| William Shatner |
Shatner at the Star Trek Italian Club 2005 Convention |
| Born |
March 22 1931 (1931--) (age 76)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Other name(s) |
Bill Shatner |
| Years active |
1950 - present |
| Spouse(s) |
Gloria Rand (1956-1969)
Marcy Lafferty (1973-1994)
Nerine Kidd (1997-1999)
Elizabeth Anderson Martin (2001-) |
| Children |
Leslie Carol Shatner (b.1958)
Lisabeth Shatner (b.1961)
Melanie Shatner (b.1964) |
| Official site |
www.WilliamShatner.com |
|
|
William Alan Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a
Canadian actor who gained fame for playing Captain James Tiberius Kirk, captain of the starship USS
Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966
to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. Shatner has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing James T.
Kirk and being a part of Star Trek. He also played the title role as veteran police
sergeant T.J. Hooker, from 1982 to 1986. He has since worked as a
musician, bestselling author, producer, director, and celebrity
pitchman, most notably for Priceline.com. He currently co-stars as attorney
Denny Crane on the television drama Boston
Legal, for which he has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.
Shatner, who originally portrayed James T. Kirk, has not been "offered or suggested" a role in the new Star Trek movie, as of October 2007.[1] Director J.J. Abrams said in July 2007 that the production was "desperately trying to figure out a
way to put him in" but that to "shove him in...would be a disaster."[2]
Biography
Early life
Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada to Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer,[3] and Anna Garmaise. All four of Shatner's grandparents were Jewish
immigrants from Eastern Europe; his paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, shortened the
family name to "Shatner". He attended Willingdon Elementary School,[4] in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, Quebec, and earned in 1952 a Bachelor's degree in
commerce from Montreal's McGill University (the Student Union building of which was
renamed The Shatner Building in 1993 following a referendum by the Student Union; although used by many students, the name is not
officially recognized by the university, which still refers to the building as University Centre).
Early stage, film, and television work
Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed at the
Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. He played a range of Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Festival in productions
that included Shakespeare's Henry V
and Marlowe's Tamburlaine the
Great. Shatner made his Broadway debut in the latter. In 1954, he was cast
as "Ranger Bill" on the Canadian version of the Howdy Doody Show.
Though his official movie debut was in the 1951 Canadian film entitled The Butler's Night
Off, Shatner's first feature role came in the 1958 MGM film
The Brothers Karamazov with Yul
Brynner, in which he starred as the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alexei. In 1959, he received decent reviews when
he took on the role of Robert Lomax in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong. In 1961 he starred in the Broadway play "A Shot in the Dark"
opposite Julie Harris and directed by Harold Clurman. Walter Matthau and Gene Saks were also featured in this play (in which
there was no Inspector Clouseau character).
In 1962 he starred in Roger Corman's award-winning movie The Intruder. He also appeared in the Stanley
Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg and two episodes of the acclaimed
science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone. There was also an episode
for The Outer Limits. Shatner guest-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in
an episode that also featured Leonard Nimoy, with whom Shatner later would be paired in
Star Trek. Shatner also starred in the 1965 Gothic horror film Incubus, the second feature-length movie ever made with all dialogue spoken in the
constructed language Esperanto.
Star Trek career
Shatner was first cast as Captain James Tiberius Kirk for the second pilot of Star Trek, entitled "Where No Man Has
Gone Before". He was subsequently contracted to play Kirk for the Star Trek series and held the role from 1966 to
1969. In the episode Operation Annihilate he played the corpse of the
recently killed George Samuel Kirk (the brother of James T. Kirk).
In 1973, Shatner returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the animated Star Trek series. He was slated to reprise the role of Kirk for
Star Trek: Phase II, a follow-up series chronicling the second five-year
mission of the Enterprise, but Star Trek: Phase II was cancelled in pre-production and expanded into
Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Shatner is notable for having participated in the first kiss in a U.S. television drama series
between fictional interracial characters, with Nichelle Nichols, in the 1968 Star
Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren". The scene provoked controversy and was
seen as groundbreaking, even though the kiss was portrayed as having been forced by telekinesis; it is also frequently misremembered as "the first interracial kiss on US TV" even though it
took place after Sammy Davis, Jr. and Nancy
Sinatra had openly kissed on the variety program Movin' With Nancy in December 1967. The
episode was not telecast in some Southern cities for fear of protest in those states; nevertheless most viewer reaction was
positive. Shatner has claimed in his memoirs that no one on the set felt the kiss to be very important until a network executive
raised fears of a Southern boycott, and the kiss was almost written out of the script. Gene
Roddenberry supposedly made a deal, that the scene would be shot with the kiss, and with a cut-away shot which merely
implied a kiss, and then a decision would be made on which to use. The footage of the actual kiss was eventually used. Some cast
members have written that this was because Shatner deliberately ruined the take for the implied-kiss footage by looking into the
camera and crossing his eyes to force the real kiss to be used.[5]
For years Shatner was accused of being difficult to work with by some of his Star Trek co-stars, most notably
James Doohan, and George Takei, who professed that he
despised Shatner for being an arrogant, egotistical, line-stealing showboater who tried to keep his co-stars in the
background.[6] In the 2004 Star Trek DVD sets,
Shatner seemed to have buried the hatchet with Takei, but the gulf between Shatner and Doohan was more difficult. In the 1990s,
Shatner made numerous attempts to patch things up with Doohan, but was unsuccessful for some time; however, an Associated Press article published at the time of Doohan's final convention appearance in late August
2004 stated that Doohan had forgiven his fellow Canadian Shatner and they had mended their relationship.[citation needed] It's possible that their renewed
friendship was the result of Shatner caring for Doohan, who had fallen ill and died of Alzheimer's on July 20, 2005.
Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the first six Star Trek films, and directed the fifth. In
1994, he returned to the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations—his
character's final appearance in the movie series. 1997 marked his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the movie sequences of
Starfleet Academy, although he recently reprised this
role briefly for a Trek-parody DirecTV advertisement which began airing in late summer 2006.
In the summer of 2004, rumors circulated that the producers of Star Trek:
Enterprise were considering bringing William Shatner back into the Trek fold. Reports in the media indicated
that the idea was given serious thought, with series producer Manny Coto indicating in
Star Trek Communicator magazine's October 2004 issue that he was preparing a three-episode story arc for Shatner. Shortly
thereafter, Enterprise was cancelled, likely ending all hope that Shatner would return to Star Trek.
Post-Star Trek career
Shatner was an occasional celebrity guest on The $20,000 Pyramid in the
1970s, once appearing opposite Nimoy in a matchup billed as "Kirk vs. Spock". His appearances became far less frequent after a
1977 appearance, in which, after giving an illegal clue which deprived the contestant of a big
money win, he threw his chair out of the Winner's Circle.[7]
Shatner had a long dry spell in the decade between the original Star Trek series and the first Trek film, which
he believes was due to his being typecast as Captain Kirk, making it difficult to
find other work. Moreover, his wife Gloria Rand left him. With very little money and acting prospects, he lived in a truck bed
camper in the San Fernando Valley until acting bit-parts turned into higher paying
roles. Shatner refers to this part of his life as "that period," a humbling one in which he would take any odd job, including
small party appearances, to support his family. Perhaps the nadir was his role in Big Bad
Mama, prized by Shatnerites for his nude scene with Angie Dickinson. He did
however land a starring role in the western-themed secret agent series Barbary
Coast during 1975 and 1976, as well as a major role in the horror film The Devil's
Rain. He also made guest appearances on many 1970s television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Columbo,
The Rookies, and Mission:
Impossible. 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 loyal fans of the series. Its success
re-established Shatner as an actor, and Captain Kirk — now promoted to Admiral — as a cult
icon.
While continuing to film the successful series of Star Trek movies, he returned to television in the 1980s, starring as
a police officer in the T.J. Hooker series
from 1982 to 1986. He then hosted the popular dramatic reenactment series Rescue 911
from 1989 to 1996. During the 1980s, Shatner also began dabbling in film and television directing, directing numerous episodes of
T.J. Hooker and the feature film Star Trek V: The Final
Frontier.
