William Shatner

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This article is written
from the Real World
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This article is written
from the Real World
point of view
William Shatner
Birth name: William Alan Shatner
Gender: Male
Date of birth: 22 March 1931
Place of birth: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Roles: Performer, writer, director
Characters: James T. Kirk (primary character; see additional appearances for more)

William Alan Shatner (born 22 March 1931; age 77) is the Canadian actor famous for portraying Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the starship Enterprise in all 79 aired episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, 21 of the 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the first seven Star Trek movies. He also directed and co-wrote the story for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, appeared in the archive footage of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" and his archive voiceover was also used in the final Star Trek: Enterprise episode, "These Are the Voyages..." as well as several video games.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, of Jewish ancestry. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in French and Esperanto.

He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in Montreal, where the Student Center was renamed 'The Shatner Center' in the 1990s in a student popular election. (A flimsy sign hangs in the lobby, but the University administration has never officially accepted the name change.)

Famous for his clipped, dramatic (and often imitated) narration and dialog delivery, Shatner has become one of the most recognizable stars in Hollywood. In a career spanning five decades, he has become a household name not only for his role as James T. Kirk, but also for playing T.J. Hooker in the series of the same name, the host of Rescue 911, and for his Emmy-winning role as legendary but senile lawyer Denny Crane on Boston Legal. He is also an accomplished writer, producer, director, and host, and at 75 years old, his career shows no sign of stopping. On 14 December 2006, Shatner was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame for his many accomplishments in the field of television.

Shatner has three daughters: Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie. All are from his first marriage to Gloria Rand, whom Shatner married in 1956 but divorced in 1969, following the cancellation of Star Trek. Shatner subsequently married actress Marcy Lafferty in 1973. Shatner and Laffery remained together until their divorce in 1994. Shatner then married Nerine Kidd in 1997, but this marriage ended tragically with Kidd's death in a drowning accident in 1999.

He is currently married to Elizabeth Martin, who shares Shatner's passion for horses. They live together in Los Angeles, California. In his spare time, he plays paintball and tennis and is a professional horse breeder. In this latter profession, he founded the annual Hollywood Charity Horse Show in 1990, which he continues to host.

[edit] Early career

Shatner began his screen acting career in Canadian films and television productions, including the role of Ranger Bob during the first year of the popular children's show Howdy Doody. He was also seen in a 1952 episode of Omnibus with future Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country co-star Christopher Plummer, who also hails from Montreal.

One of Shatner's earliest American television appearances was a 1956 episode of The Kaiser Aluminum Hour called "Gwyneth", in which he co-starred with Joanne Linville, who played the title role. Shatner later reunited with Linville in episodes of The United States Steel Hour and The Defenders before co-starring together in the Star Trek episode "The Enterprise Incident".

Shatner ultimately landed several guest roles on the TV series Studio One in 1957. His first appearance on that program was in a 1957 two-parter entitled "The Defender" (featuring Ian Wolfe), which served as the basis for the aforementioned TV show The Defenders, on which Shatner had a recurring role (albeit as a different character than the one he played on Studio One). The following year, Shatner landed his first American film role, playing Alexi Karamazov in 1958's The Brothers Karamazov. Among his co-stars in this film was future TOS guest star David Opatoshu.

On Broadway, Shatner performed with his future "Elaan of Troyius" co-star France Nuyen in The World of Suzie Wong (with Nuyen playing the title role). This play ran for a total of 508 performance from 14 October 1958 through 2 January 1960. Shatner's performance won him a Theatre World Award in 1959. He and Nuyen performed an excerpt from the play on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. His next Broadway play was the comedy A Shot in the Dark, which ran for 389 performances between October 1961 and September 1962. Fritz Weaver joined the cast late in the run, replacing actor Walter Matthau.

In the meantime, Shatner continued co-starring with a number of future Star Trek guest-stars in several popular American television programs throughout the 1950s and '60s, including Playhouse 90 (with James Gregory), Kraft Television Theatre (with Richard Kiley), Outlaws (with John Anderson, John Hoyt and Ken Lynch), Naked City (with Theodore Bikel and Lou Antonio), The Dick Powell Show (with Frank Overton), The Nurses (with Stephen Brooks and Madlyn Rhue), 77 Sunset Strip (with Brian Keith), Route 66 (with Glenn Corbett and Louise Sorel), Burke's Law (with Michael Ansara and Bill Catching), The Outer Limits (with Lawrence Montaigne, James B. Sikking, and Malachi Throne), Twelve O'Clock High (with Robert Lansing, Frank Overton, and Bert Remsen), and The Big Valley (with Bill Quinn and Jason Wingreen). He even appeared along with his future co-star Leonard Nimoy in a 1964 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. called "The Project Strigas Affair". He also appeared with George Takei (as well as Keye Luke and Abraham Sofaer) on Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre that same year.

