James Doohan, the veteran actor best known for his role on "Star Trek" as the Starship Enterprise's chief engineer who responded to the famous command, "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85.
Doohan died at his home in Redmond, Wash. Doohan's agent and friend, Steve Stevens Sr., said the cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. Doohan's wife of 28 years, Wende, was at his side.
"Star Trek," first beamed into American living rooms on NBC in 1966, starred William Shatner as James T. Kirk, the captain of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise, and Leonard Nimoy as the pointy-eared Mr. Spock, Kirk's alien first officer.
The show, in which Doohan played Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, ran only three years.
But the series took on a life of its own as a cult favorite that spawned constant reruns, an animated cartoon series, movies and television spinoffs.
For Doohan, the enduring popularity of "Star Trek" meant reprising his Scotty role in seven "Star Trek" movies featuring original cast members.
He also made countless appearances at "Star Trek" conventions, where thousands of the show's fans, known as "Trekkies," gave him and his fellow original cast members heroes' welcomes.
Doohan's portrayal of the Enterprise's affable engineer with a Scottish brogue even led to his being awarded an honorary degree in engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, where half the students polled reportedly said they were inspired by Doohan's character to enter the field.
He later said he never tired of having people approach him and say the line, "Beam me up, Scotty."
In fact, he said, "It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody."
"Jimmy was Scotty," George Takei, who played chief navigator Sulu on "Star Trek," told The Times on Wednesday. "He's really Irish-Canadian, but he's world-renowned as a Scotsman. His claim was he imbibed enough of Scotland libations to be Scottish.
"What I really enjoyed the most was Jimmy's personality. He was a fun-loving guy."
Takei said the joy and resilient quality that Doohan brought to his "Star Trek" character -- "his robust determination to get things done ... even with the clock ticking and the galaxies about to collide, he was able to solve the problem" -- is "what made Scotty such a beloved character."
Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov on "Star Trek," said Wednesday that Doohan "was a delightful guy."
