Nicholas Meyer was the director of the one of the most successful Star Trek movies—Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The film raked in $97 million dollars on a budget of only $12 million and stands out as a fan favorite among the thirteen films set in the Star Trek franchise today. But in the overall direction of the movie, there was one actor Meyer didn't have to direct.
In a recent interview with Trekmovie, Meyer was asked about working with Leonard Nimoy and the actor's contributions to the movie. Meyer vividly recalled Nimoy not wanting to do the movie and only capitulating when Harve Bennett assured him that Spock would have a great death scene. Meyer had to write that death scene, but he didn't have to help Nimoy film it as the actor "knew cold what that was all about."
"But I did not direct Leonard. He didn’t need it. He just knew. He paid me a great compliment. He said I knew how to write Spock. In a way, I sort of modeled it a lot on Sherlock Holmes. And I write Sherlock Holmes novels. And if you know how to write Sherlock, then you’ll know how to write Spock because they’re very similar. And in fact, in Star Trek VI, I had Spock claim descent from Sherlock."Nicholas Meyer
It's not surprising that Meyer didn't have to give Nimoy instructions on how to be Spock as Nimoy often stayed in character on the set of Star Trek: The Original Series even when he wasn't filming. He got to know Spock so well that, most likely, the character was like second nature to him. And having read the script and knowing that this was Spock's swan song, Nimoy would have known to give it his all.
Spock's death scene still stands out as one of the most emotional moments of Star Trek, and to know that Nimoy did it all without direction just goes to show how connected he was to the character. That's yet another reason why, although there have been other Spocks, Leonard Nimoy will always stand out.