William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is an actor and writer who was born in Montreal, Quebec. Shatner is most famous for his starring role as Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. Shatner has written three books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of the Star Trek franchise. He has since worked as a writer, producer, director, and best-selling author.
Early life
Shatner earned a Bachelor's degree from McGill University in 1952. Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, he performed at the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario before going to the United States to work.In 1959 he was given good reviews when he took on the role of Robert Lomax in a theatrical production of The World of Suzie Wong. His movie debut was in the classic MGM film The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner in which Shatner starred as the pious brother Alexei. He also appeared in the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg.
Star Trek career
William Shatner was first cast as James T. Kirk for the second pilot of Star Trek, entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He subsequently was contracted to play Captain James Kirk for the Star Trek series and held the role from 1966 to 1969. In 1972, Shatner returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the animated Star Trek series. He was slated to assume the role of Kirk for Star Trek: Phase Two, a follow-up series regarding the second five year mission of the Enterprise, but Star Trek: Phase Two was cancelled in pre-production and expanded into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the six Star Trek films. In 1994, he returned to the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations. This was to be his character's final role as the character of Captain Kirk was killed in the film.
In the summer of 2004, rumors began circulating that the producers of Star Trek: Enterprise were considering bringing William Shatner back to Star Trek. Reports in the media indicated that the idea is being given serious thought, with series producer Manny Coto indicating in Star Trek Communicator magazine's October 2004 issue that he is preparing a three-episode story arc for Shatner. However, it is not known if Shatner would be playing James T. Kirk, an ancestor of Kirk's, or an unrelated character. Playing Kirk again seems unlikely given he is more than 10 years older than he was when he last played the role (making some sort of pre-Generations appearance by Kirk problematic). One potential stumbling block is his current committment to another series on a rival network.
Post-Star Trek career
Shatner had a long dry spell in the decade between the original Star Trek series and the Star Trek movies, which he attributes to his being typecast as Captain Kirk, making him unable to find other work. He says this period was a humbling one, as he would take any odd job, including small party appearances to support his family. In 1970, Shatner appeared as the prosecutor in a PBS television film of the Broadway play The Andersonville Trial. This was directed by George C. Scott and received excellent reviews. The dry spell ended for Shatner (and the other Star Trek cast members) when Paramount produced Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, under pressure from long loyal fans of the series. Its success re-established Shatner as an actor, and Captain Kirk as a cultural icon.
While continuing to film the successful series of Star Trek movies, he returned to television in the 1980s, starring as a uniformed police officer in the T.J. Hooker series; this show became a popular hit.
As the unwilling central public figure of a widespread geek-culture of Trekkies, Shatner is often humorously critical of the sometimes "annoying" fans of Star Trek. He also has found a outlet in spoofing the cavalier, almost superhuman character persona of Captain Kirk, in films such as Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I (1993) and Saturday Night Live, in which he advised Star Trek fans to "Get a life!", repeating a popular catch-phrase.
Shatner has enjoyed success with a series of "Tek" science fiction novels. The first—published in 1990—was entitled TekWar. This popular series of books led to a number of television movies, in which Shatner played a role, and to a short-lived television series. In 1995 a first-person shooter game named William Shatners' TekWar was released, and was the first game to use the Build engine.
In the 1990s Shatner appeared in several plays on American National Public Radio, written and directed by Norman Corwin.
Shatner has appeared in several episodes of the television series Third Rock from the Sun as The Big Giant Head, a fat, womanizing, substance-abusing, higher-ranked officer from the same alien planet as the show's protagonists.
In 2004, Shatner was cast as the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane for the final season of the legal drama The Practice and then its subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal.
Family and other ventures
William Shatner has been married four times:
- Gloria Rand whom he married in 1956; they divorced in 1969.
- Marcy Lafferty whom he married in the fall of 1973; they divorced in 1994.
- Nerine Kidd whom he married on November 15, 1997; she drowned on August 9, 1999 at the couple's home.
- Elizabeth Martin whom he married on February 13, 2001
Shatner has three daughters: Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie, and a son, Daniel. Melanie is the proprietor of Dari, an upscale women's clothing boutique. He currently lives in Southern California.
In his spare time, Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses. Shatner has a 360 acre (1.5 km²) horse farm in Kentucky named Bellreve where he raises the winning horses.
Shatner is also the CEO of the Toronto, Ontario-based C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures company, which provided the special effects for the 1996 film Fly Away Home.