William Shatner's star on the
Canadian Walk of Fame.
As the unwilling central 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 an 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 (1993) and Saturday Night
Live, in which he advised Star Trek fans to "Get a life", repeating a popular catch-phrase. Shatner also appeared in the film Free
Enterprise in 1998, in which he played himself and tried to dispel the Kirk image of himself from the view of the
film's two lead characters.
Shatner has enjoyed success with a series of science fiction novels published under
his name, though most were written by uncredited co-writers like Ron Goulart.[citation needed] The first — published in 1990 — was
TekWar. This popular series of books led to a Marvel Comics series, to a number of
television movies, in which Shatner played a role, and to a short-lived television series in which Shatner made several
appearances; he also directed some episodes. In 1995, a first-person shooter game
named William Shatner's TekWar was released, and was the first game to use the Build
engine.
In the 1990s, Shatner appeared in several plays on National Public Radio,
written and directed by Norman Corwin. Shatner was cast as "The Big Giant Head," a
womanizing party-animal and high-ranking officer from the same alien planet as the show's
protagonists in several episodes of the television series 3rd Rock from the
Sun. The role earned Shatner a nomination for an Emmy. In 2003, Shatner appeared
in Brad Paisley's Celebrity
country music video along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Jason Alexander, and
Trista Rehn.
In 2004, Shatner was cast as the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane for
the final season of the legal drama The
Practice, for which he was awarded an Emmy, and then its subsequent
spin-off, Boston Legal, for which he won a
Golden Globe, an Emmy in 2005 and nominated again in 2006. With the 2005 Emmy win,
Shatner became one of the few actors along with co-star James Spader as Alan Shore, to win an Emmy award while playing the same character in two different series. Even rarer,
Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series.
Also in 2004, Shatner became a "Celebrity Photographer" for Playboy's Cyber
Club.[8]
In 2005, Shatner executive-produced and starred in the Spike TV reality miniseries
Invasion Iowa. On October 19, 2005, while working on the set of Boston Legal, Shatner was taken to
the emergency room for lower back pain. He eventually passed a kidney stone, but recovered
and soon returned to work.
In 2006 Shatner sold his kidney stone for US$75,000 to GoldenPalace.com.[9] In an appearance on The View on Tuesday,
May 16, 2006, Shatner said US$75,000, with an additional US$20,000 raised from
the cast and crew of Boston Legal, paid for the building of a house by Habitat for Humanity.
Shatner also plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games. He plays for
the Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horse Show. Shatner has appeared in priceline.com commercials both online and on TV, as the "Chief Negotiating Officer." Shatner is also the
CEO of the Toronto, Ontario-based
C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, which provided the special
effects for the 1996 film Fly Away Home.
On August 20, 2006, Shatner was featured on Comedy Central's Roast of William Shatner. Jason Alexander acted as roastmaster with (in alphabetical
order) Andy Dick, Farrah Fawcett, Greg Giraldo, Lisa Lampanelli, Artie
Lange, Nichelle Nichols, Patton Oswalt,
Kevin Pollak, Jeffrey Ross, George Takei, Betty White, and Fred
Willard performing the roasting duties. Special, pre-taped, guest appearances were made by Leonard Nimoy, Sandra Bullock, Ben
Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, and
Clint Howard.[10]
Shatner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In October 2006, Shatner accepted to host the new ABC game show
Show Me the Money, which began in November 2006. The show was
cancelled in December 2006 due to low ratings. It was Shatner's first unsuccessful attempt at a series since Barbary Coast
in 1976. Shatner continues to co-star on Boston Legal. On March 22, 2007, Shatner was announced as the inductor of legendary professional wrestler/broadcaster Jerry "The King" Lawler at the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame induction
ceremony, set to occur on March 31, 2007 at the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan. Shatner was
chosen because of a memorable 1995 appearance on WWF Monday Night Raw in which Shatner,
promoting the TekWar TV series, pushed Lawler to the ring canvas during an interview segment. Shatner later managed fellow
Canadian Bret "Hit Man" Hart in a match against Jeff
Jarrett, managed by Lawler.[11] Shatner briefly
reprised his role as James T. Kirk for a recent 2006
DirecTV advertisement featuring footage from Star Trek VI. Shatner has starred in a series of Kellogg's All-Bran cereal
commercials in the UK and Canada.[12]
In January 2007, Shatner launched a series of daily vlogs on his life called
ShatnerVision[13] on the LiveUniverse.com website. Along
with his daughter Lisabeth; they provide a unique and unparalleled look into Shatner's private life and adventures in life.
