'Star Trek' Star Leonard Nimoy Dies at 83
Feb 27, 2015, 12:33 PM ET
By Michael Rothman via Good Morning America
Nimoy, who played first officer to William Shatner's Captain Kirk on Starship Enterprise, in TV and movies since the 1970's, died Friday morning in Bel Air.
The cause of death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which the actor revealed he was struggling with in 2014, according to the New York Times. Nimoy had been a smoker, which contributed to the ailment, before he gave up the habit years ago.
Nimoy first began acting in the early 1950's, staring in TV runs on "The Silent Service," "Broken Arrow" and "Dragnet." But it was his debut as Mr. Spock in the 1960's "Star Trek" that made him a cult legend. He would star in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" yet again as the Vulcan famous for the saying “Live long and prosper."
After a long and successful career since the beginning of "Trek," Nimoy had brought back his famous role in 2009's reboot "Star Trek," and the recent sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness" in 2013. Zachary Quinto played a younger version of Spock.