1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:05,680
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast Am on iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,720
Speaker 2: And welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori with you.

3
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,040
Speaker 2: Adam Nimoy with US. Graduate of UC Berkeley and Loyola

4
00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,440
Speaker 2: Law Schools. After seven years in the entertainment law field,

5
00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 2: he left to pursue a directing career, and he has

6
00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,040
Speaker 2: directed more than forty five hours of network television, as

7
00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:24,640
Speaker 2: well as documentary films about his father, Leonard Nimoy. Adam,

8
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:26,840
Speaker 2: welcome to the program. So good to have you.

9
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,680
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, George, I really appreciate it.

10
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,120
Speaker 2: Your father gave us years of entertainment, my friend, Thank you.

11
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,320
Speaker 3: Yes, he did, he did. He's quite quite, very productive

12
00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:45,440
Speaker 3: during his career, very lucky, a very driven guy with

13
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 3: a lot of interest, very versatile actor, renaissance man, true artist.

14
00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:53,600
Speaker 2: What did you think of him in Star Trek as

15
00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:55,200
Speaker 2: Bock when you were growing up?

16
00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,480
Speaker 3: Well, I mean the show came on the air when

17
00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:01,360
Speaker 3: I was ten year years old. I've been watching a

18
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,960
Speaker 3: lot of sixties TV up to that point, so I

19
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,759
Speaker 3: was very much aware of what he was doing and

20
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 3: very much prepared for it. Thankfully. Uh, you know, I

21
00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:16,039
Speaker 3: love Spock right away. He was just a new, interesting,

22
00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 3: unique character. It was great were coming into the and

23
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:25,240
Speaker 3: the era of color programming for all three networks, and

24
00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,320
Speaker 3: this show just looked great and we were ready.

25
00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,920
Speaker 2: For him, and he was. He was close friends with

26
00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:32,440
Speaker 2: William Shatner, wasn't he.

27
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:39,120
Speaker 3: Well, that's a complicated question, Joan. Uh. There was a

28
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:41,320
Speaker 3: period of time where they were very close, and I'm

29
00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,640
Speaker 3: really grateful for that. There were several years when they

30
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:50,440
Speaker 3: had sort of reconciled many of their differences and very

31
00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,920
Speaker 3: close personal friends. My dad actually announced to my sister

32
00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,960
Speaker 3: and I that Bill was his best friend, and I

33
00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,480
Speaker 3: thought that was lovely that they did have a nice relationship.

34
00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,480
Speaker 2: For one Now, your father's parents were immigrants from Ukraine.

35
00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,200
Speaker 2: I wonder what they'd be saying about things going on today.

36
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,160
Speaker 3: Well, it's a very difficult situation. I mean, it was

37
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,640
Speaker 3: a difficult situation when they were in Ukraine, which is

38
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 3: why they laughed. There was a lot of violence against

39
00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:24,359
Speaker 3: people in their village, Jewish people in particularly like my grandparents,

40
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,560
Speaker 3: and they were forced to leave. They didn't want to leave,

41
00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,600
Speaker 3: and they ended up They came from a very rural

42
00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:34,960
Speaker 3: area and ended up in downtown Boston. So you know,

43
00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 3: it's not I mean, the country has has had a

44
00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,160
Speaker 3: very difficult history. It's a very difficult time now, and

45
00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,600
Speaker 3: I think they'd be very sympathetic with their you know,

46
00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:46,079
Speaker 3: with the people in Ukraine.

47
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, your father was born in Boston. My mother was

48
00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:53,480
Speaker 2: born not too far from Boston and Fitchburgh and god willing,

49
00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:55,680
Speaker 2: she's still kicking at ninety five.

50
00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:57,800
Speaker 3: That's amazing. Wow.

51
00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,440
Speaker 2: What kind of relation did you have with your father,

52
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:02,560
Speaker 2: Adam growing up?

