Leonard Nimoy was probably the most beloved TV actors of the twentieth century, however he additionally admitted in interviews through the years that –- regardless of rising up the Jewish son of Ukrainian immigrants –- he made his profession within the pre-“Star Trek” days taking part in Native American characters. Amongst different situations of “redface,” he performed a Comanche warrior within the TV present “Tate,” a personality named Chief Black Hawk within the movie “Previous Overland Path,” and a mysterious Native who seeks justice for his murdered white good friend in an episode of the wildly in style present “Gunsmoke.”

Nimoy spoke fondly about his function on “Gunsmoke” in an interview with the Archive of American Tv again in 2000 (he handed away in 2015). The actor recalled having met the star of the long-running Western sequence, James Arness, years earlier when the 2 have been in the identical appearing troupe. Nimoy ultimately went into the army, however saved in contact with Arness, who sooner or later informed him he’d landed the lead function within the TV adaptation of a well-liked radio present –- “Gunsmoke.” Nimoy appeared a number of occasions on the present through the years, however it was his last look in 1966 that was most memorable to him … and most controversial right now.

“A visitor starring function within the Gunsmoke present was the final job I did simply earlier than I began taking pictures ‘Star Trek,'” Nimoy defined within the retrospective interview. “I had already achieved the ‘Star Trek’ pilot and I used to be employed for this story –- taking part in an Indian.” Particularly, Nimoy performed a person named John Strolling Fox, who obtained his personal episode title in season 11: “The Treasure of John Strolling Fox.” Nimoy as soon as informed PBS that he did the present whereas he was ready to listen to about whether or not or not “Star Trek” was going to lastly get picked up after failed pilots, and complimented the episode’s “intelligent” script by Clyde Ware. With many years of retrospect, although, the story does not sound intelligent a lot as misguided and responsible of racial stereotyping.

“The story, as I recall, was about an Indian fur trapper, superb buddies with a white man who additionally did the identical factor they usually typically went trapping collectively,” Nimoy informed the TV Archive. The white man was ultimately killed in a confrontation with a dealer, and per the actor, “there was one thing about, there wasn’t going to be any justice for this good friend of John Strolling Fox.” The Indigenous character saved the day by paying for his good friend’s funeral in gold, finally orchestrating infighting among the many city’s criminals (together with his good friend’s killer) by pretending to have gold treasure. The killer was ultimately killed within the squabble over John’s treasure. “There isn’t any treasure, however he constructed this story,” Nimoy stated. “So it is sort of a wry manner of getting some social justice.”

Social justice is an ironic time period to make use of right here, as loads of Native American activists have been already preventing for recognition and fairness within the Sixties, all whereas non-Native individuals have been taking part in cartoonish variations of them on TV. Nimoy informed PBS that “the character [of John Walking Fox] was designed to be enigmatic,” and shared some qualities with “Star Trek” hero Spock. This, after all, performs into stereotypes of the mysterious, stoic Native that have been rampant throughout the Western style on the time (for extra on this and each different situation mentioned right here, watch the good documentary “Reel Injun”). The John Strolling Fox episode is not notably stunning, however the best way Nimoy spoke about being typecast as a Native American kind of is. “I had performed some Indians earlier than, however I feel that is an important Indian function I had ever been given,” Nimoy informed PBS within the 2010s. “Most of them weren’t fairly so consequential.”

You’d assume that many years of retrospect would have led Nimoy to raised perceive why talking about taking Native American roles as if he is searching for higher ethnic illustration on display screen can be deceptive, however it appears the actor by no means got here to that realization. In Abigail Pobegrin’s ebook “Stars of David,” Nimoy talked much more callously about being typecast in a racial function that did not match him (per The Atlantic). “Guys like me have been taking part in all of the ethnic roles, normally the heavies — the dangerous Mexicans, the dangerous Italians,” Nimoy defined. “And people have been the roles that I took and was completely satisfied to get for a very long time. I performed Indians in Westerns many occasions.”

Disturbingly, Nimoy even claimed within the ebook that the primary Native function he took was “a job {that a} Native Indian turned down as a result of the Indian character was so unredeemably dangerous.” However he wasn’t involved in regards to the poor illustration as a result of, as he put it, “I used to be completely satisfied to get the work, thanks very a lot.” It is a heartbreaking, infuriating story introduced as one thing lighthearted. It is heartbreaking as a result of it sounds just like the writers behind the mission in query ignored the legitimate issues of the Native actor they initially provided the mission to, as a substitute opting to only hold the script the identical and provides the job to a non-Native man. It is infuriating as a result of Nimoy additionally positioned the unnamed Native actor as ungrateful for what he had been given, moderately than courageous for standing up in opposition to dangerous, reductive stereotypes that dominated the business on the time. Basically, this story is all the pieces that was flawed with twentieth century Native American portrayals in Hollywood in a nutshell.

I want there was a “however” on the finish of this story or some kind of come-to-Jesus second that this deeply beloved and gifted actor had later in life through which he realized that he was actively blocking Native actors from getting roles. If there’s, it isn’t in any interview I’ve discovered; Nimoy was nonetheless talking positively about nabbing Native roles to PBS just some years earlier than his dying. The actor was culpable for his personal actions, however he was additionally one piece of a bigger racist system. In Arlene B. Hirschfelder and Martha Kreipe de Montaño’s 1998 ebook “The Native American Almanac: A Portrait of Native America Right now,” the authors embody an in depth but incomplete listing of non-Native actors who took Native roles. “Certainly no group has ever been misrepresented in so many motion pictures for thus lengthy,” they wrote. “Many Indians really feel that in casting, Native actors have occupied a single area of interest as a result of, till not too long ago, Indians normally weren’t solid to play Indians. Bankable non-Indian stars obtained main Indian roles.”

Nimoy’s identify is, after all, on the listing. However “Gunsmoke” appears to mark one of many final occasions the actor performed a Native American on display screen. “Star Trek” took off quickly after and made him a family identify, and his behavior of taking up Indigenous roles with impunity turned a factor of the previous. In 2011, the actor joked to the Wall Avenue Journal that the transition from one pigeonholed function to the opposite made sense. He labored on Westerns, “more often than not taking part in Indians,” he informed the outlet. “[So,] naturally, once I obtained into science fiction, I needed to play an alien.” Yeesh.