James Doohan was a hero to many people who grew up watching him play Scotty on
Star Trek. But did you know that Doohan’s heroic behavior started way further back?
He was a member of the Canadian Army that, along with the American and British Allies,
stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in World War II. During the battle,
Doohan suffered multiple injuries but managed to survive to see another day. Keep watching
as Facts Verse presents: James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) Concealed His Injury On-Screen.
Early Life James Doohan was
born in Vancouver, Canada in 1920. His father was fairly successful in the medical field,
working at various points as a veterinarian, a dentist, and a pharmacist, but also had
a serious drinking problem, which made things difficult for James and his three older siblings.
James went to Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School,
and was a star student, particularly in things like math and science.
But after graduating, he left home to enlist in the Royal Canadian Army. At that point,
he was only 19. And World War II was starting to ramp up casualties more and more each week.
James was sent to England to join the war effort in 1940. At that point, he was 19
and already a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Army. He went to England with the 14th Field
Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. For a few years, his time in the war
saw him safe from any of the major battles. But four years after hitting the shores of England,
James was involved in the most famous battle in World War II: The invasion of France at Normandy.
D-Day The D-Day invasion was
an intricately planned and expansive attack on the shores of France by the allied forces. They knew
that in order to have any chance of defeating the Germans, they needed to regain a foothold
in France. It was an operation jointly run by the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada,
and each country had an assigned expanse of beach they were tasked with invading.
As a part of the Canadian military, Doohan’s division took on what’s known as Juno Beach.
The allies did their best to clear out the area with air support,
even bombarding places that had nothing to do with the attack points, just to add confusion
into the mix for the enemies. But even with those tactics, it was clear that the men who landed
at the various beachfront around Normandy were going to be potentially outmatched and outgunned.
They were tasked with the assignment of not only storming the beaches with their equipment in tow
but also landing the ships close enough to the beaches that they wouldn’t be pulled underwater
by the weight of their packs as they tried to swim to shore. This meant they had to land at the
battle location within close range of the enemy, and thus were open to attacks from German guns
as soon as they landed. Then they had to traverse the beaches, somehow avoiding the many land mines
planted by the Germans, all while dodging the hail of bullets fired by German snipers.
And if they managed to make it past the beaches, they’d have German armed forces awaiting them.
Doohan and his fellow Canadian soldiers managed to accomplish these seemingly impossible feats,
though not without great casualties. They managed to finally emerge victorious and captured the area
they were taken with by 12pm on that fateful June 6th. Doohan is said to have killed two
German snipers on the way and managed to survive the ordeal. But he didn’t come away unscathed.
Doohan’s injuries
While Doohan and his men knew they had secured a huge victory by getting through the water,
the beaches, and the nearby area, they also understood that they were in danger at almost
every minute. Thus, tensions were extremely high. The men sat, fortified for a bit, awaiting German
reinforcements to attack them. This nervous energy led directly to Doohan getting badly injured. He
was on his way back to his post, around 11pm that night, when a fellow Canadian soldier
thought he was a German soldier, and promptly shot him several times. He was hit four times
in his knee, once in his right hand, and another in his chest. The bullet that hit his hand took
his middle finger clean off. And the bullet that hit his chest would have killed him 99
times out of 100. But it just so happened that he’d just returned a silver cigarette case back
into his shirt pocket. The case caused the bullet to deflect slightly, moving its path away from his
vital organs. The silver cigarette case had been a present from his brother, and Doohan would often
joke later in life that, in a bizarre twist, smoking had actually saved his life.
Fortunately for Doohan, the allies, and his millions of fans later in life,
Doohan survived miraculously. He was even able to get healthy enough to return to military service.
He joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and learned how to fly Taylorcraft Auster Mark IV planes.
He was also a bit of a showoff and a risky flyer. Despite not actually being a part of
the Canadian Air Force, he was, at one point, given the nickname of “craziest pilot in the
Canadian air force.” In 1945, he bet his fellow pilots that he could successfully fly his plane
in between two telephone poles that were quite close together. The bet didn’t actually contain
any monetary repercussions though. According to Doohan, he wanted to try the audacious move, just
to prove to the rest of the pilots that he could. He was successful in his daring stunt
but suffered the repercussions of a severe dressing down by his superiors afterward.
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James’s Acting Career In 1946, not long after his bold
flying stunt, Doohan returned home to Canada. And he brought his confident and freewheeling attitude
back with him. This was exhibited when, during Christmas of that year, he heard a radio drama
and decided it was the worst thing he’d ever heard. And instead of simply turning it off,
he headed to a local radio station and creating his own recording. The operator at the station
was so taken aback by Doohan’s boldness and skill, he recommended that he start taking
classes at a Toronto acting school. James took his advice and was soon
offered a two-year scholarship at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.
After heading back to Toronto in 1953, he found work all over town in various acting capacities.
He had jobs in radio, on stage, and in some TV shows too, including bit parts in Bewitched and
the Twilight Zone. And of course, before long, he nailed the audition for the part that changed
everything: Star Trek’s Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. As everyone knows, the character of Scotty had a
thick Scottish accent. This was a departure from Doohan’s natural Canadian accent. But since he’d
done so much radio in the years leading up to his audition, he had developed a knack for a
variety of accents. Doohan ended up trying out several different ones when he was auditioning
for the show’s producers. He pitched the idea that the Scottish accent he had made him sound the most
commanding. The producers agreed, and he got the part, provided he spoke in that accent. Doohan
was thrilled, later commenting that the character of Scotty was “99% James Doohan and 1% accent.”
Doohan played the role of Scotty for all of the episodes of the original Star Trek run,
from 1966 to 1969. And despite the show having a surging fanbase,
NBC felt it had run its course and canceled it. Of course, as we all know, that was far from the
end of Star Trek. Eight years later, as Star Wars was setting box office records, Paramount wanted
to cash in on the resurgence of love for science fiction. So they rebooted Star Trek into a film.
1979 saw the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Fortunately, James was brought back
on to play Scotty. He also continued to play him in the five sequels that came after that.
Hiding his Injury On Screen As we covered earlier, James
Doohan was a decorated WW II war hero. He and his fellow allied soldiers helped win the day on the
shores of Normandy, effectively helping turn the tide of the war. And Doohan was severely
injured in the process. While some of the lasting effects were internal, the most
obvious injury from an outsider’s perspective was his missing middle finger that had been shot
off. While Doohan wasn’t embarrassed by this injury, he didn’t want it to be a distraction
on screen. So he tried his best to hide in every episode of Star Trek, as well as the films.
However, eagle-eyed fans of Star trek have noticed several episodes where his injury
is apparent. His injured hand can be seen in a few episodes of the show,
namely, "The Trouble with Tribbles", "Tomorrow Is Yesterday", "The Enemy Within", and "The
Ultimate Computer". It can also be seen in "The Lights of Zetar" and "Catspaw". As far as films,
it can be as well as in The Search for Spock, in a scene when Scotty is handing parts to Dr. McCoy.
And it can be seen in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in an episode called “Relics.”
Now it’s time to hear from you. What’s your favorite memory of James Doohan? Let us know in
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