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William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian double Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Saturn Award-winning actor and novelist. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, captain of the starship USS Enterprise, in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing James T.
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Encyclopedia
William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian double Emmy-, Golden Globe- and Saturn Award-winning actor and novelist. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, captain of the starship USS Enterprise, in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing James T. Kirk and being a part of Star Trek as well as several co-written novels set in the Star Trek universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.
Shatner 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 recently as the "Negotiator" for the Priceline.com travel website. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal, for which he has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Biography
Early life
William Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Anna (née Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, anglicized the family name to "Shatner". Shatner's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Hungary, and Shatner was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended Willingdon Elementary School, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Baron Byng High School, in Montreal, as well as Westhill high school in NDG and earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Montreal's McGill University in 1952 .
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 1960, Shatner appeared in two episodes as Wayne Gorham in NBC's The Outlaws Western series with Barton MacLane. In 1961, he starred in the Broadway play A Shot in the Dark opposite Julie Harris and directed by Harold Clurman. Walter Matthau (who won a Tony Award for his performance) and Gene Saks were also featured in this play. Shatner also starred in two episodes of the NBC television series Boris Karloff's Thriller, "Grim Reaper" and "The Hungry Glass".
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, "Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", of the acclaimed science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone. In the 1963-1964 season, he appeared in episodes of two ABC series, Channing and The Outer Limits. In 1964, he guest starred in the episode "He Stuck in His Thumb" of the CBS drama The Reporter starring Harry Guardino as journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe.
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. He also starred in the critically acclaimed drama For the People in 1965 as an assistant district attorney, costarring with Jessica Walter. The program lasted for only thirteen episodes. Shatner 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 T. 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 also 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.
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 on the big screen, ending with the death of Captain Kirk. 1997 marked his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the movie sequences of the video game 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 has not been "offered or suggested" a role in the new film Star Trek, as of October 2007. 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." As a result, Shatner had invented his own idea about the beginning of Star Trek with his latest novel, Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course.
In 2008, he joined Star Trek: The Tour in Long Beach, California an exhibition which is planned to tour 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada. In an interview, he spoke about accepting the dominance of Star Trek in public recollection of his career, and coming to terms with the adoration of fans.
Shatner writes in Star Trek Memories that "The Devil in the Dark" was his favourite original Star Trek episode. From his perspective, the episode was "exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent, it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best Star Treks."
After Trek
Shatner did a number of television commercials for the Ontario, Canada based Loblaws supermarket chain in the 1970s, and finished the ad spots by saying, "At Loblaws, more than the price is right. But, by Gosh, the price is right."
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 ("the blessed" for Things That Are Blessed) at the top of the pyramid ($200) which deprived the contestant of a big money win, he threw his chair out of the Winner's Circle. He appeared on the Match Game, though he was never a regular on this program.
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 few 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. 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, Kung Fu and Mission: Impossible.
A return to Kirk
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.
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) and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon (1993). During a guest-host spot on Saturday Night Live, in a skit about a Star Trek convention, he advised a room full of Trekkies 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.
Kirk is dead, long live Shatner
Shatner has enjoyed success with a series of science fiction novels published under his name, though most are widely believed to have been written by uncredited co-writers such as Ron Goulart. 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. In the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun, Shatner appeared in several episodes as the "Big Giant Head", a womanizing party-animal and high-ranking officer from the same alien planet as the Solomon family. 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 a guest photographer for Playboy Magazine, shooting former playmate Deanna Brooks.
Also 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 reprised the same character in the subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal, for which he won a Golden Globe, an Emmy in 2005 and was 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. Shatner remained with the series until its end in 2008.
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, recovered and soon returned to work. In 2006, Shatner sold his kidney stone for US$75,000 to GoldenPalace.com. In an appearance on The View on May 16, 2006, Shatner said the $75,000 and an additional $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.
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 continued 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. 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.
In January 2007, Shatner launched a series of daily vlogs on his life called ShatnerVision 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 three 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.
On November 20, 2007, Shatner was featured as part of the "What's Your Game?" national television commercial series for World of Warcraft along with Mr. T and Verne Troyer.
