Ear Tips, Spock, Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek

This pair of latex ear tips are make-up appliances used to transform actor Leonard Nimoy into Mr. Spock. They date from the original Star Trek television program, which aired on NBC from 1966-1969. Nimoy saved these ear tips, encasing them in a box of his own construction. They were displayed in his home until his death in 2015.

Nimoy’s depiction of Spock, the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer with alien features, made him one of the breakout stars of the show. Ultimately, the character’s pointed ears came to symbolize not only Spock but also Star Trek more broadly. Nimoy's Spock also became a through-line for Trek; he was in the original and the animated television series, all of the original cast movies, Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and in two of the three reboot movies reimagined by J.J. Abrams.

Nimoy's children, Adam and Julie, dontated the ears to the Museum in 2021 in memory of two causes dear to their family, Beit T'Shuvah, a residential treatment facility; and the Leonard Nimoy COPD Research Fund at UCLA. .