It still makes me sad that Shatner and Nimoy were estranged when Nimoy died?

Does anyone know why they were estranged when Nimoy died? Those two were as close as brothers for such a long time. It was heartbreaking to hear they weren't even talking to each other at the time of Nimoy's death.

I just hope that whenever they see each other again, they'll once again be as close as brothers.

 

Were they necessarily 'as close as brothers' do you think? Or did they work together on and off for 25 years and have a rise and fall sort of friendship centred around that?

 

I think there's a tendency (probably a natural one in all fairness) amongst fandoms to want the relationship their heroes have on screen to be replicated in the real world - yeah it'll happen now and again, but most of the time these people are just people employed to do a job just like the rest of us are in our own working lives.

You'll work somewhere for seven years, develop friendships and these might be close friendships, but expecting people to be 'like brothers' just because they've worked closely for a few years is unrealistic in my opinion.

 

To give the OP credit, that's how they played it up. Both Shatner and Nimoy protrayed their relationship as brotherly especially from the film years onward. Whether or not that was for fans/media tie-ins is open for debate.

 

I'm currently reading "Live Long And..." by Shatner, who mentions how close they were and that Nimoy had referred to their relationship as "brothers", and for his part Shatner says Nimoy was the only true close friend he ever had. Shatner also expresses his bewilderment at why Nimoy stopped taking his calls and that he felt he wasn't welcome at the funeral.

 

Probably Nimoy finally had the chance to see "The Captains" and had one of his BLOW UPS, Nimoy had the reputation of having a terrible temper. If he declined to be in something and then someone goes behind his back and release footage he didn't want to be a part of... well, Nimoy had every right not to speak to Shatner any longer. Business can get personal.

 

i way i see it from reading various autobios, interviews etc is that they had their ups and downs. it just so happened it ended on a 'down'

throughout TOS it appears they were professional rivals counting lines etc, nimoy becoming more popular sacks of fan mail leading to season 2 more spockcentric, shatner miffed/paranoid as was the lead..nimoy elevated to co-star/almost star

then with the movies possibly because they had favoured nation contracts (Shatner wants a pay rise so Nimoy gets one too and vice versa etc) they became best friends, best man at weddings, there for each other at the divorce/tragedies etc. Nimoy takes advantage of Spocks death to direct so Shatner follows (although initially Shatner mustve been abit put out Nimoy was directing before he realised it would eventually come his way. although Nimoys success with III/IV/3Men and Shatners failure with V mustve stung abit).

then after the movies they obviously kept in regular contact with each other and did conventions and documentaries, Raw Nerve etc.. but most likely drifted apart with families, life events, age etc (and perhaps some of that old rivalry element may have resurfaced when Nimoy was hired for ST09 and Shatner wasnt needed)...until Shatner delivered the absolute body blow betrayal of 'The Captains' (see post above) that possibly tapped into a 'raw nerve' of Nimoys bringing back painful memories of Paramount using his likeness without permission for all those 70s 'Lost Years' culminating in the infamous UK Heineken beer advert, and Nimoy was perhaps aghast at shatners insensitivity? (it either being shatners fault thinking itd be ok or forgetting/not realising its impact, or one of the ones who helped put the doc together?)

its also possible Nimoy didnt want Shatner to see him in a weakened state as his illness progressed so chose to break off contact? (i read about a similar scenario with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) or maybe just had had enough of him by then (too exhausting dealing with Duracell bunny Shatner)

and regarding the funeral we've learned that the Red+ charity thing was perhaps abit of a front as Shatner has since said he didnt feel welcome to attend.. maybe Nimoy and/or the family didn't want him at the funeral as it would bring an inescapable 'Wrath of Khan' element to the proceedings (Kirks at Spocks funeral but for real which would've garnered unwelcome press/fan intrusion) which would've possibly made the funeral too 'Star Trek' and too 'fantasy' in overshadowing the passing of Leonard Nimoy the man/husband/father/grandfather/actor/artist etc

 

Agreed. Shatner comes off as an opportunist who tried to make a buck on anything he can muster; the Nimoy family wouldn't want Shatner there if they believed he would try to exploit this occasion with another book or another unwarranted doc. Leonard's funeral should be about the loss and appreciation of the man and not about Shatner and his shared times with him.

 

Nimoy always seemed to have tolerated Shatner to appease the fans because he knew how much their onscreen relationship was to the fans. Referring to their relationship as “brothers” means that they could quarrel against each other which is typically not relevant in a friendship. Of course, Shatner’s ego takes it further than it should be taken. He was lucky to have a man like Nimoy in his life be his friend and it was taken for granted, especially now that he’s gone.

 

The Shatner/Nimoy relationship during the tv series is what interests me the most. There was a time where Nimoy was the most popular character on the show and it showed with the mail he received while Shatner actively tried to increase his own popularity at the expense of Spock's and Nimoy was not going to let that happen! Does anyone know the full story of this time?
JB

 

What did the family think about Leonard, Shatner's book on Nimoy? Shatner thanks Adam Nimoy in the acknowledgements at the end of the book.

 

I don't believe either Shatner (as much as I criticise him) or Nimoy are cynical enough to fake a friendship for 'fan popularity'.
The may have put up with one another moreso than other people (who did the same annoying things ) for the good of their careers.
But I don't believe for one minute that Shatner made Nimoy his best man at one of his weddings for the sake of money.
Also I doubt Shatner would not have been welcome at Nimoy's funeral but then again people are funny at weddings and funerals. My sister-in-law's mother refused to let her ex-husband attend his own son's funeral.

 

I think there is (at best) a lot of speculation and (at worst) ignorance at play in this thread, as well as a lot of judgement being passed on circumstances that nobody here is in position to truly understand.

Sorry.

Carry on.

 

Your "carry on" reminds me of Data in "Haven":

 

Then Adam Nimoy should've invited Shatner to the funeral.

Then maybe Shatner was lying he didn't feel welcome to Nimoy's funeral and was invited to the occasion after all.

 

The way I heard it, Shatner had a charity appearance in Florida that was booked before Leonard died. He thought he could do both, but then at the last minute, the Nimoy family moved the funeral up a day, to outwit what they feared would be a mass of Spock fans crowding the ceremony.

The Nimoys got the jump on unwelcome fans, but it forced Shatner to choose, and he chose to honor his prior commitment to the charity. Again, that's what I heard at the time.

 

a choice of Trek III like dilemma. honour his friend or honour his commitment to a noble cause..
-what must i do?...
-you will find a way Shatner..if you honour them both you must..
-i will.. i swear
(goes to the Red+ then does the Spock LLAP tweet made up of photos of thousands of fans)

 

It's not implausible. Some people don't like seeing a close friend/deemed family/loved one as being ill. It's not the best thing to do IMHO as emotional support is sorta a positive thing, but pride and hubris and all that can come from either side I'd guess.

Excellent point about unwanted fans "Trekking it up". Both actors were known for a lot of work, not just the iconic roles. More, it'd be up to them if they wanted people (family or strangers or anyone in between) to all come in cosplaying Star Trek or not and most of us would let their families have private time to begin with, I'd hope...

 

The bottom line is that we don't really know, and we likely aren't ever going to know. Even Shatner expressed confusion about it in his book about Nimoy. And considering that their estrangement concerns their offscreen lives and their real life relationship, it probably isn't any of our business.