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July 20, 2005

James "Scotty" Doohan, R.I.P.

The Lord thought it was time to beam him up to a better place.

He was a veteran of D-Day, and, of course, he didn't like Bill Shatner:

The powerfully built Doohan, a veteran of D-Day in Normandy, spoke frankly in 1998 about his employer and his TV commander.
"I started out in the series at basic minimum_ plus 10 percent for my agent. That was added a little bit in the second year. When we finally got to our third year, Paramount told us we'd get second-year pay! That's how much they loved us."

He accused Shatner of hogging the camera, adding: "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself."

James Montgomery Doohan was born March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia, youngest of four children of William Doohan, a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist, and his wife Sarah. As he wrote in his autobiography, "Beam Me Up, Scotty," his father was a drunk who made life miserable for his wife and children.

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: 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. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

I never knew he lost a finger. Did anyone else? And six hits from a machine-gun... damnit, Fiddy Cent is looking like a real pussy now.

Thanks to cameo.

posted by Ace at 12:25 PM

Comments

Oh man. No.

Give him his pic

http://www.smithway.org/fanpix/vip/vip-01.jpg

Posted by: Hoke on July 20, 2005 12:27 PM

Sired a child at age 80??? Jeebus!

Posted by: lauraw on July 20, 2005 12:39 PM

Never really saw any of his work, but sounds like he was a hell of a guy. RIP

Posted by: brak on July 20, 2005 12:43 PM

RIP, Jimmy. You were really hot in your day. I shall wear my black G-string in remembrance: black for your death, and a g-string because the design took some engineering skills.

And Ace, yeah, I knew he was missing a finger and it was only visible in two Star Trek episodes. (You would kind of expect me to know that, wouldn't you?) When I was 17 I worked at a convention he was the guest at, but I NEVER saw him because he was constantly swarmed by fans. And I wasn't really that interested to see him anyway as I've never been a Trekkie.

Later,
bbeck

Posted by: bbeck on July 20, 2005 12:48 PM

I never knew he took six machinegun rounds on Juno Beach. Now I know why I always had confidence when he'd take the con.

My favorite Scotty episode was "Enterprise Incident." In addition to his staring down three battlecruisers without blinking, he had that wonderful "Captain...? Captain Kirk." moment. Not only did his face show pleasure at discovering Kirk was alive, but you could see the glee as it dawned on him that the whole thing was a Federation secret mission.

Kirk: "Do we still have those Romulan officers in the brig?"
Scotty: "Aye."
Kirk: "I'll need a Romulan uniform."
Scotty: "It'll be a pleasure."

Thirty-five years of pleasure and counting.
James Doohan, RIP.

Posted by: mputtre on July 20, 2005 12:53 PM

A smart conservative with a black g-string. To really get the full affect, you'll have to wear it upside down on your head, so's it looks more like the Star Trek symbol on the uniforms.

Posted by: compos mentis on July 20, 2005 12:56 PM

Yup, Doohan hid the missing finger quite well.

RIP, Scotty.

Posted by: Sailor Kenshin on July 20, 2005 01:01 PM

Compos, I let my husband do that. :)

I just called him and told him the news at work. I'm sure he's spreading the word there as he works with a couple of Trekkies.

Later,
bbeck

Posted by: bbeck on July 20, 2005 01:01 PM

Good thing he was a smoker, huh?

I'll miss him...

Posted by: Mark_D on July 20, 2005 01:23 PM

Didn't he also invent Vulcan and Klingon languages? Or is that urban legend?

Posted by: vilmar on July 20, 2005 01:35 PM

OOOPS! No, he did not. This is what happens when you don't do due diligence. Please ignore comment above.
(slinks off, embarassed)

Posted by: vilmar on July 20, 2005 01:49 PM

RIP Scotty.

I didn't even know he was wounded at Normandy. And apparently smoking saved his life. At least from another bullet in the chest.

Posted by: Dave in Texas on July 20, 2005 02:02 PM

Yes, according to his autobiography, James Doohan has four fingers on his right hand, having lost a finger to a German bullet. When he showed up at the aid station asking for help with his hand, the doctor said, "Sure. You want some help with that leg, too?"
Had four bullets in the flesh and hadn't noticed, the hand had hurt so much.

In the famous scene where he points to the self-destruct controls of the USS Constellation, saying to Kirk that thirty seconds after he presses that button, POOF! ... he had to use a stuntman's hand as a double.

Posted by: Steve Johnson on July 20, 2005 03:08 PM

The close-ups of Scotty moving levers on the Transporter were also done with hand-doubles.

He did most of the voices for the ST animated series.

Rumor has it that Jimmy Doohan was so tough he actually once blocked Bob Dole's Cock. A stalemate of titans, indeed.

I still tear up (SHUT IT!) at that scene in STII where Scotty is carrying his almost-dead nephew onto the bridge, cut to sickbay, then the boy asks, "Is the word given?"

Posted by: Lapsed Leftist on July 20, 2005 03:23 PM

I always wondered about that scene.

Your dying nephew needs a doctor, where do you take him?

A) Sickbay
B) "Shore Leave" planet (They fixed up McCoy and threw in some Playboy Bunnies to boot)
C) Talos IV (Pike outted himself and needs a new "friend")
D) To the freakin' BRIDGE?

Sorry, Scotty, your nephew died because you picked "D" and didn't get him to sickbay in time.

Posted by: Rob@L&R on July 20, 2005 04:42 PM

He seemed like a nice man. I saw him at a convention once. He was about 20 feet away. Jovial, talking to everyone. Always a Big smile.

So long, Scotty. You do have the power.

Posted by: rdbrewer on July 20, 2005 04:44 PM

Doohan appears in the documentary "Trekkies", and comes across as a sane and a genuinely nice man. He tells how he used the Scotty persona to help a person who was depressed and contemplating suicide. I had no idea he was a D-Day vet; but it doesn't shock me. The Maker has beamed "Scotty" up: Requiscat in pacem.

Posted by: Brown Line on July 20, 2005 08:19 PM

A typical Canadian that was. We'll get back there. RIP.

Posted by: Fred Z on July 21, 2005 12:37 AM

pacE.

Pacem is motion towards.

Posted by: Knemon on July 25, 2005 03:29 AM

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