You're either an optimist, or you're a pessimist who is secretly jealous of all those optimists out there. Be honest with yourself: those who tend to look on the bright side of things will always have a better time than those determined to think the worst. Things will work out eventually, even if you can't see how.

Take, for example, the casting of Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Star Trek. This was an iconic character that's hard to picture without Nimoy's influence. However, in order for that door to open for Nimoy, another door had to be closed for none other than DeForest Kelley.

William Shatner's memoir, Star Trek Memories, gives a thorough rundown of the process taken to bring Star Trek from script to screen. According to the book, Kelley was offered the role of Spock over lunch by Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

"I had lunch with Gene one day [they had just done their television pilot]," said Kelley. "He said to me, 'De, I have two new properties that I'm working on. One is based on High Noon, and the other is this science fiction thing, and there's a character in there who's an alien, and he's going to have pointed ears and green color.'"

Whether it was the character or the lengthy amount of time sure to be spent sitting in the makeup chair, Kelley refused. "So of course I said, 'Aw, geez! What are you kidding? Get outta here! No way! Forget it! Call me when you do High Noon.' He was talking to me about Spock."

See More

Here's how Gene Roddenberry made the Star Trek title sequence ''from garbage''

Of course, while Kelley turned down an excellent character when he refused to play Spock, he obviously became an integral part of the Star Trek universe when he was cast as Dr. Leonard McCoy. Furthermore, Kelley didn't hold any regret in his decision, ultimately accepting that everything worked out for the best. "The right guy got it," said Kelley. "Leonard really was a wonderful choice."

Watch Star Trek on MeTV!

Saturdays at 10 PM

*available in most MeTV markets

 Add to Favorites  Remind Me