53
00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,240
Speaker 3: Well, George is very complicated. This is something that I

54
00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,440
Speaker 3: talk about pretty extensively in this new memoir I just published,

55
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,520
Speaker 3: The Most Human. I kind of dealve very deeply into

56
00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,920
Speaker 3: my history with my dad, beginning when I was with

57
00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,679
Speaker 3: when I was a kid. I had a very complicated

58
00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,079
Speaker 3: relationship with him because, you know, my dad was born

59
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:28,520
Speaker 3: during the Depression in Boston to these immigrant parents, and

60
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 3: he had a very different upbringing than I did. He

61
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,920
Speaker 3: was very much it was very difficult for them. It

62
00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,920
Speaker 3: was very challenging. My dad was hustling to earn money

63
00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,400
Speaker 3: at a very young age. He was selling newspapers on

64
00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,960
Speaker 3: the Boston Common when he was ten years old during

65
00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,640
Speaker 3: World War Two, and then he came to California with nothing.

66
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,880
Speaker 3: His parents didn't support his desire to become an actor,

67
00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:54,600
Speaker 3: and he had a hustle when he was in LA

68
00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 3: and then by you know, nineteen fifty six when I

69
00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 3: came along, he had a family afford to support, so

70
00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,880
Speaker 3: we had It was very difficult with him to begin

71
00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,160
Speaker 3: with because my dad didn't have much of a childhood.

72
00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,920
Speaker 3: He had to grow up pretty fast, and my childhood

73
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,440
Speaker 3: with him was was very awkward, I would say, kind

74
00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,280
Speaker 3: of distant. Although my dad tried to do father's son

75
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,839
Speaker 3: outings with me, I never really felt an emotional connection

76
00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:19,480
Speaker 3: to him.

77
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,400
Speaker 2: And it wasn't it his grandfather that kind of pushed

78
00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:23,840
Speaker 2: him into the acting field.

79
00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,919
Speaker 3: Now, his grandfather supported that idea. Yeah, yeah, my grandfather

80
00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 3: told him that he should she he should learn how

81
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 3: to play the accordion. Yes, his parents did not approve

82
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,760
Speaker 3: of him wanting to wander off and pursue an acting career.

83
00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:43,159
Speaker 3: To them, that was like saying, you want to join

84
00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,159
Speaker 3: the circus. They were very much, you know, dedicated to

85
00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 3: the American dream of you have kids in America and

86
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,919
Speaker 3: they go to college and they become professionals, which my

87
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,440
Speaker 3: dad's older brother, my uncle Mel did do he went

88
00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:01,880
Speaker 3: to myt But my dad's grandm father was much more adventurous,

89
00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,440
Speaker 3: so much so that he's the one who initially left

90
00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,279
Speaker 3: Ukraine and came to Boston. Was the first one to

91
00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,400
Speaker 3: come to Boston, and he spook my dad a few

92
00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,159
Speaker 3: extra bucks to help him on his journey out west.

93
00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,760
Speaker 2: And your dad, God love him, served on the military

94
00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:20,800
Speaker 2: back in the early fifties, didn't he.

95
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:22,839
Speaker 3: He was in the Army Reserve. That's correct. He was

96
00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:28,359
Speaker 3: stationed in Atlanta, where my sister was born. And I

97
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 3: think you know, you remember the exact date he was discharged.

98
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,240
Speaker 3: Somebody asked of that. I wish I could remember. I know,

99
00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,080
Speaker 3: it was like December nineteen fifty five. I mean, he

100
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,160
Speaker 3: just rolled off his tongue. You know, it was very

101
00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 3: much vivid on his mind, that memory.

102
00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:45,520
Speaker 2: He did a lot of programs and a lot of

103
00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:51,440
Speaker 2: different shows. His acting career was pretty extensive beyond Star Trek.

104
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,000
Speaker 3: Well yeah, I mean, he was a number of shows.

105
00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,880
Speaker 3: This is why he was really ready for Star Trek.

106
00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,880
Speaker 3: He was in dozens of big parts and different TV shows,

107
00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,560
Speaker 3: many of them playing Native Americans and in westerns, in

108
00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:10,040
Speaker 3: gun Smoke and in Rawhide and Wagon Train and at

109
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:15,160
Speaker 3: Tombstone Territory. He was in Get Smart. He was, you know,

110
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,919
Speaker 3: just the outer limits. It's just endless, the stuff that

111
00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,039
Speaker 3: he was appearing on. And I'd be watching this stuff

112
00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:23,000
Speaker 3: as a kid. I'd be watching TV and all of

113
00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,520
Speaker 3: a sudden, my dad would appear. Was because we never

114
00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 3: knew when he was going to be on, and it

115
00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:30,000
Speaker 3: was very it was kind of jarring, but it always

116
00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,520
Speaker 3: filled me with a sense of pride.

