James Doohan

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Doohan in an episode of The Twilight Zone (1963)
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Doohan in an episode of The Twilight Zone (1963)

James Montgomery Doohan (March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was an Irish Canadian character and voice actor who portrayed Scotty in the television and film series Star Trek. Next to Spock's ears, Doohan's characterization of the Scottish Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise was one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise.

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[edit] Early life

Doohan (pronounced DOO-en) was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the youngest of four children of William and Sarah Doohan, recent Catholic refugees from mainly Protestant Belfast during the Irish War of Independence (also known as the Anglo-Irish War). His family later moved to Sarnia, Ontario where he attended high school at the Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School (SCITS) where he excelled in mathematics and science. Doohan's father, who worked at times as a dentist, pharmacist, and veterinarian, is said to have invented an early form of high-octane gasoline in 1923. According to Doohan's autobiography, his father was an alcoholic who tormented his family.

[edit] Military service

At the outbreak of the Second World War, aged 19, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery, and was eventually commissioned as a lieutenant in the 13th Field Regiment, part of the divisional artillery of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Doohan went to the United Kingdom in 1940 for what became years of training. His first combat assignment was the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers along the way, Doohan led his unit to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines and took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan took six hits from a Bren gun fired by a nervous sentry[1]: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case, and the shot finger was amputated (during his later screen acting career he would generally conceal this).

Despite his wounds, Doohan remained in the military, trained as a pilot and flew an artillery observation plane. He flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF, as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in a flying role in support of #1 Canadian AGRA (Army Groups Royal Artillery). All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF Squadrons were manned by Artillery Officer-pilots and 'aircrewed' by Artillery personnel serving as observers.[2][3] Though never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was once labeled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Forces".

[edit] Early acting career

After the war, Doohan started his acting career after being disheartened by the laughable quality of a radio drama, leading him to privately study Shakespeare, and with his first work a CBC radio show appearance on January 12, 1946. He took a drama class in Toronto, and later won a two-year scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where classmates included fellow Canadian Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone. For several years he would shuttle between Toronto and New York as work demanded. During this period Doohan appeared on some 4000 radio programs and 400 television programs, and earned a reputation for his versatility. In the mid-1950s he appeared as forest ranger "Timber Tom" (the northern counterpart of Buffalo Bob) in the Canadian version of Howdy Doody (coincidentally, fellow Canadian and Star Trek castmate William Shatner appeared simultaneously as Ranger Bill in the American original).

Doohan also played the lead role in the CBC TV drama production "Flight into Danger", based on Arthur Hailey's novel Runway Zero-Eight, later adapted as Terror in the Sky and spoofed in Airplane!. His credits also included The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Bewitched (episode 12, season 2) and Fantasy Island.

[edit] Star Trek

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Doohan in a 1980s Star Trek publicity shot
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Doohan in a 1980s Star Trek publicity shot

Doohan always had a gift for using foreign accents. Auditioning for the role of Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise, before Gene Roddenberry (the creator of Star Trek), Doohan did several different accents. Roddenberry asked which he preferred, and Doohan reportedly replied "If you're going to have an engineer, you'd better make him Scottish" (or "All the world's best engineers have been Scottish"). In later years he would revisit this casting process at Star Trek conventions, demonstrating a variety of possible voices and characters. When Roddenberry produced Star Trek: The Animated Series in the early 1970s, Doohan's ability to perform different voices was utilized by having him perform most "guest star" male roles in the series, including Robert April, conjectured first captain of the Enterprise.

The Scott character, as conceived, would have been a semi-regular, but just as fellow cast members Leonard Nimoy, as the alien science officer Spock, and DeForest Kelley, as the irascible medical officer Dr. McCoy, were elevated in importance to leads alongside William Shatner's Capt. James T. Kirk, it was made clear that Lt. Cmdr. Scott was the third-in-command of the Enterprise and at times the ship was left in his care. Scott was frequently used in subplots regarding disabled ship components (such as the dilithium crystals which powered the warp drive, the transporter teleportation device, or just fiddling in the Jefferies tubes) and as a foil for Kirk's ambitious tactical approaches, which were said to strain the propulsion and defenses of the starship. In the end, many fans saw the Enterprise itself as the show's star, leaving Scott in an enviable position as her defender. For example, in "The Trouble With Tribbles", Scotty allowed Klingons to insult Kirk repeatedly, but was only provoked to violence when the Klingons insulted the Enterprise. Doohan was often quoted as saying, "Scotty is 99% James Doohan and 1% accent."

Using his considerable vocal skills, Doohan devised the Vulcan and Klingon language dialogue heard in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Later, professional linguists, particularly Marc Okrand, expanded Klingon into a fully constructed language with a working grammar.

