James Doohan

Los Angeles, July 20 (Reuters): Actor James Doohan, best known as the feisty, Scottish-accented chief engineer on television’s original Star Trek series ? a role immortalised by the catch phrase “Beam me up, Scotty” ? died today at age 85, his manager said.

Doohan died at his home in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Washington, of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease, about a year after he was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological illness, manager Steve Stevens said in an interview.

The actor’s wife of 28 years, Wende, was at his side.

Doohan will always be remembered for playing Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, or “Scotty,” the engineer aboard the starship USS Enterprise on the original Star Trek series, which ran from 1966-69 on NBC.

One of Scotty’s chief functions on the show was to operate the transporter device used to “beam” crew members aboard the Enterprise from distant planets ? often in response to an order that entered the pop culture as the catch phrase: “Beam me up Scotty.”

The often-excitable Scottish brogue effected by Doohan for his role became as much a signature element of the show as science officer Spock’s logical stoicism or chief surgeon Dr McCoy’s irascibly folksy manner.