Actor James Doohan, best known for his role in the "Star Trek" television series and subsequent films as Scotty ("Montgomery Scott"), the chief engineer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, died Wednesday morning at his home in Redmond, Washington, at the age of 85. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, The Associated Press reports.

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Doohan — who lost the middle finger of his right hand on D-Day in Normandy, France, as a member of the Royal Canadian Artillery — had a remarkable gift for foreign dialects, thanks to years working in radio. His convincing Scottish brogue helped land him the "Star Trek" role. But Doohan's work on the popular sci-fi series and in the films was not limited to acting. He not only devised the Klingon language used in the "Star Trek" films, he also performed voice-over work for other characters on the show.

Although the series was canceled after just three seasons, "Star Trek" lived on in syndication and spurred many films, and as a result grew widely popular. Soon, the command often uttered to Doohan's character, "Beam me up, Scotty," entered the pop-culture lexicon. In his later years, Doohan became a "Star Trek" convention regular, attending more than 40 such gatherings; he also lectured at several colleges, the AP reports.

The earliest years of Doohan's acting career were spent on the stage, but his commanding presence eventually earned him roles in television and films. While "Star Trek" ended up being the biggest break of his career, it proved to be something of an albatross later in his life. The actor often complained to colleagues and friends that he was always typecast as Scotty; he was advised by these same people to embrace the role. The final years of his career were spent acting in B-films, such as 2005's "Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman."

In a 1998 interview, the actor was asked if he was tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty," to which he replied, "I'm not tired of it at all. Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun."