Sci Fi Updates - James Doohan Memorial Tribute

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James Doohan Memorial Tribute

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James Montgomery Doohan Was born on March 3rd 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was born to parents William Patrick Doohan and Mother [No info].

He left home at the ripe old age of 19 and joined the Royal Canadian Artillery as an enlisted man, but he didn't stay enlisted long. Outscoring his fellow soldiers, he became a Captain and led his men into battle. Yes that's right, our beloved "Scotty" was a genuine "War Hero." He was shot eight times, on the beach at Normandy, on D-Day, he was hit seven times and the eighth bullet lodged in his metal cigarette case. And they say cigarettes kill you. The wounds he received were to his leg and hand, he ultimately lost a finger. You rarely, if ever, see it on screen, because Jimmy was a pro at hiding it. After recovering from his wounds he became a "Pilot Observer" and was later determined to be "the craziest pilot in the Air Force."

Upon returning home he pursued a higher education in London, Ontario. He was listening to the radio one day, when he decided he could do better than the horrible actors in the drama he was listening to. He put together an audition tape and submitted it to a new drama school opening in Toronto. He was accepted and ended up using his talent at the local radio station. Shortly there after, he won a scholarship to the Neighborhood playhouse in New York. He studied drama alongside such greats as Tony Randall, Jackie Gleeson and Leslie Neilson. He spent the next eight years between New York and Canada staring in movies, television and radio, he worked on 4000 radio programs and 400 taped dramatic and variety programs during this time. He married his first wife Janet Young in 1949, they had four children, three sons and a daughter. Two of the sons were twins. He was swiftly earning the title of "Canada's Busiest Actor!" His most distinct talent was his voice work, his mimicry ability, his way with voices, particularly his skill with foreign dialects. He earned parts in more than 100 motion pictures and television series. He was on a regular "Canadian Kid's" Sci-Fi series called "Space Command." A complete list of Mr. Doohan's credits is here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001150/

James Goldstone of (Ironsides and Outer Limits) prodded him into reading for a producer who was working on another science fiction series. That producer was Gene Roddenberry and the show was "Star Trek." When auditioning for the part of the "Chief Engineer" James went through eight different voice characterizations. Finally, Gene asked him which one he wanted to do and Jimmy said "I you want an Engineer. you'll want a Scotsman," thus our beloved "Scotty" was born. For Mr. Scott's description go to http://www.scifi.com/startrek/cast/scott.html

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The "Scott" character was originally just to be a re-occurring character on board ship, but as his fellow cast members, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley were elevated in importance and used as the logical and emotional sides of Kirk, prospectively, Scotty became more important, as well and was later moved up to third in command of the Enterprise. As the series progressed the ship was many times left in his care. And why not, it was his ship after all. Sure Kirk might command her, but who could dispute that the Enterprise belonged to Scotty. Scotty's adventures on board the Enterprise as Chief Engineer led many to pursue a career in engineering. "Milwaukee School of Engineering" ultimately granted Mr. Doohan an honorary degree in engineering as a result of said inspiration. I my self became and engineer for many reasons, but one of them was remembering Scotty down in engineering saving the day. It ain't easy folks, but it has its own rewards. To this day, posters and pitures of "Scotty" can be found in Engineering Universities around the world. NBC, in it's short sightedness, cancelled the chow in 1969, even after a letter writing campaign that dumped thousands of letters on the desks of NBC executives. Though it was canceled in 69, it didn't become popular until the 70's, after it was released into syndication. Jame Doohan had a long term distaste for fellow Trek star William Shatner and often accused him of "Showboating" and trying to keep the rest of the cast in the background. Shatner tried to make amends in the 90's, but Doohan would have none of it. There was apparently never a reconciliation reached between the two. Unfortunate.

The 70's were rough on Mr. Doohan, though he was still working in television and movies, the work was infrequent and erratic. It was during this time that Jimmy did much of the voice work for "Star Trek" (The Animated Version). He not only did the voice for Mr. Scott, but did many of the other voices for characters as well.

But Let's warp back to "71" and here it in his own words. Don't you love time travel?

"I did a movie called "Man in the Wilderness" with Richard Harris in Spain, in 1971. When I came back, I would go to producers' offices and the secretaries would go 'Oh hi Scotty!..... And then the producer would say 'we don't have a part for a Scotsman.'"

"[The]First 25 years of my life I never had to worry about [money]. Then "Star Trek" came along and I was in reruns every night of the week." There was a time....72-75 [that] I wasn't making a living."

Before the "Star Trek" franchise was revived he was having a hard time finding steady work and supported himself doing the convention circuit and personal appearances.

Roddenberry and Paramount bounced back and forth between whether or not to make another series, or perhaps if they should go ahead with a movie, during the mid to late seventies. Much of the primary cast was signed, or in negotiations, during this time, including Mr. Doohan.

Finally, in 78 "Star Trek" started preproduction work for the motion picture. This after much haggling back and forth between the studio execs and Roddenbery on whether they were going to make it a television show, or a movie. [See Star Trek Phase II] At any rate, this where James got first got back into the "Trek" saddle, he started out grunting and growling what existed of the revised Klingons language. He eventually devised the origins of the Klingon and Vulcan languages, with his linguistics skills. With The beginning of the Trek movie franchise and his demand at the conventions Doohan was again riding the wave, of success and acknowledgement.