Leonard Nimoy…on Mission: Impossible

[Warped9]

Recently I’ve been rewatching the 1960’s Mission: Impossible. And it’s been fun spotting actors and actresses who also appeared in TOS in rather different roles than on Mission: Impossible.

But the actor that really makes an impression is Leonard Nimoy in M:I’s fourth season as a regular cast member.

TOS had ended it’s third and final season and Nimoy supposedly felt played out with the role of Spock. He felt he was done with it. He wanted a new challenge to explore other things and other characters. And he accepts a role on a show where he is often playing a different character (impersonating actually) every week and there is really no depth to those characters.

In a nutshell nothing on Mission: Impossible gave Nimoy any substance in terms of character or depth compared to what he had been doing on Star Trek.

Not surprisingly Nimoy acknowledged this later on. Mission: Impossible had not worked out for him as he had thought it might. It was a very structured show around a simple idea that left very little room for character development. The characters of Mission: Impossible, both regular and guest, were largely types and with little meat on the bone.

Watching M:I’s fourth season I feel something is off compared to the previous seasons. I found myself missing Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Nimoy was essentially replacing Landau and very few of the guest actresses measured up against Barbara Bain. Lee Meriweather was an exception, and purportedly she actually would have liked to be a regular on the series, but apparently the producers now preferred to have a different actress every week.

Regarding Nimoy I simply couldn’t buy him as Landau’s replacement. Landau had established himself as this interesting chameleon while I can’t see Nimoy without thinking of Spock. But even more so I felt while Nimoy looked to be having fun with some of his characters he also seemed bored or uneasy with others. He looked to be having fun playing a South American guerilla fighter, but he looked uneasy as a sort of Asian intelligence officer. Seriously, how can you think to pass off Leonard Nimoy as someone Chinese? WTF?

Nimoy did two seasons on Mission: Impossible before moving on. One could say he had stayed actively employed unlike some of his fellow TOS cast members.

 

[Ssosmcin]

While I can't say I've seen everything Nimoy had done in his career, his work as Spock is so indelible, I have a hard time with anything he does that requires a lot of emotional response. So his M:I work for me varies based on the character.

I felt he was miscast in the TV movie "Baffled!" but was amazing in Invaders of the Body Snatchers.

I'm sure I'm not being fair to him, but Spock was such a breakout character and so perfect for him, anything else just seems like going against the grain.

As for M:I, I have the entire run on Blu Ray and I should revisit it, but the series falls into a sameness in story and visual feel that I just have a hard time getting into it. That damned Paramount backlot and the all too familiar guest actors keep this show from being anywhere near a regular stop for me. For the Paramount adventure shows of the era, I place this one behind Mannix.

 

[Christopher]

Seriously, how can you think to pass off Leonard Nimoy as someone Chinese? WTF?

Because American producers, actors, and audiences in the 1960s had grown up with that as a normal practice in film and TV, so they couldn't see how messed-up it was. Indeed, Nimoy's pre-Trek career was largely defined by being cast in various "ethnic" roles, usually Native Americans, because he had an "exotic" look by narrow Anglocentric standards. That's probably part of why he was cast as Spock in the first place.

For that reason, I can buy that Paris's "Chinese" disguise was able to fool the Latin American villains the team was targeting. Maybe they weren't familiar enough with real Chinese people to know the difference, and accepted it because it was what they were used to seeing in TV and movies. It's worse in season 5's "Butterfly," where Paris is supposedly able to convince real Japanese people in Japan that he's one of them. At least most of the actors playing Japanese characters in that episode were really Asian, even actually Japanese in a few cases -- except for Hawaii Five-O's Khigh Dhiegh, who made a career of playing Asians but was actually New Jersey-born Kenneth Dickerson, of English, Egyptian, and Sudanese descent.

 

[Warped9]

Yep, I feel after Season 3 it really is going through the motions. People bemoan endlessly reused music in TAS, but M:I was doing that long before.

 

[Forbin]

On the bright side, we got Lesley Ann Warren at her absolute hottest in later seasons.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Yep, I feel after Season 3 it really is going through the motions. People bemoan endlessly reused music in TAS, but M:I was doing that long before.

Well, to be fair, lots of shows did back then. Lost in Space reused John Williams' scores so often they became the signature of the show, well into the third season - even though plenty of other composers worked on it. The Fugitive music library leaned hard on Rugolo's themes (which were supposed to be library style anyway).

 

[Warped9]

To be fair Nimoy wasn’t the only one to bemoan lack of depth to the characters. I think pretty much all the regular cast felt much the same. To a large extent many of the characters had little dialogue during an episode. Greg Morrison (Barney) and Peter Lupus (Willy) would often barely utter a word throughout entire episodes as we watched them setting up their plan.

I will say that Greg Morrison’s Barney Collier was a great role for a black man back in the day. Here he was depicting a trusted and highly skilled professional in all manner of engineering and technology. It would have been sweet to have seen Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura do a tenth of what Morrison’s Barney was doing. That said it beggared belief to see Barney dressed up as a cop or security officer in some fictitious Eastern European country.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I feel like if Nichelle were male, you would have seen a lot more out of the character. Lloyd Haynes may have had a much larger part considering how much Morris and Cosby were doing on their shows compared to Nichelle. Gail Fisher had a better spot on Mannix than Nichelle did on Trek. But Nichelle did achieve a higher level of immortality thanks to Star Trek.

Nichelle was good! That's the real shame. I always loved her contributions to the series.

 

[Christopher]

Yep, I feel after Season 3 it really is going through the motions.

In season 4, yeah, but season 5 revitalizes the show and deconstructs a lot of its tropes, as well as doing at least a few episodes that delved more into the characters. It gets more formulaic again in seasons 6-7, though.

People bemoan endlessly reused music in TAS, but M:I was doing that long before.

Standard practice in Hollywood for decades, before musicians' and composers' unions got the rules changed so that every episode had to have an original score (though there's still a lot of stock music used in shows from other countries, e.g. Canada or Japan). The norm in the '60s-'70s was to commission original scores for between a third and a half of the season, then track them in as stock in the rest of the season. In the '50s, and before that in movie serials, it was often common to compose a generic set of library cues to be tracked into different episodes as needed, and sometimes there were general library cues that could be rented by multiple shows. Of course, those of us who grew up in the '70s and '80s remember all the repeated library cues in Saturday morning and syndicated kids' shows.

I've always actually liked it when shows reuse music cues frequently, because it gives me a chance to memorize them.

To be fair Nimoy wasn’t the only one to bemoan lack of depth to the characters. I think pretty much all the regular cast felt much the same. To a large extent many of the characters had little dialogue during an episode. Greg Morrison (Barney) and Peter Lupus (Willy) would often barely utter a word throughout entire episodes as we watched them setting up their plan.

I realized some years back that M:I has a lot in common with CSI -- both rely heavily on long wordless sequences of experts doing meticulous work set to prominent music cues. M:I had some really terrific music.

I will say that Greg Morrison’s Barney Collier was a great role for a black man back in the day. Here he was depicting a trusted and highly skilled professional in all manner of engineering and technology. It would have been sweet to have seen Nichelle Nichols’ Uhura do a tenth of what Morrison’s Barney was doing.

Right. Early on, it seemed that Barney did mostly get relegated to the background, probably for racial reasons; but over time, Greg Morris proved himself such a stalwart member of the cast that he became more central, eventually even leading the team in a couple of episodes.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I've always actually liked it when shows reuse music cues frequently, because it gives me a chance to memorize them.

Same. I'd even argue that Star Trek's music wouldn't be as famous if there was a new score every week. As a kid, I was excited when my favorite cues got a replay in an episode. For all of the amazing music in later Trek shows, very few of them stuck with me, although a few certainly did.

 

[Christopher]

Same. I'd even argue that Star Trek's music wouldn't be as famous if there was a new score every week. As a kid, I was excited when my favorite cues got a replay in an episode. For all of the amazing music in later Trek shows, very few of them stuck with me, although a few certainly did.

For the most part, I agree with you, but I think that when it comes to Trek, most of us watched the episodes over and over so many dozens of times that we probably would've still memorized the music even if they hadn't repeated it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Seriously, how can you think to pass off Leonard Nimoy as someone Chinese? WTF?

He was hardly the only white actor to be cast as an Asian. Ricardo Montalban playing Japanese in Hawai'i 5-0. Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu. David Carradine as Caine in Kung Fu. Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

 

[Warped9]

He was hardly the only white actor to be cast as an Asian. Ricardo Montalban playing Japanese in Hawai'i 5-0. Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu. David Carradine as Caine in Kung Fu. Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Yeah, I know it was regularly done then. It just really stuck out when I recently watched this episode.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

On the bright side, we got Lesley Ann Warren at her absolute hottest in later seasons.

I'm at work so I don't have my 'M:I' book handy, but I do know that Lesley Ann Warren was married to Jon Peters at the time and cast and crew interviewed for the book recall Peters being a constant presence on the set and pulling Lesley aside after takes telling her how she should play the scenes better; which is one of the reasons she looks uncomfortable and self conscious on screen, because Peters was just off camera watching her performance.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I will say that Greg Morrison’s Barney Collier was a great role for a black man back in the day. Here he was depicting a trusted and highly skilled professional in all manner of engineering and technology.

Right. Early on, it seemed that Barney did mostly get relegated to the background, probably for racial reasons; but over time, Greg Morris proved himself such a stalwart member of the cast that he became more central, eventually even leading the team in a couple of episodes.

From the 'M:I' book.
"We considered at least two dozen actors for the role," said Bruce (Geller), "and we decided on Greg for two reasons. First, we were familiar with his work and knew he could act. And second, he was physically qualified for the part. He is tall and athletic, and he can scale a wall and throw a punch, which is what is required of Barney Collier in many situations." That Greg was black had no bearing on the decision. In fact, while accepting an Image Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Geller admitted, "If Greg Morris had turned down the role of Barney, my next choice was a blue-eyed, blonde Scandinavian." Race was never a factor; Geller just wanted the best man for the part.
After the pilot sold, Geller and Morris discussed the future of Barney Collier, and how they would handle the concept of a black man operating in certain areas of the world that were essentially all white. "If it becomes necessary," Greg offered, "that as part of the plot I am a chauffeur or a doorman, it doesn't bother me one iota." At times it was necessary, but the subject was usually avoided by never acknowledging the fact that Barney was black. The topic was so studiously ignored that Greg's mother was often told by viewers, "You know, there are times when I forgot that he's black."
Curiously, some blacks were offended that Barney's race was not an issue. An intellectual black women once asked Greg to justify Barney's presence in Eastern bloc countries. His answer, "Have you ever seen African students in Russia?" The woman's reply, "You win." Says Greg, "Her question was an honest one, which I answered honestly. On the other hand, a very famous black musician once told me, 'Now my son's got a show he can watch'; someone else said that I had turned his son around; on another occasion a boy told me, 'Before that show I didn't know what I wanted to be. Now I want to be an engineer.' Before he started watching the show he was about to flunk out of school."

 

[Warped9]

^^ Whether it was intentional or not it was the right role for the right actor at the right time that made a powerful statement with lasting impact.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

Watching M:I’s fourth season I feel something is off compared to the previous seasons. I found myself missing Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Nimoy was essentially replacing Landau and very few of the guest actresses measured up against Barbara Bain. Lee Meriweather was an exception, and purportedly she actually would have liked to be a regular on the series, but apparently the producers now preferred to have a different actress every week.

Without going into too much detail about the departures of Landau and Bain, the reason that there was a rotating cast of female operatives in the fourth season of 'M:I' was due in part to the contract dispute Barbara had with the studio. The studio (Paramount) could not hire a full-time female replacement while Barbara was still under contract with the studio.
Long story short - Barbara received her official year four pickup notice on April 9. During this time, Martin Landau had let it be known that he would not be returning for the fourth season due to a salary dispute. It was also reported in the trades that Paramount might not be bringing Barbara back. On Friday, May 16, Barbara was informed that the wardrobe meeting for the new season was scheduled for Monday, May 19. Barbara asked for a two-day postponement as Monday was her nanny's day off and the following day, she and Leonard were scheduled to shoot promos for the American Cancer Society. She asked to have the meeting postponed until Wednesday, May 21, two days before filming on the fourth season was to begin.
Paramount responded by ordering Barbara to report on Monday, May 19. Barbara did not report on the 19th, nor did she report on the 21st. With shooting two days away, Paramount contacted her agent and asked if Barbara intended to report for work. "She has given me no reason to believe otherwise," her agent replied. Later that day, Paramount informed her agent that Barbara had been replaced in the opening two-parter by actress Dina Merrill. The next day, Barbara's agent sent Paramount a letter asking for Bain's release from her contract, since it seemed that her services were no longer required. Paramount refused. On June 2, Barbara's agent once again asked for Bain's release from her contract. Once more, Paramount refused. A studio spokesman explained that the actress had not yet been officially suspended; another wardrobe meeting would have to be scheduled. Should she then fail to appear, the suspension would become official. By now, nobody seemed to understand what was going on. including Barbar Bain. "I'll definitely know what my position is by the end of the week," she told the media. Three days later, and true to her word, Barbara announced that she would not be returning to Mission and proceeded to sue Paramount for breaching her contract. Meanwhile, the studio accused her of breaking her pact. There was no telling when or if Bain would legally be forced to return and fulfill her contract, so another actress could not be hired on a full-time basis.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

