Leonard Nimoy: A look back at his fascinating life (pictures)

Nimoy, who died Friday at 83, was an actor, filmmaker, writer and artist, but there's no denying he'll always be remembered as Mr. Spock.

Anne Dujmovic

Feb. 27, 2015 1:40 p.m. PT

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Photo by CBS via Getty Images

Leonard Nimoy, who died Friday at 83, was an actor, filmmaker, writer and artist, but there's no denying he will always be remembered for his role as the half-human, half-Vulcan Mr. Spock on "Star Trek." This still is from the episode "Charlie X," which first aired in September 1966.

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Photo by CBS via Getty Images

From left: William Shatner as Kirk, Nimoy, and James Doohan as Scotty have their hands full in the iconic episode "The Trouble With Tribbles," which aired in the second season.

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CBS Photo Archive

Set your phasers to stun. DeForest Kelley as McCoy and Nimoy in "A Piece of the Action," which aired in 1968, season 2.

One of Nimoy's oft-repeated lines as Spock was simply the word "fascinating."

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Photo by CBS via Getty Images

In the episode "The Way to Eden," which first aired in 1969, Deborah Downey and Nimoy make music together.

The actor in later years wrote poetry and became a fine-art photographer, and had books published of his work.

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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Nimoy, in fact, did make music too. In 1968, the actor sang on "The Dick Clark Show."

He released a handful of albums, which included -- famously or infamously -- "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Proud Mary."

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CBS Photo Archive

After "Star Trek," Nimoy starred in the TV series "Mission Impossible" from 1969-71. (He's shown here with Lee Meriweather.)

The actor, who followed other artistic pursuits over the years, will always be most closely linked to his role on "Star Trek."

Nimoy wrote a couple of autobiographies, one titled “I Am Not Spock,” which came out in 1977, and “I Am Spock,” published in 1995.

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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Nimoy, DeForest Kelley (second from right) and William Shatner (far right) with Gene Roddenberry and director Robert Wise (seated) on the set of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in the US in December 1979.

Nimoy directed two movies in the franchise, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." He also directed TV shows and the hit movie "Three Men and a Baby."

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NASA

Nimoy (in white pants) joined the "Star Trek" cast and NASA officials in 1976 at the rollout of the space shuttle Enterprise.

The outpouring Friday on social media following Nimoy's death showed the influence that he and the series had on people, including employees at a particular space agency.

NASA tweeted Friday: "RIP Leonard Nimoy. So many of us at NASA were inspired by Star Trek. Boldly go..."

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Photo by Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images

In 2002 in Los Angeles, an exhibit featured Nimoy's photography from his book "Shekhina," a series of black-and-white erotic images that caused controversy in the Jewish community.

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Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Nimoy, who had a role in the J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" reboot and the sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness," demonstrates Spock's Vulcan salute. Nimoy said he came up with the idea, basing it on "the kohanic blessing, a manual approximation of the Hebrew letter shin, which is the first letter in Shaddai, one of the Hebrew names for God," according to The New York Times.

As Spock might say, Nimoy lived long and prospered.