Leonard
Nimoy, 81, best known as the half-human, half-Vulcan character Mr.
Spock on the Star Trek series, delivered the commencement address at
Boston University's College of Fine Arts last week.
In
the 18-minute speech (click on the video below to see it all,) he
travels back in time to his childhood in the Jewish and Italian West End
of Boston, relishing stories of his early years of growing up in an
ethnic neighborhood where he could tell the nationality by the aromas of
cooking wafting through the tenement building.
He
speaks freely of his Jewish roots and how proud he was to be "this
Jewish kid from a Yiddish-speaking family at a Jesuit school (Boston
College, where he was offered a scholarship in an 8-week summer theatre
program) being blessed daily with 'Our Fathers' and 'Hail Marys.'
Nimoy
gives humorous glimpses of advice that he received from actor Spencer
Tracy and from President-to-be John F. Kennedy, whom he picked up at a
hotel when Nimoy worked the night shift as a taxi driver to make ends
meet.
He
tells how he came to the role of Mr. Spock in 1966 and how his status
of an alien parallels Nimoy's own role: "My folks came to the United
States as immigrants (aliens) and they became citizens. I was born in
Boston, a citizen. I went to Hollywood and I became an alien. Spock was
the embodiment of the outsider, like the immigrants who surrounded me in
my early years."
He
ends his address, sprinkled throughout with funny comments and words of
advice to the budding artists in the graduating class, with this
request: "Please, please, for the sake of our culture, for the sake of
mankind, don't create any more reality TV shows. And of course, I cannot
leave without saying to you in all sincerity, Live long and prosper."
(as he raises his hand in the gesture that the Kohanim make when they
bless the congregation.)
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