Other popular TV shows Shatner appeared on during this time include Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Thriller, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, and The Virginian. He also had a recurring role as Dr. Carl Noyes on Dr. Kildare in early 1966, during which he co-starred with Bruce Hyde and Diana Muldaur – both of whom he was reunited with on Star Trek. Most notably, however, he starred in two episodes of The Twilight Zone, both written by Richard Matheson, including the famous Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, in which he played Bob Wilson, a man released from a mental hospital who seemingly suffers a relapse aboard an airliner after seeing a creature on the plane's wing.

Shatner also continued acting in films during the 1960s. In 1961, he appeared as Captain Harrison Byers, the aide to Judge Dan Haywood, in the classic Academy Award-winning drama Judgment at Nuremberg. That same year, he had the starring role as a revolutionary and controversial high school teacher in The Explosive Generation, and the following year, he starred as a bigot in the Roger Corman classic The Intruder. He then appeared as a preacher in 1964's The Outrage (co-starring Paul Fix) and starred in 1965's Incubus. In 1968, while Star Trek was still in production, he starred in the dual role of brothers Johnny Moon and Notah in the Western White Comanche. He also did a television movie entitled Perilous Voyage in 1968, again working alongside Louise Sorel. For some reason, NBC sat on this film for eight years, not airing it until 29 July 1976.

Shatner's first television series, the crime drama For the People, aired in 1965 but failed to gain the attention needed to keep it on the air past the initial thirteen episodes. Fortunately, however, Shatner gained a new opportunity for stardom when, that same year, he starred as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the second pilot for a show by Gene Roddenberry called Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

[edit] After Star Trek

Stardom didn't come immediately for Shatner or the rest of the Star Trek cast. Ratings for the series were low and, after only three years, resulted in its cancellation in 1969. That same year, the Apollo 11 moon landing transformed the vision of interplanetary travel from fantasy to a more realistic possibility. Star Trek reruns gained new popularity and thrust Shatner and the cast into television immortality.

In the aftermath of Star Trek's cancellation, Shatner continued to work steadily in film and television. The year after Trek's apparent demise, Shatner starred in the made-for-TV movies Sole Survivor (which also featured a former Star Trek co-star, John Winston) and The Andersonville Trial (with John Anderson, Harry Townes, Whit Bissell, Robert Easton, Dick Miller, Kenneth Tobey, and Ian Wolfe). He also made guest appearances in such shows as The F.B.I. (with Lawrence Montaigne), The Name of the Game (with William Smithers), Storefront Lawyers (with Robert Foxworth), Mission: Impossible (reuniting with Leonard Nimoy), Barnaby Jones (with Darleen Carr, Vince Howard, and Lee Meriwether), Mannix (with Yvonne Craig and Phillip Pine), The Six Million Dollar Man (with Alan Oppenheimer), Kung Fu (with Rosemary Forsyth, Keye Luke, and France Nuyen), Petrocelli (with Glenn Corbett, Susan Howard, David Huddleston, and Susan Oliver), and Police Story (with Dean Stockwell).

In 1971, he co-starred with Barry Atwater, Robert Hooks and Michael Strong in the TV movie Vanished and with Bruce Davison in the pilot movie for Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law. The following year, he was reunited with his "Miri" co-star Kim Darby in the science fiction telefilm The People. He also co-starred with Anthony Zerbe in the TV version of the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Hound of the Baskervilles. He had several more TV movie credits throughout the 1970s, including Incident on a Dark Street (1973, with Robert Pine), Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973, with Darleen Carr, France Nuyen and Paul Winfield), Indict and Convict (1974, with Susan Howard), The Tenth Level (1975, with Stephen Macht), Columbo: Fade in to Murder (1976, with his former Trek co-star Walter Koenig), The Bastard (1978, with Kim Cattrall, John Colicos, John de Lancie, James Gregory, and Alex Henteloff), Little Women (1978, also with John de Lancie), Crash (1978, co-starring Adrienne Barbeau, Ron Glass, George Murdock, and wife Marcy Lafferty), and Riel (1979, with Christopher Plummer).

