LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series and movies who responded to the command “Beam me up, Scotty,” died yesterday. He was 85.
Mr. Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 31 years, Wende, at his side, said Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens.
The cause of death was pneumonia, Mr. Stevens said.
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Mr. Doohan received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in August and said farewell to public life shortly after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease earlier in 2004.
The debilitating condition also played a role in his death, Mr. Stevens said.
Mr. Doohan told his family that he wanted his ashes blasted into space, Mr. Stevens said. Houston-based Space Services Inc., which specializes in space memorials, said it would send Mr. Doohan’s remains, with those of 125 others, aboard a rocket later this year.
He will join “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, whose ashes were launched into space six years after his 1991 death.
The Canadian-born Mr. Doohan was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven accents.
“The producers asked me which one I preferred,” Mr. Doohan said 30 years later. “I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, ’If this character is going to be an engineer, you’d better make him a Scotsman.’”
The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science-fiction fans, but not enough ratings. NBC canceled it after three seasons.
“I knew Jim when he started out in Canada, and I knew him in his last years in America, so we go way back. My condolences go out to his family,” Mr. Shatner said.
When the series ended in 1969, Mr. Doohan found himself typecast as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, the canny engineer with a burr in his voice. In 1973, he complained to his dentist, who advised him: “Jimmy, you’re going to be Scotty long after you’re dead. If I were you, I’d go with the flow.”
“I took his advice,” Mr. Doohan said. “And since then everything’s been just lovely.”
“Star Trek” continued in syndication and its following grew larger and more dedicated. In his later years, Mr. Doohan attended 40 “Trekkie” gatherings nationwide and lectured at colleges.
The huge success of “Star Wars” in 1977 prompted Paramount Pictures to bring back the TV cast to make a movie. “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” was successful enough to spawn both a string of movie sequels and several TV series, with different characters and actors.
James Montgomery Doohan was born March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia. At 19, he escaped an alcoholic father by joining the Canadian army and was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day.
“The sea was rough,” he said. “We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans.”
At 11:30 that night, he took six hits from machine guns: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on-screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. The chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.
Mr. Doohan’s first marriage produced four children. He had two children by his second marriage. Both marriages ended in divorce. In 1974, he married Wende Braunberger, and their children were Eric, Thomas and Sarah, who was born in 2000, when Mr. Doohan was 80.
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