Musical tangents
His musical album The Transformed Man (1968) has become a camp favorite. It includes spoken-word covers of "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles. These are widely held to be so bad they are hilarious. George Clooney chose William Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as one of his Desert Island Discs as an incentive to leave the island. He said, "If you listen to [this song], you will hollow out your own leg and make a canoe out of it to get off this island."
In 1978, Shatner hosted The Science Fiction Film Awards where he performed Elton John's "Rocket Man"[1].
In recent years, Shatner has been spoofing his earlier musical career, performing in the same style for a series of Priceline.com television commercials. One such commercial featured Shatner with frequent collaborator Ben Folds performing a irony-laden version of Diana Ross hit, Mahogany. In his appearance on the animated science-fiction TV series Futurama he recited Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" song during a feast, spoofing his own "Lucy" chant. Shatner also appeared on Ben Folds' "In Love" (on the album Fear of Pop: Volume 1), a "song" about how love can go ever so wrong.
In the fall of 2004, he released a new album entitled Has Been, produced and arranged by Ben Folds and with songs composed by Shatner and Folds. The LP has been critically acclaimed for its unique "pop-driven" style. Its sole cover, a version of Pulp's "Common People" performed with Joe Jackson, has received good notices, often to the surprise of the reviewers.
Trivia
- In 1965 he starred in the Esperanto-language film Incubus.
- Shatner appeared in several episodes of The Twilight Zone.
- Shatner has recently been noted for his role in the Priceline.com commercials.
- William Shatner has a TV star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
- The Student Society Building at McGill University is unofficially named after William Shatner, and contains a sign in the lobby bearing his name.
Memorable quotes
"I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don't live on Starship NCC-170...[some audience members say "one"], or own a phaser. And I don't know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock. And no, I've never had green alien sex, though I'm sure it would be quite an evening. [Pomp and Circumstance begins playing] I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt's, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me 'Live long and prosper', I seriously mean it when I say, 'Get a life'. My doctor's name is not McCoy, it's Ginsberg. And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. And yes, I've gone where no man has gone before, but I was in Mexico and her father gave me permission! My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!"
- —from a Just for Laughs appearance, it is a parody of the popular Molson Canadian Commercial entitled "I Am Canadian".
Books
Fiction
- Tek series
- TekWar, 1989, ISBN 0399134956
- TekLords, 1991, ISBN 0399136169
- TekLab, 1991, ISBN 039913736X
- Tek Vengeance, 1993, ISBN 0399137882
- Tek Secret, 1993, ISBN 0399138927
- Tek Power, 1994, ISBN 0399139974
- Tek Money, 1995, ISBN 039914109X
- Tek Kill, 1996, ISBN 0399142029
- Tek Net, 1997, ISBN 0399143394
- Star Trek series, all with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
- Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden, 1995, ISBN 0671520350
- Star Trek: The Return, 1996, ISBN 0671526103
- Star Trek: Avenger, 1997, ISBN 0671551329
- Star Trek: Spectre, 1998, ISBN 0671008781
- Star Trek: Dark Victory, 1999, ISBN 067100882X
- Star Trek: Preserver, 2000, ISBN 0671021257
- Star Trek: Captain's Peril, 2002, ISBN 0743448197
- Star Trek: Captain's Blood, 2003, ISBN 067102129X
- War series
- Man o' War, 1996, ISBN 0399141316
- The Law of War, 1998, ISBN 0399143602
- Quest for Tomorrow series
- Delta Search, 1997, ISBN 0061052744
- In Alien Hands, 1997, ISBN 0061052752
- Step into Chaos, 1999, ISBN 0061052760
- Beyond the Stars, 2000, ISBN 0061051187
- Shadow Planet, 2002, ISBN 0061051195
- Comic book adaptations
- William Shatner's Tek World, Epic Comics series, 1992
- Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden, DC Comics graphic novel, 1995, ISBN 1563892359
Nonfiction
- Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", as told by Lisabeth Shatner, 1989, ISBN 0671686526
- Star Trek Memories, with Chris Kreski, 1993, ISBN 0060177349
- Star Trek Movie Memories, with Chris Kreski, 1994, ISBN 0060176172
- Get a Life!, with Chris Kreski, 1999, ISBN 0671021311
- Star Trek: I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact, with Chip Walker, 2002, ISBN 067104737X
Albums
- The Transformed Man (Decca, 1968)
- William Shatner Live (Lemli, 1977)
- Has Been (Shout! Factory, 2004)[2]