Shatner also appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity
Race, featuring a dozen celebrities in a stock car racing competition. In
the first round of competition, Shatner matched up against former NFL coach
Bill Cowher and former volleyball superstar
Gabrielle Reece. Shatner was disqualified in the episode for repeatedly crossing a
safety line on the track. As of 2007, Shatner is the first Canadian actor to star in three
successful TV series on 3 different networks (NBC, CBS and
ABC).
Shatner has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television work) at 6901
Hollywood Blvd. He also has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame.
Family and other ventures
Shatner has been married four times; to Gloria Rand from 1956 to 1969, Marcy Lafferty from 1973 to 1994, Nerine Kidd from 1997
to 1999, and his current wife Elizabeth Martin whom he married in 2001. Shatner has three daughters, Leslie Carol (b. 1958),
Lisabeth Mary (b. 1960), and Melanie (b. 1964), from his marriage to Rand. Melanie had a
brief career as an actress and is now the proprietor of Dari, an upscale women's clothing boutique. 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.
He is Joel Gretsch's father-in-law; Gretsch is married to Shatner's daughter,
Melanie Shatner and father of his two grandaughters, Kaya and Willow.
On August 9, 1999, Shatner returned home around 10 p.m. to
discover the body of his wife Nerine at the bottom of their back yard swimming pool. Alcohol and Valium were detected in an autopsy, and a coroner ruled the death an accidental drowning. The LAPD ruled out
foul play and the case has been long closed. Speaking to the press shortly after his wife's death, a clearly shaken and emotional
Shatner said that she "meant everything" to him and called her his "beautiful soulmate."[14] Shatner urged the public to support Friendly House, a non-profit organization
that helps women re-establish themselves in the community after suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction.[15] He later told Larry King in an
interview that "...my wife, whom I loved dearly and who loved me, was suffering with a disease that we don’t like to talk about,
alcoholism. And she met a tragic ending because of it."[16]
In 2000 a Reuters story reported that Shatner was planning to write and direct The Shiva
Club, a dark comedy about the grieving process inspired by his wife's death. The project is still in
pre-production.[citation needed] Shatner's 2004 album Has Been
produced with Ben Folds included a spoken word piece titled "What Have You Done" which
describes his anguish upon discovering his wife's body in the pool.
Musical tangents
-
Shatner has had a much-mocked musical career, starting with the 1968 album The
Transformed Man. Delivered with orchestral backings with the odd "psychedelic" flourish, his exaggerated, interpretive
recitations of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" became instant camp classics. Shatner would eventually
parody his own musical style several times in the 1990s, including during an
episode of Futurama, in which he performed a spoken word version of the rap hit song "The Real Slim Shady."
Shatner performed a reading of the Elton John song "Rocket Man" during the Science Fiction
Film Awards, televised in 1978. Dressed in tuxedo ruffles with a hand-rolled cigarette in hand, he spoke with Kirk-like delivery
against a synthesizer-laden backdrop of the song.
Shatner provided vocals for "In Love" by Ben Folds on his Fear of Pop album. He would later provide vocals for an alternate version of Folds' song
"Rockin' the Suburbs" which was contributed to the Over the Hedge soundtrack in 2006.
A creative friendship blossomed that led to Folds producing and co-writing Shatner's well-received second studio album,
Has Been, in 2004. The album centers around Shatner's often melancholy and regretful
autobiographical ruminations, and features a number of prestigious guest artists such as Aimee
Mann, Lemon Jelly, Henry Rollins,
Brad Paisley and
