brotherhood
and helping each other
and that sort of thing.
"But the pointed ears?"
Yes, but this is
a very interesting character.
Very intelligent, great dignity,
great sense of himself
as a person,
and a functional person...
a scientist.
Bright man, you know,
and so forth.
"Okay."
So the next day, you and I
are playing a scene
on stage that's being filmed,
and this group of reporters
are brought in
to watch us film the scene.
And the scene has me
lying on the bed in sick bay,
laying there prostrate,
green blood dripping
from my forehead,
and you come rushing in and say,
"What happened, Spock?"
And I say, "Captain,
the monster attacked me."
Ha ha ha ha.
In a moment,
all that conversation is gone.
I got another moment
to remind you of,
apropos of that.
My father died while we
were in the first year.
And I leaned on you,
literally and figuratively,
for support during those hours
between filming,
hearing my father died
at lunch...
he died in Miami, I had to
fly to Miami that everning...
and I made
the conscious decision
to continue working
that afternoon
because there was nothing else
for me to do,
then I couldn't remember
my lines,
so we fumbled our way
through an afternoon's work,
which was probably discarded
on Monday.
In any case,
I was gone the weekend,
and when I came back...
in shock from grief
of my beloved father,
we picked up on a scene.
And this was a segment
that had the Horta...
I've forgotten
the name of the show.
The name was Devil l: W The Dark
...and we had our hands
on the Horta,
and the Horta was...
A dangerous creature.
A dangerous creature,
and the creature
was sending out, um...
You were doing a Mind Meld
with the Horta,
and we had shot all your stuff
while I was gone.
I guess it was a Tuesday,
and I was gone,
and on Monday you had shot
all your shots,
and now we were reversing
on me on Tuesday,
so they didn't miss a beat
on the schedule.
And you, off-screen,
were playing full-out
to give me, your friend...
some of the feeling you had had
when you were performing.
NIMO Y: For you to react to it.
For me to react.
You were feeling the Horta,
and you realized
the Horta was in pain,
and out of the depths
of your soul, you said,
"Pain! Pain!"
And I, in my shock,
wanting to show everybody
it's okay...
I'm all right, we'll be okay...
I said,
"Get that man an aspirin."
Ha ha ha ha.
Everybody laughed but you.
(laughing louder)
Until now.
You didn't speak to me
for weeks.
I remember it very well.
And I didn't realize
what I had tapped into.
I was coming off
of something else,
you were coming
to this part with that...
Making a commitment.
Making a commitment.
Not only for that moment,
but in general...
"To hell with the ears,
I'm bringing dignity
"and craft
and art to this part,
and now I'm being discounted by,
'Bring this man an aspirin!"'
By this actor
who never drove a...
He never drove a cab.
He never flushed a...
He never worked in a pet shop!
A pet shop!
How dare he!
I never realized...
You want a...
You want an aspirin?
Yeah, right.
You think I need an aspirin?
You need a knuckle sandwich!
But until this moment,
I never fully comprehended
how I tread...
What you stepped on.
What I trod on.
Then you were in the Army,
not in the Marines,
but "Don't Tread On Me,"
I guess was your motto.
That's funny.
What do you remember
about the very first time...
How did you get the job?
Did they call you and say,
"We'd like you to play
this role?"
That's exactly
what happened, Leonard.
They had made, as you well know,
because you were in it,
a pilot for NBC,
and it didn't sell,
and Jeffrey Hunter
was in the pilot.
NBC wanted Gene Roddenberry
to do a re-write
or do another script.
He fired everybody
with the exception of yourself.
And as you know,
what you did on that pilot,
the first pilot,
you completely reworked
on the second show.
So they offered me