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Biography William Shatner
Early life
Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is of Ukrainian Jewish descent. He attended Willingdon Elementary School and Baron Byng High School in Montreal, Quebec, and earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Montreal's McGill University in 1952. Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, he performed at the famed Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario before going to the United States to work. In 1954 he was cast as "Ranger Bill" on the popular Howdy Doody Show in the United States.
His official movie debut was in the 1958 MGM film The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner, in which Shatner starred as the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alexei (he had earlier appeared in a 1951 Canadian film entitled The Butler's Night Off). In 1959, he received good reviews when he took on the role of Robert Lomax in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong. In 1962 he starred in Roger Corman's award winning movie "The Intruder."
He also appeared in the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nurenberg and two episodes of the acclaimed science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone, and starred in the unusual 1965 Gothic horror film Incubus; one of only two movies known to have all dialogue spoken in Esperanto, an artificial language developed in the 1880s.
Star Trek career
William Shatner was first cast as Captain James Tiberius Kirk for the second pilot of Star Trek, entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He subsequently was contracted to play Captain 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.
William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
Shatner is notable for having participated in the first televised interracial kiss, with Nichelle Nichols, in the 1968 episode "Plato's Stepchildren". The scene provoked protest and was seen as groundbreaking, even though the kiss was portrayed as having been forced by mind control. The episode was not telecast in some Southern cities for fear of protest in those states; nevertheless, the majority of the feedback of the incident was positive. Shatner has claimed in 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 to force the real kiss being used.
For years Shatner was accused of being difficult to work with by some of his Star Trek co-stars, most notably George Takei and the late 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 [citation needed]. In the 2004 Star Trek DVD sets Takei seemed to have buried the hatchet with Shatner, 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 Shatner and they had mended their relationship.
Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the 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 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 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 and the Canadian actor, unfamiliar with California divorce laws, was all but wiped out financially. With very little money and acting prospects now, he lived in a truck bed camper in the San Fernando Valley until acting bit-parts turned into higher paying roles. Shatner refers to that period in his life as "That Period" as it 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. Trial was directed by George C. Scott and received excellent reviews. He also took roles in made-for-TV productions, such as The Horror at 37,000 Feet. 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 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 from 1982 to 1986; this show became a popular hit. He then hosted the popular dramatic reenactment series Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996.
William Shatner's star on the Canadian Walk of Fame
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 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 1 (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 Tek science fiction novels. The first—published in 1990 — was entitled 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 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 American National Public Radio, written and directed by Norman Corwin.
Shatner has appeared in several episodes of the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun as The Big Giant Head, a womanizing, substance-abusing, high ranking officer from the same alien planet as the show's protagonists. He was nominated for an Emmy for this role.
William Shatner as Denny Crane in Boston Legal
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 and an Emmy in 2005. 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 more rare, Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series).
In 2006 Shatner sold his kidney stone for $25,000 to GoldenPalace.com. The money will go to a housing charity [1]
Shatner also plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games. He plays for the Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horse Show.
Family and other ventures
William Shatner has been married four times:
To Gloria Rand in 1956; they divorced in 1969.
To Marcy Lafferty in 1973; they divorced in 1994.
To Nerine Kidd on November 15, 1997; died August 9, 1999; accidentally drowned in the couple's pool.
To Elizabeth Martin on February 13, 2001.
Shatner has three daughters, Leslie, Lisabeth and Melanie. Melanie is the proprietor of Dari, an upscale women's clothing boutique. She 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
Main article: William Shatner's musical career
William Shatner has had a much-parodied musical career, starting with the 1968 album The Transformed Man.
His second studio album, Has Been, was released in 2004. Ben Folds acted as producer. Collaborating artists included Aimee Mann, 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 aka Go by Lemon Jelly, featured on their CD entitled '64-'95 and Brad Paisley's Celebrity music video.
Trivia
Prior to Star Trek, Shatner guest-starred together with Leonard Nimoy in the first-season episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. entitled The Project Strigas Affair.
Shatner has recently been noted for his role in the Priceline.com commercials.
Shatner appeared with Leonard Nimoy in a famous advertising campaign for Western Airlines. Shatner has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television work) at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
The Student Society Building at Montreal's McGill University was unofficially named after William Shatner after a student referendum, and contains a ceiling mounted sign in the lobby bearing his name. The University administrators have never officially accepted this name.