In 1975, Shatner became the star of another series, a Western comedy called Barbary Coast. However, the series was canceled after its first season. Afterwards, Shatner starred in two TV mini-series, both of which co-starred fellow Star Trek performers: 1977's Testimony of Two Men, with Theodore Bikel, Jeff Corey, John de Lancie, and Logan Ramsey, and How the West Was Won, with Robert Doqui, Fionnula Flanagan, Brian Keith, Ed Lauter, Ricardo Montalban, George D. Wallace, and Morgan Woodward.

During this time, Shatner appeared in a three cult feature films: the very adult 1974 action film Big Bad Mama (co-starring Dick Miller and Noble Willingham), the 1975 horror movie The Devil's Rain, and the 1977 sci-fi/horror picture Kingdom of the Spiders (co-starring wife Marcy Lafferty). Another movie from the 1970s, Want a Ride, Little Girl? (aka Impulse, aka I Love to Kill; 1972, with wife Lafferty), has been so critically condemned that Shatner has come forward and said the it was a "bad time" for him, and he can't remember why he agreed to be in it.

[edit] Reprising Kirk

By 1973, Star Trek had gained an extensive amount of popularity thanks to reruns. There was such a high demand for more Star Trek that a new animated series was put together, reuniting most of the original cast members to lend their voices to their now famous characters. The series lasted for two seasons, with Shatner voicing Captain Kirk in all but one of the 22 episodes. Although the animated series came to an end in 1974, Trek still hadn't died; pre-production began on a new, live-action Star Trek series in 1977. Although this new series was never made, it resulted in the first Trek feature film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, in 1979. And, for the first time in ten years, Shatner was back, in the flesh, in the role that made him famous. He continued playing the Kirk character through the next six features, concluding with his character's demise in 1994's Star Trek Generations. Although Shatner enjoyed working on the film, he has since displayed regret at having Kirk killed off and has been looking for the opportunity to once again play the legendary Starfleet captain. He won't be doing that in 2009's Star Trek, however. [1]

[edit] Later career

Unlike many actors who have become identified to specific characters in film and television, Shatner has been able to escape typecasting and continued to find roles outside the realm of Trek which have also been popular. From 1982 through 1986, he starred in the title role of T.J Hooker, a hard-boiled police officer. That series also starred Star Trek: Voyager guest star Richard Herd and frequent Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guest star James Darren. (Shatner later reunited with Richard Herd for a 1994 episode of seaQuest DSV).

It was during the 1980s that Shatner began an acting trend that lasts to this day: making fun of himself and of his role as Captain Kirk, the popularity of which he had trouble understanding. An early example of this came with his role as Lunar Base Commander Buck Murdock in the 1982 spoof Airplane II: The Sequel, which had him poke fun at many of the quirks and mannerisms of Kirk and Star Trek in general. (Marcy Lafferty also appeared in the film, as did Bruce French.)

In 1986, Shatner hosted Saturday Night Live and took part in an infamous sketch in which he told Star Trek fans to "get a life". The appearance later became the subject of an autobiographical account by Shatner, chronicling his relationship with the Star Trek fandom.

Outside of Star Trek, Shatner continued to act in Canadian-made films (such as 1980's The Kidnapping of the President and 1982's Visiting Hours) and American-made TV movies (such as 1988's Broken Angel, with Roxann Dawson and Brock Peters). In 1989, Shatner became the host of the popular documentary series Rescue 911, which lasted from 1989 through 1996. He also appeared as explorer Bill Hope in a 1991 miniseries for Turner Broadcasting, Voice Of The Planet.

It was during the 1980s that Shatner geared towards directing. In 1989, having already directed multiple episodes of T.J. Hooker, Shatner directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, for which he also co-wrote the story. This came as part of a deal made between him and co-star Leonard Nimoy several years earlier; Nimoy was able to direct two earlier Trek films only if Shatner was also allowed the opportunity to direct one later. The result was lukewarm, earning negative criticism and low box office proceeds. Nonetheless, Shatner was not deterred and continued directing for television and for films he had written.

