It has been more than four decades since Star Trek’s pointy-eared Vulcan Mr. Spock first explored the distant corners of the cosmos.
But at 79, actor Leonard Nimoy has decided his space-traveling days are and he’s officially retiring, reports London’s Daily Mail.
Nimoy, one of the most recognizable and best loved characters from the sci-fi series that began in 1966, announced that he wanted to “get off the stage” and give young actor Zachary Quinto a clear run at the role he took over for last year’s “Star Trek” movie.
Nimoy said: ‘He’s a terrific actor, he looks the part, and it’s time to give him some space. And I’m very flattered the character will continue.
He is also withdrawing from the sci-fi convention circuit, where he has for years been a big attraction among Star Trek devotees.
‘I’m so grateful to the fans. I call these kind of experiences a victory lap… It’s like having a family reunion,’ he said.
Nimoy said he was giving up acting altogether, but only after one final voyage home to Vulcan — the small Canadian town that has adopted the actor as an honorary citizen. He ventured there Friday.
‘I’ve been doing this professionally for 60 years,’ he said.
‘I love the idea of going out on a positive note. I’ve had a great, great time.’
Nimoy has made an estimated $50 million from playing Spock in the long-running TV series and seven Star Trek movies.
His 1975 autobiography was called I Am Not Spock.
After resolving what he describes as “a definite identity crisis,” Nimoy re-released his autobiography in 1995, and renamed it, I Am Spock.’
Quinto is scheduled to appear in the sequel to the re-booted Star Trek franchise in 2012.
Valerie Plame, who was outed as a CIA agent by officials in the George W. Bush White House in 2003, is heading to the Cannes Film Festival next month to hype “Fair Game,” in which she’s played by Naomi Watts, according to the New York Post.
The movie, directed by Doug Liman of “The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” fame, doesn’t have a distributor yet and was screened Tuesday in Hollywood for “a packed house,” Deadline Hollywood reports.
The producers are hoping to line up a distribution deal before it premieres May 20 in competition at Cannes, where it is expected to get an enthusiastic reception.
Plame, who looks much like Watts, was touting the movie Wednesday night at the Museum of Modern Art screening of a scary documentary about nuclear proliferation, “Countdown to Zero.”
She told one guest that Sean Penn, who plays her husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson, in “Fair Game,” impressed her when he “flew in on Southwest Airlines and spent three days following my husband, even wearing the same cologne,” the Post said.
Plame was identified as a CIA agent after Wilson, who had gone to Africa to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy yellow-cake uranium, wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times claiming there was never any credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction.
An exclusive Malibu rehab facility has filed a claim against Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson‘s estate — a claim that would wipe out all of her assets.
TMZ has obtained legal documents in which Renaissance Malibu claims Casey went to rehab there in August 2009. Renaissance claims the $74,750 bill has not been paid.
TMZ earliler reported that Johnson’s entire estate was valued at around $75,000 — which would leave $250 if the claim is paid in full.
According to the papers, Casey spent 30 days at the facility and then received additional days of therapy. She died of complications from diabetes in January.
Amanda Peet jilted David Letterman on Tuesday for a good reason: She went into labor early and delivered daughter Molly June Benioff in New York.
The actress, 38, had been scheduled to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman to promote her upcoming film, ‘Please Give,’ but instead welcomed her second child with screenwriter husband David Benioff late Monday, April 19.
“Mother and daughter are doing great,” Peet’s rep told People magazine.
Peet and Benioff also have a 3-year-old daughter, Frances.