117
00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,720
Speaker 2: He was also in Mission Impossible, and I didn't know

118
00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:35,720
Speaker 2: that at that time.

119
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, he rolled right into Mission after Star Trek Rap

120
00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:44,000
Speaker 3: because Marty Landau had decided to leave the show and

121
00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,920
Speaker 3: they were looking for someone to replace him, and it

122
00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,400
Speaker 3: was a great opportunity for him. It was also shot

123
00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,760
Speaker 3: at Desilu. They shot Mission in the two sound stages

124
00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:54,719
Speaker 3: right next door to where they shot Star Trek. I

125
00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,359
Speaker 3: believe both series began in nineteen sixty six under Desilu Studios,

126
00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:01,240
Speaker 3: So it was a great opportunity for him. He was

127
00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:02,680
Speaker 3: with Mission for two years.

128
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,080
Speaker 2: Did he like the Splock part?

129
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,560
Speaker 3: Well, I think he loved the Spock part. Unfortunately. He

130
00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,480
Speaker 3: published an autobiography in the mid seventies entitled I Am

131
00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,320
Speaker 3: Not Spot, which kind of gave the wrong message and

132
00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,080
Speaker 3: upset quite a number of hands. Yeah, you know, yeah,

133
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:22,800
Speaker 3: I mean know, my dad loves Spock. I mean he

134
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:26,200
Speaker 3: was very invested in Spots. Block was very much a

135
00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:30,280
Speaker 3: part of my dad, very much liked my dad. Spot

136
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:32,880
Speaker 3: created a lot of opportunities for my father. You know,

137
00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,680
Speaker 3: he really, you know, invested a lot of himself in

138
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,560
Speaker 3: that character and in building that character. And character you know,

139
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,720
Speaker 3: came along right at the right time for my dad.

140
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,880
Speaker 3: He was at the top of his game. He had

141
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,360
Speaker 3: enough experience in TV to know what he was doing.

142
00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 3: He got some excellent direction, a number of great directors

143
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,280
Speaker 3: on the original series who helped him out, help and

144
00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:57,160
Speaker 3: develop the character. Yes, Letard love Spock, no doubt about it.

145
00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,520
Speaker 2: Did he ever talk about the ears?

146
00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, the years, yeah, we you know. The story

147
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,760
Speaker 3: is at the analog of trouble developing the ears. Initially,

148
00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:12,680
Speaker 3: this was Jeane Rodenberry's idea, and they were having trouble

149
00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 3: kind of molding them and fitting them on his ears

150
00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,880
Speaker 3: and making them look real. And my dad even went

151
00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,440
Speaker 3: to Gene and suggested the possibility of losing the idea

152
00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,360
Speaker 3: of these ears, and Gene was insistent, which is interesting

153
00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,120
Speaker 3: from my dad. It was a really interesting lesson that

154
00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:29,360
Speaker 3: Jean had a vision for the character and he did

155
00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:31,440
Speaker 3: not let go of it. He didn't want to compromise it.

156
00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,600
Speaker 3: He really felt strongly about that. And then, you know, eventually,

157
00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,840
Speaker 3: with the help of Freddie Phillips, who was the makeup artist,

158
00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,040
Speaker 3: they found somebody who could really create the prosthetic ear.

159
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,320
Speaker 3: And then when we were making my dad and I

160
00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,480
Speaker 3: were working on the documentary of Spots together, he looked

161
00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,480
Speaker 3: up spots ears, you know, he google searched it and

162
00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:51,800
Speaker 3: I came up with, I don't know, a couple of

163
00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:56,360
Speaker 3: hundred thousand entries and articles and references, which which really

164
00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,040
Speaker 3: tickled him. He was very proud of that.

165
00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,440
Speaker 2: Your father was one of the reasons I ended up

166
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 2: in broadcasting because I loved his show In Search Of

167
00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:08,920
Speaker 2: It was one of those captivating programs that dealt with everything.

168
00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, In Search Of was a terrific show. It came

169
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:17,680
Speaker 3: at a really great time in the seventies when Mission

170
00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,600
Speaker 3: was over, Star Trek was over, and it was a

171
00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,280
Speaker 3: real bread and butter of situation for Dad while he

172
00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:26,720
Speaker 3: continues to pursue theater work. So it was a great

173
00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:28,320
Speaker 3: job for him to have there were a lot of

174
00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,760
Speaker 3: great interesting episodes, and I must say, you know, Georgia,

175
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:33,440
Speaker 3: there were also a number of what I like to

176
00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:38,480
Speaker 3: call placebo episodes that were sort of, you know, hard

177
00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,319
Speaker 3: to really figure out what it was about. It was

178
00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,559
Speaker 3: just kind of filler episodes. But it was a fun show.

179
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,560
Speaker 3: It was an interesting show, and I think it was

180
00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:48,520
Speaker 3: really kind of sparked my dad's imagination.

181
00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:51,920
Speaker 2: Was it your father's career, Adam, that got you into

182
00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:53,600
Speaker 2: the film business in Hollywood?

183
00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,200
Speaker 3: Well? Yeah, I mean no, initially, no, I mean, you know,

184
00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,520
Speaker 3: I wanted to create my own path, which is why

185
00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:01,440
Speaker 3: I went into law school. I wanted to do something

186
00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,840
Speaker 3: that Leonard couldn't do, because Leonard could do anything. I

187
00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,880
Speaker 3: was trying to create my own identity, you know, to

188
00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:08,480
Speaker 3: begin with. I mean, a lot of the times we

189
00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:12,559
Speaker 3: grow up wanting to be anything but our father figure,

190
00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,000
Speaker 3: you know, and we push against it, and you know,

191
00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:18,920
Speaker 3: we tried to strive to go in a different direction,

192
00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:20,960
Speaker 3: and then in the end, I just wanted to end

193
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,280
Speaker 3: up being like my dad, because the fact of the

194
00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,760
Speaker 3: matter was that although I loved going to law school

195
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:27,760
Speaker 3: and I'm glad I got a lot of agree in

196
00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,480
Speaker 3: practice for seven year years it was just not a

197
00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:32,920
Speaker 3: very interesting profession. I want to do something more creative.

198
00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,400
Speaker 3: I wanted to be a storyteller, just like my dad,

199
00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:40,240
Speaker 3: And in that respect, yes, I was inspired by him

200
00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,479
Speaker 3: to pursue a career in the entertainment business.

201
00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,800
Speaker 2: Your father passed away, of course, in twenty fifteen, at

202
00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,280
Speaker 2: the age of eighty three, and the subtitle of your book,

203
00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,560
Speaker 2: The Most Human is Reconciling with my father, Leonard Deimoy.

204
00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,200
Speaker 2: What was that reconciliation all about?

205
00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:04,960
Speaker 3: Well, it was all about many years of dysfunctional interaction

206
00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,880
Speaker 3: between the two of us. The awkwardness that I experienced

207
00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:10,840
Speaker 3: as a young boy kind of blossomed him to a

208
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:12,720
Speaker 3: lot of conflict with my dad when I got into

209
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:17,880
Speaker 3: my teen years, conflict that periodically would flare up between us,

210
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,880
Speaker 3: which we were never able to really figure out how

211
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,320
Speaker 3: to deal with. We didn't have the tools, and all this,

212
00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,880
Speaker 3: as I discussed in my book, all this was exacerbated

213
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:31,960
Speaker 3: by my addiction in marijuana and my dad's admitted alcohol problem.

214
00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,240
Speaker 3: He was an alcoholic, and so I had a very

215
00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,120
Speaker 3: strange relationship with my dad, George, and that I was

216
00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:40,960
Speaker 3: so proud of him, and I had so many quick

217
00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,400
Speaker 3: experiences with him throughout the years, I mean wonderful opportunities

218
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,120
Speaker 3: as a result of his many successes, but periodically and

219
00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,040
Speaker 3: regularly if we disagreed about something, that could really flare

220
00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,880
Speaker 3: up and become a lot of just a lot of

221
00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,920
Speaker 3: unpleasant conflict with him. And so we got to a point,

222
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 3: a real low point relationship where we were very distant

223
00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,760
Speaker 3: from each other, almost as strange, and it just got

224
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,400
Speaker 3: to a point where we needed to figure a way out.

