiable.
Adam Niemoy, son of Leonard Nimoy, and his new book about reconciling
with his father, The Most Human Reconciling with my father, Leonard Nimoy.
When did things start you mentioned it was about the time when you were you
were in college. Was that about the time that your relationship began to sour.
Yeah, I mean I had a very awkward relationship with my dad when
I was younger. We had trouble connecting with one another, and my dad
was very much, very busy with his career and not around all that much
when Mission Impossible ended, in fact, and he had more time. When
I was in my teens about to go to college is when the trouble kind
of started between us. And then when I was away at school, it
periodically got worse, you know, and then and then through for the next
twenty years. Really we occasionally bumped heads. Listen, it's it's just it's
an up and down relationship. I mean, we had a lot of great
times together, mostly celebrating my dad's many successes. I'm a big fan of
Lenar Nemoy. I've always been a fan of Lenardnemoy. But I'm also the
son of Lendar Nemoy, and sometimes it just gets complicated whether or not your
parent is a celebrity. It doesn't really matter. Fathers and sons sometimes have
difficult relationships, and that's the point of the book. I'm hoping that people
will, you know, to resonate with people it has so far and inspire
people to try to repair dysfunctional family relationships. You talk a lot about that
too, and about the universal lesson of recovery. Well, yeah, I
am a twelve stepper. I've been in recovery now for twenty years. It
was the tools of recovery that helped me and my dad reconcile with one another,
and I don't think I could have done it without them and the help
of people that I knew who were in recovery who gave me the direction I
needed to try to figure out a way to finally put the pass behind us
and enjoy a close relationship with my dad, which is exactly what we did,
and basically the last seven years of his life, from twenty eight to
twenty fifteen, I was very close with my dad, spent a lot of
time with him. We made a documentary about his life in Boston together.
We were working on the Spot documentary together before he passed away. And at
one point you had aspirations of being a lawyer, but then you changed your
mind and got into show business. Was there something that made you decide that
this is where you wanted to go. Well, yeah, I practiced law
for seven years and that made me decide pretty quick wa that it was not
the career for me. I'm glad I went to law school uh and and
got that education. I'm glad I practiced entertainment, law, music mostly.
I'm happy I did it. But it was very clear, very you know,
at that point that I wanted to do something more creative. I wanted
to do I wanted to get involved with storytelling, which was the business that
my dad was in, uh and so, and he helped me at that
point. We were at that stage, our relationship was pretty good, and
and he helped me segue into TV directing and gave me a lot of,
you know, a lot of advice about the craft of directing. And it
was I was really indebted to him at that point for helping me make a
transition that was not easy for many people. But I'm really grateful for that.
If you're a Leonard Nimoy fan, you will love the account that his
son, Adam Nimoy, has provided in his new book, The Most Human
Reconciling with My Father Leonard Nimoy. Adam nemoy We thank you for bringing us
the story and joining us today. Thank you for having me on and your
time. Thank you so much, Livelong and Proper. Thanks for listening to
Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to
The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation