James Doohan

James Montgomery Doohan was a Canadian actor born on March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia, the youngest of four children of William Patrick Doohan and Sarah Frances Montgomery, both emigrants from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. His father worked as a pharmacist, veterinarian, and dentist, held membership in the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, and reportedly developed an early form of high-octane gasoline in 1923. The family relocated from Vancouver to Sarnia, Ontario, where Doohan attended Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School, excelling in mathematics and science. He enrolled in the 102nd Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps in 1938.

In 1939, Doohan enlisted in the Canadian Army, joining the Royal Canadian Artillery as part of the 14th Field Battery of the 2nd Canadian Division, before being transferred to the 13th Field Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Division. By 1940 he held the rank of lieutenant and was sent to train in Britain. He landed at Juno Beach on D-Day as part of the second wave in a reconnaissance party, where the 13th Field Regiment operated alongside the Regina Rifle Regiment at Nan Sector. After eliminating two snipers, Doohan guided his men through a minefield to higher ground. Later that night, crossing between command posts, he was struck by six rounds fired by a Canadian sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. A silver cigarette case given to him by his brother stopped the chest round. His right middle finger was amputated as a result, a fact he concealed throughout much of his acting career, sometimes using a flesh-colored glove fitted with a false finger. Doohan also completed Air Observation Pilot Course 40 and flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 Squadron, RCAF, in support of the 1st Army Group Royal Canadian Artillery. In the spring of 1945, on Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, he flew an Auster Mark IV between telegraph poles, earning a formal reprimand.

After the war, Doohan moved to London, Ontario, for further technical education. A radio drama he heard there prompted him to record his voice at a local station, which led him to the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto. He subsequently won a two-year scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where his classmates included Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall, and Richard Boone. Beginning January 12, 1946, he took on multiple roles for CBC radio, and for several years divided his time between Toronto and New York. He made his television debut as a detective on Martin Kane, Private Eye, appearing in 54 episodes, and estimated he performed in more than 4,000 radio programs and 450 television productions during this period.

In 1952, Doohan appeared on Broadway in the musical The Choir Rehearsal. His stage work also included productions at the Crest Theatre in Toronto, where he appeared in Every Bed Is Narrow in 1956, Bright Sun at Midnight in 1957, and King Lear in 1960. On Canadian television, he played forest ranger Timber Tom in the Canadian version of Howdy Doody in the mid-1950s and co-starred with William Shatner in the Canadian science fiction series Space Command. He appeared in several episodes of Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans in 1957 and 1958. For CBC Television's GM Presents, he played the lead in Arthur Hailey's Flight into Danger in 1956, as well as Hailey's Shadow of Suspicion the same year and The Night They Killed Joe Howe in 1960.

His American television credits spanned numerous series, including The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, Bewitched, Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Fantasy Island, and Magnum, P.I. In the 1962 Bonanza episode Gift of Water, he appeared alongside Majel Barrett, who would later play Nurse Christine Chapel in Star Trek. He held an uncredited role in The Satan Bug in 1965 and appeared in Roger Vadim's Pretty Maids All in a Row in 1971, a film produced by Gene Roddenberry. That same year he appeared opposite Richard Harris in Man in the Wilderness.

Doohan is most widely recognized for portraying Montgomery Scott, the Scottish chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise, in the Star Trek television and film franchise. When auditioning for the role, he performed several different accents before telling producer Gene Roddenberry that, in his experience, the best engineers were Scotsmen. He chose the character's name, Montgomery Scott, after his own grandfather. Originally conceived as a semi-regular character, Scotty was elevated to a full supporting role. Beyond his on-screen performance, Doohan contributed to the franchise behind the scenes, participating in the initial development of the Klingon and Vulcan languages. He also provided voices for several inanimate characters within the series, including Sargon in Return to Tomorrow, the M-5 in The Ultimate Computer, and the Oracle in For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky. Following the cancellation of the original series, he reprised the role in the animated continuation and in the subsequent Star Trek films, and made frequent appearances at Star Trek conventions. James Doohan died on July 20, 2005.