^^ Whether it was intentional or not it was the right role for the right actor at the right time that made a powerful statement with lasting impact.

I'm reminded of the casting of Duane Jones for the role of Ben in George A. Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead,' which just so happens to have been filmed at the same time the second and third season of 'M:I ' was airing. Everyone involved has said that Duane simply gave the best audition, and that race was a factor in hiring him for the role, and that if he had turned the role down then another actor by the name of Rudy Ricci would have gotten the part.

 

[publiusr]

My favorite non-Spock role was Nimoy’s voiceover work as Mr. Moundshroud in The Halloween Tree.

He was unrecognizable in that role…

 

[Christopher]

Without going into too much detail about the departures of Landau and Bain, the reason that there was a rotating cast of female operatives in the fourth season of 'M:I' was due in part to the contract dispute Barbara had with the studio. The studio (Paramount) could not hire a full-time female replacement while Barbara was still under contract with the studio.
Long story short - Barbara received her official year four pickup notice on April 9. During this time, Martin Landau had let it be known that he would not be returning for the fourth season due to a salary dispute. It was also reported in the trades that Paramount might not be bringing Barbara back. On Friday, May 16, Barbara was informed that the wardrobe meeting for the new season was scheduled for Monday, May 19. Barbara asked for a two-day postponement as Monday was her nanny's day off and the following day, she and Leonard were scheduled to shoot promos for the American Cancer Society. She asked to have the meeting postponed until Wednesday, May 21, two days before filming on the fourth season was to begin.
Paramount responded by ordering Barbara to report on Monday, May 19. Barbara did not report on the 19th, nor did she report on the 21st. With shooting two days away, Paramount contacted her agent and asked if Barbara intended to report for work. "She has given me no reason to believe otherwise," her agent replied. Later that day, Paramount informed her agent that Barbara had been replaced in the opening two-parter by actress Dina Merrill. The next day, Barbara's agent sent Paramount a letter asking for Bain's release from her contract, since it seemed that her services were no longer required. Paramount refused. On June 2, Barbara's agent once again asked for Bain's release from her contract. Once more, Paramount refused. A studio spokesman explained that the actress had not yet been officially suspended; another wardrobe meeting would have to be scheduled. Should she then fail to appear, the suspension would become official. By now, nobody seemed to understand what was going on. including Barbar Bain. "I'll definitely know what my position is by the end of the week," she told the media. Three days later, and true to her word, Barbara announced that she would not be returning to Mission and proceeded to sue Paramount for breaching her contract. Meanwhile, the studio accused her of breaking her pact. There was no telling when or if Bain would legally be forced to return and fulfill her contract, so another actress could not be hired on a full-time basis.

Wow, I didn't know any of that. It explains a lot.

Still, in a way I would've preferred it if the show had stuck with the original approach of having a different team composition every week, with the regulars not being involved in every mission and teaming with different guest agents. (In season 1, Dan supervised in 27 episodes out of 28 and was on the mission in 20. Rollin was in 26 episodes, Barney 25, Cinnamon 24, and Willy only 21.) It made more sense to recruit appropriate specialists for each mission, rather than using the same team for every one.

In particular, it would've been more plausible if they hadn't had a regular master of disguise. In the pilot, it was explicit that Rollin was chosen as the impersonator specfically because he resembled the target (also played by Landau). That makes much more sense than the impossibly perfect masks they ended up using.