Continuing his trend towards "lampooning" himself, Shatner starred as the villain in yet another spoof, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, in 1993. James Doohan also made a gag appearance in his beloved role of Scotty (albeit, as a 20th century police officer in charge of repairing the police station's cappuccino machine), while F. Murray Abraham, Whoopi Goldberg, and Charles Napier also had cameos. This was followed in 1998 with the popular Free Enterprise, a Star Trek-themed black comedy in which Shatner played a caricature of himself named, aptly enough, "Bill". He is currently set to film a sequel to Free Enterprise, reprising his role as "Bill".

Shatner appeared on the USA Network's WWF Monday Night RAW to promote the series, where he was involved in an altercation with Jerry "The King" Lawler. In 2007, Shatner personally inducted Lawler into the WWE Hall of Fame.

In 1998, Shatner became the spokesperson for "priceline.com". The earliest of this company's commercials, in which Shatner strummed a guitar and spoke "songs" advertising Priceline in front of a bemused audience, gained much notoriety and earned him somewhat of a come-back in show business. He continues to perform for Priceline commercials, at first in voiceover, but lately, he's been seen as the "Priceline Negotiator". He did appear in two recent priceline.com commercials with Leonard Nimoy as well.

From 1999 through 2000, Shatner had a recurring role as "The Big Giant Head" (aka Stone Phillips) in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. This role led to the actor's first Emmy nomination, that of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, in 1999.

In 2000, Shatner appeared in the popular comedy Miss Congeniality as Stan Fields, the aging host of the Miss USA Pageant. This role ultimately led to Shatner becoming the host of the real thing – the 50th Annual Miss USA Pageant – in 2001. Shatner reprised his role as Stan Fields in the 2005 sequel, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. Shatner's popularity has also earned him cameos in such films as Showtime (in which he spoofs his T.J. Hooker character as well as himself) and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, in which he played the chancellor of the dodgeball tournament. He has also lent his voice to a number of animated films, including Osmosis Jones (2001) and Over the Hedge (2006).

Continuing his experience as a master of ceremonies, Shatner was the chairman for the 2001 specials Iron Chef USA and Iron Chef USA: Holiday Showdown. In late 2006, he hosted the short-lived ABC game show Show Me The Money.

In 2002, Shatner wrote, directed, and co-starred in the independent science fiction film Groom Lake. Also starring in the film were fellow Trek performers Dan Gauthier and Tom Towles. That same year, Shatner and the rest of the original Trek cast (minus DeForest Kelley and James Doohan) lent their voices to their animated selves in a popular episode of Futurama called "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".

In 2004, Shatner was awarded an Emmy (again for Outstanding Guest Actor) for his portrayal of legendary attorney Denny Crane on The Practice, a role he currently reprises in the spin-off series Boston Legal. That series also stars former DS9 cast member Rene Auberjonois. Shatner won another Emmy for the same role in 2005, this time as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He received another Emmy nomination for the role in 2006, although he did not win. In 2007, however, he was awarded a fourth Emmy nomination for playing Denny Crane and his third nomination in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The award, however, ultimately went to Terry O'Quinn.

In 2005, Shatner won the Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actor on Boston Legal. That same year, Shatner starred in the reality mini-series, Invasion Iowa, which took place in Riverside, Iowa, the future birthplace of James T. Kirk. In addition, Shatner hosted two specials for The History Channel in 2006, Comets: Prophets of Doom and How William Shatner Changed the World.

In August 2006, Shatner was the guest of honor at the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner. This event, hosted by "roastmaster" Jason Alexander (a huge Star Trek fan and one-time Voyager guest star who credits Shatner as an inspiration for his becoming an actor), had a number of comedians (including another one-time Voyager guest, Andy Dick) taking jabs at Shatner, joking about his life and career. Also among the "roastees" were Shatner's TOS co-stars Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, while Trek alumni Clint Howard (reprising his role as Balok, now middle-aged and addicted to tranya) and Sarah Silverman left recorded messages for Shatner. In attendance at the event were Shatner's Boston Legal co-stars Rene Auberjonois and Mark Valley, TNG actor Brent Spiner, and Voyager actress Jeri Ryan.

Also in 2006, a commercial for DirectTV aired in which Shatner reprises his role as Captain Kirk, complete with a Trek film Starfleet uniform. The commercial takes place during the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but has Kirk stepping out of character to promote DirectTV.

Shatner has also reprised the role of Kirk – albeit, in voiceover only – for the video game Star Trek: Legacy. Also giving voice to their respective captains in this game are Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko), Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), and Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer).

