| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Pictured as the character Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on one of a set of five Canadian commemorative postage stamps celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television series Star Trek (1966), issued May 5, 2016. Price on day of issue was 85¢. Other stamps in the set honored William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and John Colicos. |
| 2 | As a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery, he participated in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. He was shot seven times and had to have the middle finger of his right hand amputated. Twenty years later, he had a small role in the film 36 Hours (1964), which concerned the Nazis attempting to discover the date and location of D-Day. |
| 3 | Best known by the public (and by many sci-fi fans) for his role as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott on the original Star Trek (1966) series. |
| 4 | Had played the same character (Montgomery "Scotty" Scott) on three different series: Star Trek (1966), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). |
| 5 | One of the proudest moments in his career was when he communicated with a fan whom he deduced was struggling with suicidal feelings. Doohan invited her to a convention and invited her to more conventions. Eventually, the woman disappeared and he could not find her. He then received a letter eight years later from the woman who said she had just received her degree in Engineering and thanking him for his help. |
| 6 | Like his co-star DeForest Kelley, he was proud to learn that his performance had inspired many people to follow his characters profession (Engineering). |
| 7 | He made amends with his former co-star William Shatner before passing away in 2005. |
| 8 | He provided the voices of 53 different characters across the 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973). |
| 9 | A gifted dialectician, he read aloud several Star Trek "Books On Tape" for Simon and Schuster, performing all of the varied accents with alarming skill. |
| 10 | Another episode of the original Star Trek (1966) series that you can see his missing middle finger is "Friday's Child". When he is making the Captain's log entry, a crew member hands him a report to sign and you see his right hand. |
| 11 | In real life, he had some engineering expertise. He often went boating with Gene Roddenberry after Star Trek (1966)'s cancellation, and recalled in an interview that his experience was needed to save Roddenberry from serious danger. |
| 12 | Before he gained his fame as "Scotty" on Star Trek (1966), he started in television being sent into outer space on Tales of Tomorrow (1951) and Space Command (1953). |
| 13 | Received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007), which was over 18 months after his actual death. |
| 14 | In Gene DeWeese's 2005 Star Trek novel "The Engines of Destiny", a last farewell to Doohan is made. Scotty finally retires at age 200 from being a "Miracle Worker", at Starfleet's Corps of Engineers. |
| 15 | In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), the character Dr. Nichols wore an "I Quit Smoking" badge. This represents an engineer's surrender of a habit. James Doohan had personal experiences with his father's alcoholism, while living in British Columbia, Canada. |
| 16 | A cocktail known as the "Beam me up, Scotty" (Jim Beam, 7-Up and Glenlivit single malt scotch) is named in honor of James Doohan's character. |
| 17 | Was scouted for acting roles in Hollywood by fellow Canadian actor William Shatner. When asked by Gene Roddenberry what accent to give the engineer, he chose Scottish, for Scotland's numerous engineering accomplishments and his own ancestry. |
| 18 | Gained weight in the early 1980s as a consequence of quitting smoking. |
| 19 | The date of his death (July 20, 2005) is the anniversary of what is arguably the greatest engineering achievement in human history, the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon. |
| 20 | Had appeared in episodes of three different series with Leonard Nimoy: Star Trek (1966), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) and Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man (1994). |
| 21 | Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. [July 2004] |
| 22 | On D-Day, his Royal Canadian Artillery unit was assigned to land on Juno Beach (the Canadian beach - Gold and Sword were British, Omaha and Utah were American). When returning to his Command Post, after liaising with the unit's Regimental Survey Officer, Lieutenant Doohan was machine-gunned and took eight bullets: three in his hand, smashing his middle finger; four in his leg and one in his chest. The one shot in his chest would have proved fatal if not for a silver cigarette case he had in the breast pocket of his uniform. |
| 23 | He was the only then-living Star Trek (1966) cast member not to lend his voice to the Futurama (1999) episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", leading to his character Scotty being replaced by the farcical Welshie. According to the series' creators, his only response to their request that he appear on the series was a simple "No way". |
| 24 | Won a two-year scholarship to New York's famed Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included fellow Canadian Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone. |
