James Doohan, the actor best known for playing Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on the original 'Star Trek' series, died Wednesday morning at the age of 85.
Doohan died at his home in Redmond, Washington with his wife, Wende, by his side according to his agent and friend Steve Stevens. The cause of death was listed as pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.
Doohan was a relatively unknown character actor when he auditioned for the part of the chief engineer of the USS Enterprise in 1966. The Canadian-born actor specialized in accents and tried seven different ones at his audition.
'The producers asked me which one I preferred,' Doohan recalled in a 1996 interview. '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.''
After the series was canceled in 1969, Doohan found himself typecast as 'Scotty.' At first, it bothered him but his dentist advised him to enjoy it.
Doohan recalled his dentist told 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,' said Doohan, 'and since then everything's been just lovely.'
In 1979, Paramount decided to bring back the original cast of the television series and produce 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture.' Although the film received mixed reviews, it did very well at the box office as devoted fans of the series saw it again and again. Five sequels were later produced and Doohan appeared in all of them. He also made a guest appearance on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' as Scotty.
Doohan was born March 3, 1920 in Vancouver, Canada. He later served with Canadian forces in World War II and stormed the beaches at Normandy.
'The sea was rough,' Doohan recalled. 'We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans.'
Doohan took six bullets at Normandy including one that took off the middle finger of his right hand. He also was shot in the chest but a silver cigarette case stopped the bullet before it did any serious damage.
Doohan was married three times. He had four children with his first wife, Judy. His second marriage to the former Anita Yagel produced two more children. Both marriages ended in divorce. In 1974, he married his present wife, Wende Braunberger. They have three children, the youngest of whom was born in 2000 when the actor was 80.
Doohan later wrote his autobiography called 'Beam Me Up Scotty,' the most famous phrase his character heard on the original 'Star Trek' series.
In the book, he complained that William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, was a bit of a camera hog.
'I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself,' Doohan wrote.
Doohan became the second major cast member from the original series to pass away. DeForest Kelly, who played Doctor McCoy, died in 1999.
