Doohan
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — James Doohan
— 4 years ago(August 19, 2021 10:01 AM)Doohan
was a '
Star Trek
' legend but did you know he was
Leslie Nielsen
’s classmate?!
James Doohan
is a man of many talents and interesting bits of trivia. Firstly, he wasn’t
Scottish
, he’s
Canadian
. Despite his wonderful accent as
Montgomery
“
Scotty
”
Scott
, it didn’t come to him honestly. He created his accent while developing the character. His voice work would also serve him well as he played several characters on 'Star Trek' the animated series, and even helped create the
Klingon
and
Vulcan
languages for the franchise.
In another bit of interesting trivia, he also acted with
Gene Roddenberry
’s future wife, and actress on several '
Star Trek
' properties in her own right,
Majel Barrett
. The two worked on the 60s cowboy-western, '
Bonanza
' together. The duo were in the season two episode, “
Gift of the Water
”.
What you may not have known is that
Doohan
was a classmate of one comedy legend,
Leslie Nielsen
.
James Doohan
went to school with
Leslie Nielsen
and
Tony Randall
:
Doohan
wasn’t some bright-eyed and bushy-tailed teenager when he went to acting school. Having charged Juno Beach on D-Day as a member of
Canada
’
s Royal Canadian Artillery
,
Doohan
was battled tested for real. It’s rather fitting he was because, like his classmate,
Leslie Nielsen
was also enlisted in the
Canadian
military during World War II. Only as a member of the
Canadian Air Force
.
Upon the end of the war, both men ended up at the
Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater
. According to
Heroes and Icons
’ website, the two were classmates together at the
New York
-based school and even shared space with none other than
Tony Randall
.
After
World War II
, the aspiring actor earned a scholarship to the
Neighborhood Playhouse
in
New York City
. Fellow students in the conservatory included fellow future television stars
Randall
and
Nielsen
.
It’s rather interesting to see just how talented the two men became in their careers, with
Doohan
really nailing a wide arrange of voices, and
Nielsen
’s comedy-timing being second to none. It clearly shows how strong the school is at teaching. The school also helped produce some of the biggest names out there, people like
Jeff Goldblum
,
Kim Basinger
,
Steve McQueen
, and
Christopher Meloni
were all students there at some point.
Another student who went there? A fellow '
Star Trek
' alumni and
Doohan
’s co-star on '
Star Trek
';
Walter Koening
. The two didn’t attend at the same time, but it’s still rather interesting to see the studio produce such great talent who would one day work with one another.
“Call a SPADE, a SPADE; and a TRANNY, a TRANNY, or an IT!!!”.
"THAT'S SOME BAD
SHIT
,
HARRY
!".