| 25 | His parents, Sarah Frances (née Montgomery) and William Patrick Doohan emigrated to Canada from Bangor, Northern Ireland some time before his birth. His father owned a chemist shop (pharmacy) in Bangor Town centre, on Main Street, beside the Trinity Presbyterian Church. |
| 26 | At 8:58 a.m. Mountain Time on April 28, 2007 (and after several delays), some of his ashes were sent about 70 miles above the earth on a private SpaceLoft XL rocket by Houston's Space Services, Inc., a company specializing in such memorials. The rocket was lost for three weeks after the flight but now has been found and all remains are still intact. Also among the participants of this flight were the ashes of U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek (1966) writer/director/producer John Meredyth Lucas, as well as 199 others. Space Services, Inc. had previously sent up the ashes of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and LSD guru Timothy Leary in 1997. |
| 27 | He was the youngest of four children of William Doohan (a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist) and Sarah Doohan. His early life was miserable because of his father being a drunk and abusive to the entire family. |
| 28 | His grandson, Kyle, was born in 1987. He is the son of Doohan's second daughter, Deirdre. |
| 29 | Suffered a massive heart attack in 1979. |
| 30 | Did many of the voice-over roles on the original Star Trek (1966) series, including the M-5 from "The Ultimate Computer" and Sargon from "Return to Tomorrow". |
| 31 | Made his first (Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)) and last (Star Trek: Generations (1994)) "Star Trek" appearances with William Shatner. |
| 32 | During his early stage work, he demonstrated a remarkable gift for foreign accents. He tried several during his audition for Star Trek (1966) and Gene Roddenberry was immediately taken by his Scottish brogue. Roddenberry cast him as the (previously-unnamed) ship's engineer character and they improvised the name Montgomery Scott ("Scott" for the accent and "Montgomery" for Doohan's middle name). |
| 33 | Suffered from Alzheimer's disease and was ravaged by Parkinson's disease, diabetes, lung fibrosis and pneumonia. |
| 34 | Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on August 31, 2004. |
| 35 | Although Marc Okrand is credited with creating the Klingon language of Star Trek, James Doohan came up with an unrefined version for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). |
| 36 | According to the Director's Edition DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the Klingon language first introduced in that movie and later featured in many later movies and television episodes was initially devised by James Doohan. His original sounds were later expanded upon and refined by others, ultimately resulting in William Shakespeare plays and The Bible being translated into Klingon years later. Ironically, his character Scotty complains of difficulty reading Klingon at the beginning of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). |
| 37 | Episodes of the original Star Trek (1966) series in which one can see that his middle finger is missing: "The Enemy Within", "Space Seed","The Trouble with Tribbles", "Catspaw", "Day of the Dove" (when Doohan grabs a claymore) and "The Lights of Zetar" (towards the ending, when Scotty grabs Lt. Mira Romaine). Also in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), when Scotty is handing McCoy the parts from the Transwarp Drive, as well as in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) when Scotty is holding a plastic bag dinner given to him by Uhura. |
| 38 | Attended S.C.I.T.S. High School in Sarnia, Ontario. |
| 39 | Grew up in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. |
| 40 | Was among many World War II veterans to publicly thank Steven Spielberg for not holding back on the intensity of the Normandy Invasion scene in Saving Private Ryan (1998). |
| 41 | Had four children with Janet Young: Larkin Doohan (born 1954), Deirdre Doohan (born 1957), and twin boys, Montgomery Doohan (born 1959) and Christopher Doohan (born 1959). Larkin is a nurse, and Deirdre is an aspiring singer/actress. |
| 42 | He used to live across the street from Ralph Thorson and his family, the main subjects and the writer of the movies The Hunter (1980) as well as the television series The Huntress (2000). |
| 43 | He received an honorary degree in Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering where apparently half of the students polled said they were inspired to study engineering by his role on Star Trek (1966). |
| 44 | Landed on Juno Beach on D-Day as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Soon after, while walking across a mine field, he and his unit were attacked by enemy fire, as the Germans shot at them with machine guns. He was hit by four bullets to the leg, his middle finger of his right hand was shot off, and a bullet struck his chest. His life was saved when that hit a silver cigarette case which had been given to him by his brother. |
| 45 | Toured as celebrity spokesperson for Philips Electronics HDTV in 1999. |
| 46 | He and his wife Wende have two adult sons: Eric Doohan and Thomas Doohan. |
| 47 | He and his wife Wende became parents to daughter Sarah Doohan on April 11, 2000. |
$7 Million
