Leonard Nimoy made a deal with Gene Roddenberry about Spock's ears

When Leonard Nimoy heard Gene Roddenberry was interested in him for Star Trek: The Original Series, he wasn't a fan of one aspect. Roddenberry told Nimoy's agent that he was going to "put pointed ears on that guy." As a serious actor, Nimoy objected to those ears, having no way of knowing they would go on to become a defining characteristic for one of the greatest characters in all of Star Trek history.

According to an interview with Jay Kroll of WJAR-TV, which has been reshared by the news station, Nimoy approached Roddenberry to ask if he would be agreeable to "ditching" the ears as he thought the haircut and the eyebrows were enough for Spock. Roddenberry didn't agree. He told Nimoy the ears were going to make the character essentially and would make him famous as well.

With Nimoy still reluctant, Roddenberry proposed a deal wherein Nimoy wore the ears for the first thirteen episodes of the series. If, after those episodes, Nimoy was still unhappy, a script would be written that had Spock getting an ear job.

Nimoy told Kroll that at the end of those thirteen episodes, he and Roddenberry had a good laugh about it because Nimoy wasn't willing to give them up at that point.

""At the end of 13 shows, we laughed about it because I wouldn't give them up for anything.""

- Leonard Nimoy

Those ears, along with the haircut and eyebrows, established an alien race that has gone on to be involved in every iteration of Star Trek, with the exception of Star Trek: Prodigy, but that is probably only a matter of time. Nimoy's Spock went on to appear in every decade of Star Trek television and/or gaming since the character was established in 1966 until the actor passed away in February 2015 at the age of 83.

Though the ears, eyebrows, and hair were easily recognizable as a Vulcan, it was Nimoy who established the Vulcan race. To this day, he remains a pivotal part of Star Trek history.