After the series ended, Doohan found himself typecast and had a hard time getting other acting roles. After a conversation with his dentist, he realized that he would "always be Scotty", and he was able to support himself with income from personal appearances. Otherwise, he had minor, fleeting parts, often trading on his Trek fame, such as the Captain in the short-lived Saturday morning live-action kids' show, Jason of Star Command, or a cameo in the made-for-TV movie Knight Rider 2000 as "Jimmy Doohan, the guy who played Scotty on Star Trek". When the Star Trek franchise was revived, Doohan reprised his role of Scotty in seven Star Trek films and made a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of which left him financially comfortable. Even so, he would never return to the busy, versatile career he once had.

Doohan was once quoted as saying "I like Captain Kirk, but I can't say that I'm very fond of Bill [Shatner]." He openly despised his fellow Canadian (as did fellow Star Trek actor George Takei), making public statements on radio shows, especially the Howard Stern Show. Doohan accused Shatner of showboating, stealing lines, and trying to keep other actors in the background. On the other hand, an Associated Press article published at the time of Doohan's final convention appearance in late August 2004 stated that Doohan had forgiven Shatner and they had mended their relationship.

[edit] Later life and death


Doohan at the first Swiss Star Trek Convention in Lucerne, spring 1997.
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Doohan at the first Swiss Star Trek Convention in Lucerne, spring 1997.

Doohan suffered from Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and lung fibrosis in later life. In 2004, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. On July 20, 2005, at 5:30 in the morning, he died at his home in Redmond, Washington with his wife Wende and long-time friend (and agent) Steve Stevens at his side. His agent identified the cause as pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Doohan's ashes are to be sent into space at his request. Space burial firm Space Services, Inc. confirmed that he had arranged for his cremated ashes to be released into Earth orbit, and are scheduled to be on the Explorers Flight, a Falcon 1 rocket to be launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. Initially scheduled for mid-2006, the launch was postponed after a failure during the March 2006 maiden flight of the rocket class, and is now expected to take place in late November or early December of 2006.[4] The remains of more than 120 others will also be on the flight, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, Mareta West (the astrogeologist who determined the site of the first spaceflight landing on the moon), and Star Trek writer John Meredyth Lucas, who died in 2002.


[edit] Legacy

Doohan's Walk of Fame star on Hollywood shortly after his death.
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Doohan's Walk of Fame star on Hollywood shortly after his death.

Doohan was the second member of the original Star Trek cast to die, after DeForest Kelley, who died in 1999.

Scotty's exploits as the redoubtable Chief Engineer aboard the Enterprise inspired many students to pursue a career in engineering. Because of this the Milwaukee School of Engineering granted Doohan an honorary degree in engineering. He was immortalised with a star in Hollywood's Walk of Fame on August 31, 2004.

Since in Star Trek lore Scotty was born in the town of Linlithgow, Scotland, the West Lothian Council plans to place a commemorative plaque in the town in memory of Doohan. Other towns have groups claiming to be Scotty's birthplace and wishing memorials are Aberdeen, Elgin, and Edinburgh.

In an ironic coincidence, he died on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, arguably the greatest engineering achievement in human history.

[edit] As a writer

Doohan, with the assistance of longtime Star Trek author Peter David, wrote an autobiography entitled Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek's "Scotty" in his own words (1996, ISBN 0-671-52056-3)

He collaborated on a series of three science fiction novels with S.M. Stirling:

[edit] Private life

Doohan was married three times. He had four children, Larkin, Deirdre, and twins Christopher and Montgomery, with first wife Janet Young before a 1964 divorce. A marriage to Anita Yagel from 1967 to 1972 produced no children. In early 1974, he was introduced to 17-year-old fan Wende Braunberger at a theatre performance, and they later married the same year on October 4, 1974. The best man for the wedding was fellow Trek actor, William Campbell.

The children from that union were Eric, Thomas, and Sarah, who was born in 2000, when Doohan was 80.

  • Doohan, James. Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek's "Scotty" in his own words/ James Doohan with Peter David. New York: Pocket Books, 1996. pgs. 169-170. (ISBN 0-671-52056-3)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Graves, Donald E. Century of Service p.244
  2. ^ (2006) Battle History 666. Calgary: Abel Book Company.
  3. ^ Fromow, Lieutenant-Colonel D.L. (2002). Canada's Flying Gunners. Ottawa: Air O.P. Pilot's Association.
  4. ^ {{cite web url=http://www.spacex.com/index.html?section=falcon&content=http%3A//www.spacex.com/falcon_i.php title=Updates publisher=SpaceX accessdate=2006-11-05}}

[edit] External links

Major Cast Members of Star Trek: The Original Series
William Shatner • Leonard Nimoy • DeForest Kelley • James Doohan • Nichelle Nichols • George Takei • Walter Koenig
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