225
00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:12,600
Speaker 3: And it was recovery that really did it. We were

226
00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:17,760
Speaker 3: both in recovery, twelve step recovery, and we finally found

227
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:19,839
Speaker 3: tools that we could use to try to figure out

228
00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,920
Speaker 3: how to be loving and accepting of one another and

229
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,440
Speaker 3: move on with our lives. And the last years of

230
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:26,960
Speaker 3: our lives we were very close together.

231
00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,200
Speaker 2: Well, that's fantastic. He died of what COPD?

232
00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:36,920
Speaker 3: He died OFD I was diagnosed. I can't even remember.

233
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,319
Speaker 3: It was probably not that long before he passed away.

234
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 3: And I was just very lucky that those last seven

235
00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,480
Speaker 3: years he was struggling quite a bit. But those last

236
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,000
Speaker 3: years of his life were years that you and I

237
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,480
Speaker 3: were at a very close relationship someone so that we

238
00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:56,520
Speaker 3: were thinking of that we went to Boston and made

239
00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,240
Speaker 3: a documentary about his life there, and that we were

240
00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,160
Speaker 3: working on this documentary about Spot in anticipation of fifty

241
00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,120
Speaker 3: years of Star Trek before he just when he passed away.

242
00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,320
Speaker 3: So yeah, it was thirty years of cigarette smoking. I mean,

243
00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,440
Speaker 3: he was lucky didn't have cancer, but the COPD kind

244
00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:17,080
Speaker 3: of constructive pulmonary disease finally caught up with him.

245
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, he had really did. And towards the end of

246
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,040
Speaker 2: his life, did you see a change with him, Adam?

247
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, the end of his life, he changed quite a bit.

248
00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,280
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, this is the other problem we

249
00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:34,080
Speaker 3: were having was that when I was growing up, family

250
00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,400
Speaker 3: life was not really a priority for my daddy. He

251
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,720
Speaker 3: admitted this, This whole priority was survival because he was

252
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,679
Speaker 3: supporting his family and succeeding, you know, and pursuing his

253
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,599
Speaker 3: career while my mother, you know, really held down the

254
00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,439
Speaker 3: ford at home. So and later on in his life

255
00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,320
Speaker 3: things really had changed to the point where he said

256
00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:57,240
Speaker 3: in an interview his priority did become family, which I

257
00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:58,240
Speaker 3: was very grateful for.

258
00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,360
Speaker 2: That's fantastic. At what point did he decide to retire.

259
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,000
Speaker 2: I mean he passed away in twenty fifteen, but did

260
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,920
Speaker 2: he stop years before that, not really.

261
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:10,360
Speaker 3: I mean he never he never retired, He just started

262
00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,240
Speaker 3: to slow down a little bit. I think the pivotal

263
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 3: moment for me was when he was given the offer

264
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:22,760
Speaker 3: to be involved with another Star Trek feature being directed

265
00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:29,320
Speaker 3: by JJ Abrams in the first two installments that JJ directed,

266
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,680
Speaker 3: and they wanted to bring him back again, and that

267
00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:36,160
Speaker 3: job he had to turn down, which shocked me because

268
00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,280
Speaker 3: you know, he was so proud of being in the

269
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:43,160
Speaker 3: original pilot of Star Trek and being in the last

270
00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,560
Speaker 3: incarnation through JJ, but then it got to a point

271
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:49,400
Speaker 3: where he just didn't feel like he could do it.

272
00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,040
Speaker 2: What was it like for you, Adam going to school

273
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,080
Speaker 2: and then we all know what kids are like, knowing

274
00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:00,400
Speaker 2: that you were the son of Swak. How did the

275
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:01,800
Speaker 2: kids in school treat you?