Like many Anglophones born in the largely French-speaking province of Québec, Shatner speaks French. Shatner has been a commander in Celebrity Paintball's scenario games to raise money for his favorite charity, handicapped children.
Shatner has starred in a series of Kellogg's All-Bran cereal commercials in the UK and Canada. Shatner's latest invention has been Invasion Iowa, a fake movie shot for a reality tv series on SpikeTV. Fans of the horror movie Halloween might know that Michael Myers wears a William Shatner mask that is painted white.
When James Doohan died on July 20, 2005, Shatner became the oldest living Star Trek cast member at age 74, four days older than Leonard Nimoy (Nichelle Nichols was 72, George Takei 68, and Walter Koenig 68).
During separate appearances on the Howard Stern Show, Takei and Doohan both admitted to despising Shatner (on the January 10, 2006 Stern show, Takei referred to Shatner as a "prima donna").
Shatner has also made about ten appearances on the Howard Stern Show, including a visit to the fictional "homo room" with Howard. Shatner consistently was a good sport during these appearances.
In episode #166 of the TV sitcom Night Court, the bald bailiff Bull wins a free toupee, and selects the super-advanced "Shatner Turbo 2000" model, which is virtually indestructible and causes the wearer to immediately become popular with women.
In the satirical TV series Brass Eye, the fictional drug 'Cake' is said to affect an area of the brain known as Shatner's Bassoon.
The song "eBay" by "Weird Al" Yankovic includes the lyrics:
Tell me why (I need another pet rock)
Tell me why (I got that Alf alarm clock)
Tell me why (I bid on Shatner's old toupee)
They had it on eBay
In an episode made prior to Shatner's appearance on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dick tries to appear slimmer by wearing a girdle dubbed the "Shatner".
The character of Zapp Brannigan in the TV series Futurama was conceived as a mixture of both Shatner and Kirk, with Brannigan frequently exhibiting character traits associated with both. On the DVD commentairy of Zap's first appearance, the creators describe him as being "40% Kirk, 60% Shatner", and that the initial premise for the character was "What if the real William Shatner was the captain of the Enterprise instead of Kirk." Ironically, Shatner himself - along with most of the rest of the surviving Star Trek cast - would appear in an episode during the series' fourth season.
Tim Allen's role as Commander Peter Quincy Taggart/Jason Nesmith in Galaxy Quest was inspired by Shatner and his relationship with his fellow Star Trek stars. Allen's role is an almost perfect analogue of James T. Kirk/William Shatner; Taggart has a reputation for losing 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'.
"William Shatner" is the title for songs by The Wedding Present and The Scofflaws.
He is set to voice a character in the 2006 film Over the Hedge alongside Avril Lavigne, Steve Carell, and Bruce Willis.
Both Shatner and Star Trek co-star Nimoy are of the same ethnicity, Jewish Ukranian.
In a Super Bowl XL sketch shown before the game, Shatner and James Spader star as their Boston Legal characters as they try to play football in an apartment. Shatner throws the football into the street which causes an off-screen collision. Shatner then throws his business cards toward the collision in case they want a lawyer, which the show is based on.
Shatner was the second actor who appear in the first 79 episodes of Star Trek (1 episode behind Leonard Nimoy, who starred in the pilot episode).
Both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are the only two cast members of Star Trek who share the same month and year together (in birthdays), by only 4 days. Shatner's birthday is: March 22, 1931, and Nimoy's birthday is: March 26, 1931.
On October 19, 2005, while working on the set of Boston Legal, Shatner was taken to the emergency room for lower back pain. He was reportedly doing fine, and was taken back to work.
Memorable quotes
"I'm not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don't live on Starship NCC-170... (some audience members say "1"), or own a phaser. I don't know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock (picture of Dr. Benjamin Spock is shown on screen behind him). And no, I've never had green alien sex, but I'm sure it'd 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 (nude picture of Dr. Ginsberg shown on screen). 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 I believe in priceline.com, where you never have to pay full price for airline tickets, hotels, and car rentals! I've appeared onstage at Stratford, at Carnegie Hall, Albert Hall, and the Monkland Theatre in NDG. 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; a parody of the popular Molson Canadian Commercial entitled "I Am Canadian"
"It's a question that I find like asking somebody, 'Did you have a breast implant?' or 'When did you get your lobotomy?'"
