Beam Me Up Scotty

On Tuesday March 3^rd 2020, James Doohan, the actor who became famous for playing Chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in the original Star Trek TV series, would have been 100 years old.

Remembered for often receiving the instruction from Captain Kirk, “Beam me up Scotty”, was born 100 years ago in Canada’s Vancouver. He was the youngest of 4 children, whose parents had previously emigrated from Northern Ireland. His father was a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist, while his mother was a homemaker.

A war hero

Early in the World War II, Doohan joined the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (1938-1946) and saw combat in Europe including at the D-Day invasions of Normandy in 1944.

Although never being an official member as such, Doohan was once labelled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force". In 1945 at Salisbury Plain, England, he flew a plane (A Mark IV Auster) in a slalom fashion between telegraph poles, just to prove it was possible. For his endeavours he earned a serious reprimand. Maybe it is just as well he never attempted to pilot the USS Enterprise in a similar fashion!

Original Star Trek Cast

After the war Jimmy Doohan gained extensive radio and TV experience which eventually culminated in his landing the role in the mid 1960's that brought his worldwide fame as “Scotty” in Star Trek.

When the original TV series came to a close, he continued in the role for a further 5 movies and various animations and he was a regular attendee at Star Trek Conventions.

Married 3 times and the father of 7 children, we was a heavy drinker and suffered diabetes, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, and hearing loss in later life. Also after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, he withdrew from public life in 2004.

A year later he died, aged 85, due to complications of pulmonary fibrosis, believed to have emanated from his exposure to noxious substances during World War II