James Doohan (1920-2005)

Actor James Doohan, who played the Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in Star Trek, has died at the age of 85. Doohan, whose role was immortalised in the line "Beam me up, Scotty", had been suffering from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, his agent said. His wife of 28 years, Wende, was by his side.

Doohan was a popular character actor when he auditioned for the Star Trel role that made him famous back in 1966. When the series ended in 1969, he found himself forever typecast as the irascible Scotsman.

U.S network 'NBC' cancelled Star Trek in 1969 because of weak ratings, but the cast was reassembled when the franchise hit the big screen in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Doohan appeared in seven big screen adventures of Star Trek, continued to voice the franchise's video games into the late 1990s, and has a guest role in Star Trek The Next Generation.

Doohan became a father again at the age of 80, when his wife Wendy gave birth to daughter Sarah. His last public appearance was in October 2004 when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) ($56.2m)
• 2. Wedding Crashers ($33.9m)
• 3. Fantastic Four (2005) ($22.8m) (total to date: $100m)
• 4. War of the Worlds (2005) ($15.2m) (total to date: $192m)
• 5. Batman Begins ($6.04m) (total to date: $183m)
• 6. Mr & Mrs Smith ($5.23m) (total to date: $168m)
• 7. Dark Water (2005) ($4.61m)
• 8. Herbie: Fully Loaded ($3.62m)
• 9. Bewitched (2005) ($2.56m)
• 10. Madagascar ($2.31m) (total to date: $184m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Madagascar (£5.43m)
• 2. War of the Worlds (2005) (£2.22m)
• 3. Wedding Crashers (£2.18m)
• 4. Batman Begins (£0.42m)
• 5. The Descent (£0.41m)
• 6. Mr & Mrs Smith (£0.21m)
• 7. Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya? (£0.14m)
• 8. Star Wars Episode III: Return of the Sith (£0.08m) (total to date: £39.0m)
• 9. Dus (£0.04m)
• 10. (There's a new entry, but IMDB.com haven't listed the name!) (£0.03m)

All the following are U.S. release dates, and are subject to change.

• JULY: The Island (22), The Dukes Of Hazzard (29)
• AUGUST: 3001 (5), Doom (5), Deuce Bigelow European Gigolo (12),
• SEPTEMBER: Birth Of The Pink Panther (23), Legend Of Zorro (23), Serenity (30), Spy Hunter (30)
• OCTOBER: Wallace & Gromit (7), The Fog (14), Land Of The Dead (21)
• NOVEMBER: Cars (4), Harry Potter 4 (18), Brother Grimm (23)
• DECEMBER: Chronicles Of Narnia (9), Underworld 2 (9), King Kong (14), The Producers (24), Zathura (21), Mad Max Fury Road (31), Die Hard 4 (31)