— when asked if he wore a hairpiece
Filmography
The Butler's Night Off (1951)
Oedipus Rex (1957)
The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
City Out of Time (1959) (short subject) (narrator)
The Explosive Generation (1961)
Judgment at Nurenberg (1961)
The Intruder (1962)
The Outrage (1964)
Incubus (1965)
White Comanche (1968)
Big Bad Mama (1974)
Impulse (1974)
Land of No Return (1975)
The Devil's Rain (1975)
Miracles of the Gods (1976) (documentary) (narrator)
A Whale of a Tale (1977)
Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)
The Third Walker (1978)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
The Kidnapping of the President (1980)
Visiting Hours (1982)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Seasons (1987) (short subject) (narrator)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) (also director and writer)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Land of the Free (1997)
Trekkies (1997) (documentary)
Jefftowne (1998) (documentary)
Free Enterprise (1998)
Falcon Down (2000)
Miss Congeniality (2000)
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000) (singing the song "To Infinity and Beyond")
Osmosis Jones (2001) (voice)
Festival in Cannes (2001) (Cameo)
Shoot or Be Shot (2002)
Showtime (2002)
Groom Lake (2002) (also director and writer)
American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Lil' Pimp (2005) (voice)
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)
Upcoming:
The Wild (2006) (voice)
Over the Hedge (2006) (voice)
Free Enterprise 2: My Big Fat Geek Wedding (2006)
Television work
Shatner on The Twilight Zone
Howdy Doody (cast member in 1954)
Billy Budd (1955)
Tactic (1959-1960)
Julius Caesar (1960)
The Night of the Auk (1960)
The Twilight Zone (1960 & 1963)
For the People (1965-1966)
Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966) (2nd pilot for series)
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Alexander the Great (1968) (filmed in 1964)
Shadow Game (1969)
Sole Survivor (1970)
The Andersonville Trial (1970)
Vanished (1971)
Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law (1971)
The People (1972)
Kung Fu (1972) (Irish Bareknuckle Boxer)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972)
Incident on a Dark Street (1973)
Go Ask Alice (1973)
Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)
Star Trek: The Animated Adventures (1973-1975) (voice)
Pioneer Woman (1973)
Inner Space (1974) (miniseries)
Indict and Convict (1974)
Pray for the Wildcats (1974)
The Tenth Level (1975)
Barbary Coast (1975-1976)
Perilous Voyage (1976)
Columbo: Fade in to Murder (1976)
Testimony of Two Men (1977) (miniseries)
How the West Was Won (1978) (miniseries)
The Bastard (1978)
Little Women (1978)
Crash (1978)
Riel (1979)
Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)
The Babysitter (1980)
T.J. Hooker (1982-1986) (also director of multiple episodes)
Secrets of a Married Man (1984)
North Beach and Rawhide (1985)
T.J. Hooker: Blood Sport (1986)
The Trial of Standing Bear (1988) (narrator)
Broken Angel (1988)
Rescue 911 (1989-1996)
Voice of the Planet (1991) (miniseries)
Family of Strangers (1993)
TekWar (1994) (also director and writer)
TekWar: TekLords (1994) (also director and writer)
TekWar: TekJustice (1994) (also director and writer)
TekWar (1994-1996) (also director of multiple episodes, writer, and executive producer)
Janek: The Silent Betrayal (1994)
WWE (then WWF) Monday Night Raw (1995)
Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996)
Dead Man's Island (1996)
A Twist in the Tale (1998-1999)
The Kid (2001) (voice)
Full Moon Fright Night (2002) (miniseries)
A Carol Christmas (2003)
Boston Legal (2004-present)
Invasion Iowa (2005)
Merry F#%$in' Christmas (2005)
Atomic Betty: The No-L 9 (2005)
How William Shatner Changed the World (2005)
Books
Fiction
Tek series
See TekWar
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
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)
Spaced Out: The Very Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner (compilation) (Universal International, 1997)
Has Been (Shout! Factory, 2004)[2]
