Born: March 3, 1920
Died: July 20, 2005

Canadian-born actor James Doohan trained for his career at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse and built much of his reputation upon his uncanny skill at foreign dialects. It was director James_Goldstone who in 1965 suggested that Doohan audition for the supporting role of chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star_Trek. After trying out a variety of accents during the audition, Doohan latched onto a Scottish brogue which tickled the fancy of Trek producer Gene_Roddenberry. Thus, the chief engineer was dubbed Scotty -- or, more formally, Lt. Montgomery Scott (Montgomery happened to be Doohan's middle name). The actor remained in the role until Star_Trek's cancellation in 1969, subsequently reviving the character for the 1974 cartoon series and the many theatrical films. Though he most assuredly had a career outside of Scotty (among many other projects, he was one of the stars of the 1979 Saturday-morning TV series Jason of Star Command), Doohan has frequently been called upon to play variations of the character in film and TV projects ranging from National_Lampoon's_Loaded_Weapon_1 to Knight_Rider_2000. Hal Erickson, Rovi

Browse More Actors:
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z