Leonard Nimoy, the sonorous, gaunt-faced actor who won a worshipful global following as Mr. Spock, the resolutely logical human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise in the television and movie juggernaut “Star Trek,” died on Friday morning at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 83.

His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, confirmed his death, saying the cause was end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Mr. Nimoy announced last year that he had the disease, which he attributed to years of smoking, a habit he had given up three decades earlier. He had been hospitalized earlier in the week.

His artistic pursuits — poetry, photography and music in addition to acting — ranged far beyond the United Federation of Planets, but it was as Mr. Spock that Mr. Nimoy became a folk hero, bringing to life one of the most indelible characters of the last half century: a cerebral, unflappable, pointy-eared Vulcan with a signature salute and blessing: “Live long and prosper” (from the Vulcan “Dif-tor heh smusma”).

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

However, his Star Trek co-star William Shatner was unable to attend.

"I feel really awful," tweeted the actor, who was committed to attend a Red Cross ball in Florida on Saturday night and could not fly back in time for the service.

"Here I am doing charity work and one of my dearest friends is being buried."

The details of Nimoy's memorial service were deliberately kept private, foiling the Westboro Baptist Church, which had planned to picket the event.