Shatner is set to host a talk show for A&E Television's revamped "Bio" channel, tentatively titled William Shatner's Raw Nerve. A&E has ordered thirteen episodes of the show to premiere in 2008. [2]

On 13 December 2007 Shatner was nominated for a second Golden Globe in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his role on Boston Legal. [3]

As of May 2008, Shatner continues to star as Denny Crane on ABC's Boston Legal, which will begin airing its fifth and final season in the fall of 2008. Because of Shatner's involvement, the writers of the show often throw in puns and in-jokes related to Star Trek, usually delivered by Shatner himself. Besides former series regular Rene Auberjonois and current regular John Larroquette (whom Shatner worked with on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock), other Trek performers with whom Shatner has worked on the show include Henry Gibson (as a peculiar judge whom Denny Crane refers to as "namby-pamby"), Joanna Cassidy (who played Denny's lover and briefly his eighth wife), and the aforementioned Jeri Ryan (as an actress with whom Denny, of course, becomes infatuated). DS9 actor Armin Shimerman also had a recurring role, as did Ethan Phillips of Voyager fame, although neither shared scenes with Shatner. Scott Bakula had a guest spot on the series, as well, although he did not share any scenes with Shatner.

[edit] Other projects

Between 1967 and 1970, both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy recorded covers of famous songs for MCA, which were later collected in the album "Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner".

Shatner is also famous (or infamous) for his rendition of the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", as well as his spoken word cover of Elton John's "Rocketman".

Following the death of Kirk in Star Trek Generations, Shatner has written (assisted by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) a set of nine novels, chronicling the resurrection and subsequent adventures of Kirk in the 24th century. His tenth novel, Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course, shows his own views of how the Star Trek universe began.

He has also written a series of novels called TekWar. These novels ultimately became the basis for a TV series and a number of telefilms, which Shatner himself directed for, starred in and served as executive producer.

In 2004, he returned to his musical career with a new album, entitled "Has Been," produced by musician Ben Folds, who previously worked with Shatner on his own first solo album, "Fear of Pop".

[edit] Novels

[edit] Discography

Singles (45s)
  • How Insensitive/Transformed Man (Decca Records, 1969)
Albums (LPs)
  • The Transformed Man (Decca Records, 1969)
  • Spaced Out
  • Has Been
  • William Shatner – Live! (Lemli Records, 1977)
  • Captain of the Starship (K-Tel Records, 1978)
  • Reissue of Lemli album.

[edit] See also

[edit] Trivia

  • Shatner suffers from tinnitus, along with Leonard Nimoy, reportedly due to a special effect explosion on the set of the Star Trek episode "Arena".
  • Actor John Lithgow, whom Shatner worked with on 3rd Rock from the Sun, played essentially Shatner's character from the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" when it was remade for Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983. A reference to this was made in an episode of 3rd Rock in which Shatner played role of "The Big Giant Head". After being delayed, Shatner explained the delay by saying "There was a man... on the wing", and Lithgow exclaimed "The same thing happened to me!"
  • Shatner opened the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony for Star Wars creator George Lucas on June 9, 2005, beginning the segment with "Star Trek changed everything."
  • At the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner, his chair of honor was his captain's chair from the original Enterprise.
  • Shatner has appeared in two music videos with Jason Alexander for country music star Brad Paisley – "Celebrity" and "Online". Both have referenced his singing career and "Online" also has several Star Trek references.

[edit] Appearances

Shatner appeared as Kirk in:

[edit] Additional appearances

James T. Kirk's evil persona
TOS: "The Enemy Within"

James T. Kirk (android)
TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

George Samuel Kirk
TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!"

James T. Kirk (mirror)
TOS: "Mirror, Mirror"

Sargon
(in James T. Kirk's body)
TOS: "Return to Tomorrow"

Garth of Izar
(masquerading as James T. Kirk)
TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy"

Janice Lester
(in James T. Kirk's body)
TOS: "Turnabout Intruder"

Martia
(masquerading as James T. Kirk)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek: The Original Series regular cast
James Doohan • DeForest Kelley • Walter Koenig • Nichelle Nichols • Leonard Nimoy • William Shatner • George Takei

[edit] External links


Previous Director:
Leonard Nimoy 		Star Trek films director
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier 		Next Director:
Nicholas Meyer
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