276
00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:05,480
Speaker 3: Well? Initially nobody knew really, I mean when it was

277
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,800
Speaker 3: when the Star Trek first came on, nobody really put

278
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:12,760
Speaker 3: it together. Uh and uh, and I had I was

279
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,840
Speaker 3: able to maintain my anonymity. But but in one class

280
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,040
Speaker 3: I did tell a kid. I asked him if he

281
00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 3: was watching Star Trek and he said yes. I said, well,

282
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,760
Speaker 3: mister Spock is my dad. And he went he went

283
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,640
Speaker 3: berserk and then told everybody in the class and then

284
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,240
Speaker 3: it was absolute chaos. And after that, I just decided

285
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,440
Speaker 3: to try to keep a low profile. And I never,

286
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,120
Speaker 3: I really, you know, didn't like to advertise that I

287
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,160
Speaker 3: was Leonard's son. But there was one kid in this

288
00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,960
Speaker 3: art class I was in. I think his name was

289
00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:44,760
Speaker 3: like Mike Brown. He was he was one of the

290
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,000
Speaker 3: bullies at school. He was a guy that was very

291
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,880
Speaker 3: nervous to be around. But he always called me ears,

292
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,400
Speaker 3: which which got a lap out of everybody in the class.

293
00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,400
Speaker 3: And I can appreciate that as well. I mean, you know, look,

294
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,280
Speaker 3: people were we had a lot of celebrities, as you know,

295
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:02,200
Speaker 3: children at school, and it wasn't that unusual, and people

296
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:04,480
Speaker 3: I think were very nice to me.

297
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:07,720
Speaker 2: Is your sister Julie still with us?

298
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:09,040
Speaker 3: She is?

299
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:10,960
Speaker 2: Now, that's goood.

300
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:11,160
Speaker 3: Now.

301
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,040
Speaker 2: How did how was her growing up relationship with your father?

302
00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,440
Speaker 3: Well, she had a little She definitely had a closer relationship.

303
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,880
Speaker 3: I got more of the of the conflict with him.

304
00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,360
Speaker 3: She had some issues with him, but they were definitely

305
00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,280
Speaker 3: much closer than I was. And I, you know, I

306
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,320
Speaker 3: was very grateful to have Julie. She's only seventeen, months

307
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,360
Speaker 3: older than me, and I keep reminding her of that fact.

308
00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:41,800
Speaker 3: She'll always be older to me. That But I was

309
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:45,920
Speaker 3: very grateful for Julie because Julie really validated me and

310
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:49,800
Speaker 3: feeling that a lot of the conflict that were issues

311
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:52,640
Speaker 3: that my father had and that that it wasn't me

312
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:55,760
Speaker 3: and I shouldn't worry. And she was, you know, she

313
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,560
Speaker 3: supported me, she was behind me, and I really needed that.

314
00:16:58,600 --> 00:16:59,960
Speaker 3: I really appreciated that from her.

315
00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:02,440
Speaker 2: Is your mother still with us, Adam.

316
00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,000
Speaker 3: No, she's not. She passed away in twenty eleven.

317
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 2: Oh jeez, before Leonard, did she.

318
00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:11,560
Speaker 3: Yes, she was a little older than Leonard. They were

319
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:13,560
Speaker 3: the same age when they passed. My mother was eighty

320
00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:19,160
Speaker 3: three as well. And yeah, I'm really grateful for her because,

321
00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:21,639
Speaker 3: I mean, you have to understand, George, is she is

322
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 3: the one who ran the household while my dad was

323
00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,840
Speaker 3: gone all the time hustling work. I mean, even when

324
00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:29,919
Speaker 3: he wasn't doing TV shows, he was working on jobs.

325
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,800
Speaker 3: He was rarely around. And then when Star Trek came around,

326
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,080
Speaker 3: he was almost never around. So really grateful to her.

327
00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:38,600
Speaker 3: And the interesting thing about my mom is that even

328
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,760
Speaker 3: though times were very tough with you know, after I

329
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:44,320
Speaker 3: was born from fifty six to sixty six. Those ten

330
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 3: years were a real struggle for my parents, but my

331
00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:51,199
Speaker 3: mother never wavered in her support and believed in my

332
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,560
Speaker 3: father's ability and his had shared his dream of pursuing

333
00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:56,320
Speaker 3: an acting career.

334
00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,800
Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at

335
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,880
Speaker 1: one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam

336
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:04,000
Speaker 1: dot com for more