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William Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for playing James Tiberius Kirk of the ''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.
Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed at the Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario— in later years generations of Canadian high school students were startled to see pictures (as well as actor Lorne Greene) playing a wide range of Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Festival.
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. 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.
William Shatner was first cast as Captain James 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 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 interracial kiss televised in the U.S., 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. 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.[1]
For years Shatner was accused of being difficult to work with by some of his Star Trek co-stars, most notably George Takei and James Doohan, both of whom openly professed that they despised Shatner for being an arrogant, egotistical, line-stealing showboater who tried to keep his co-stars in the background.[2] 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.
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.
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 saucy 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. Shatner also made a cameo in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, to much critical acclaim.
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.
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. 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.
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.[3] 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.
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, William 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.
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 Shatners' first unsucessful attempt at a series since Barbery 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 appearence 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.[4]
In 2007, 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 born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Joseph Shatner and Anna Garmaise, both immigrants of Ukrainian Jewish descent. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, changed the family name.[5]
He attended Willingdon Elementary School, 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 1989 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 Student Union Building).
William 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 actress and is now the proprietor of Dari, an upscale women's clothing boutique. She is married to actor Joel Gretsch.
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.
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 Shatner said that she "meant everything" to him and he called her his "beautiful soulmate."
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.
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.
Main article: William Shatner's musical career
William Shatner has had a much-mocked musical career, starting with the 1968 album The Transformed Man. Delivered against MOR 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 Joe Jackson. Has Been features the single "Common People", a cover version of the song by Pulp.
He appears on the piece "'64 - Go" by Lemon Jelly, featured on their CD entitled '64 - '95, and in Brad Paisley's music video for "Celebrity." Shatner also appears as a studio producer in the music video for "Landed" by Ben Folds.
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy have been best friends since 1964, when they met as guest stars in "The Project Strigas Affair" episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
The two subsequently worked together on Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 - 1969), Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974), and the first six Star Trek motion pictures.
Also, in 1974 Nimoy and Shatner made cameo appearances as Spock and Kirk on The $10,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark.
Nimoy guest-starred in Shatner's T.J. Hooker and in several of Shatner's recent series of Priceline.com television ads. In March 2003, he also attended the First Annual TV Land Awards with him, which was hosted by John Ritter. In August 2006, Nimoy also made a phone call to his friend as part of Comedy Central's roast of William Shatner.
The two appeared on-stage together for the Star Trek 40th anniversary celebration in Toronto, Canada and Chicago, Illinois.
They also voiced Kirk and Spock in the same Futurama episode, titled Where No Fan Has Gone Before, at the same time - this is very unusual as voice actors tend to voice their characters separately with the audio then sent to a team dedicated to mixing the audio and video together.
Conversely, during separate appearances on the Howard Stern Show, Takei and Doohan both acknowledged despising Shatner; on the January 10, 2006 Stern show, Takei referred to Shatner as a "prima donna".Tim Allen's role as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart/Jason Nesmith in Galaxy Quest was also inspired by Shatner and his relationship with his fellow Star Trek stars. Allen's role is an analogue of James T. Kirk/William Shatner as known by the public at large; Taggart has a reputation for taking off his shirt at the flimsiest excuse, rolling on the ground during combat, and making pithy speeches at the drop of a hat, while Nesmith is an egomaniac who regards himself as the core of Galaxy Quest, and tells fans to 'get a life'.
However, in the more recent film Over the Hedge, Shatner was credited by fellow cast and crew as a pleasant person to work with.
Shatner had another friendship, this one with Heather Locklear since 1982, when this young actress co-starred with him on T.J. Hooker. The two reportedly got along well on and off the set. Nineteen years after the cancellation of the series, Locklear was reunited with Shatner when she guest-starred on Boston Legal.
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