On September 18, 2008 William Shatner relaunched his online video blogs on YouTube in a project aptly named "The Shatner Project"
Shatner is currently hosting Shatner's Raw Nerve, a celebrity interview series airing on The Biography Channel. The first episode of the series aired on December 2, 2008 and featured actress Valerie Bertinelli.
Family and other ventures
Shatner has been married four times: to Gloria Rand from 1956 to 1969. His second marriage--his longest marriage thus far--lasted 21 years and was to Marcy Lafferty Shatner from 1973 to 1994. The couple divorced in 1994. His third marriage was to Nerine Kidd-Shatner from 1997 to 1999. That marriage ended when his wife drowned. His current wife is Elizabeth Martin whom he married in 2001. The couple came together shortly after they were both widowed. 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. She is married to actor Joel Gretsch, with whom she has two daughters, 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". 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. 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." In his new 2008 book Up Till Now: The Autobiography, Shatner discusses how Leonard Nimoy helped to take his third wife Nerine for treatment of her alcoholism. Shatner writes in an excerpt to his book:
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.
Shatner may be related to Mordechai Shatner, who was one of the signators of the Israeli declaration of independence. However, William Shatner states that he has never heard of him.
In his spare time, Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses. Shatner has a horse farm in Kentucky named Bell Reve, where he raises American Saddlebreds. His champion American Saddlebreds include Call Me Ringo, Revival, and Sultan's Great Day.
Musical endeavours
Shatner began his musical career with the spoken word 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 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. This was spoofed on Late Night with David Letterman in 1992, in the Music video for the Beck comeback single Where It's At, and in a 2001 episode of Family Guy.
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's 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, Adrian Belew, Brad Paisley, and Joe Jackson. Notably, 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, on which he was credited as "the creative genius that is William Shatner" and in Brad Paisley's music video for "Celebrity" and "Online." Shatner also appears as a studio producer in the music video for "Landed" by Ben Folds.
In 2007, a ballet called Common People, set to Has Been, was created by Margo Sappington (of Oh! Calcutta! fame) and performed by the Milwaukee Ballet. Shatner attended the premiere and filmed the event. The filmed footage eventually turned into a feature film called William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet, due out in 2009.
Relationships with other actors
Shatner first appeared in the same film with Leonard Nimoy in 1964, when both actors guest-starred on an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., entitled: The Project Strigas Affair. However, Shatner states in his autobiography that he does not recall actually meeting Nimoy at that time. As co-stars on Star Trek, they interacted socially both on and off the set. After classic Star Treks cancellation in 1969, Shatner and Nimoy reunited in the production of a Star Trek animated series, as well as The $20,000 Pyramid, where "Kirk vs. Spock" appeared on two different tables. Nimoy also guest-starred on T.J. Hooker, in which Shatner starred in the title role, for a few episodes. The 1999 death of Shatner's third wife, Nerine, served to strengthen the friendship of Shatner and Nimoy, as Nimoy had mourned over the loss of his best friend's wife. Nimoy also appeared alongside Shatner at the TV Land Awards (hosted by John Ritter) and was one of the many people to serve as a celebrity "roaster" of Shatner. Nimoy summarized his four decade friendship with Shatner by remarking, "Bill's energy was good for my performance, 'cause Spock could be the cool individual, our chemistry was successful, right from the start." Nimoy has also spoken about mutual rivalry between the actors during the Star Trek years: "Very competitive, sibling rivalry up to here. After the show had been on the air a few weeks and they started getting so much mail for Spock, then the dictum came down from NBC: 'Give us more of that guy, they love that guy, you know?' Well, that can be ... that can be a problem for the leading man who was hired as the star of the show; and suddenly, here's this guy with ears -- 'What's this, you know?'" said Nimoy. On an A&E Biography Nimoy remarked, "Bill Shatner hogging the stage? No. Not the Bill Shatner I know."
Shatner has been friends with Heather Locklear since 1982, when the then-unknown actress co-starred with him on T.J. Hooker as Officer Stacy Sheridan. Locklear was asked by Entertainment Tonight whether it was hard to work on two weekly tv shows at the same time. During the four years Locklear was in "Hooker", she was also appearing in a semi-regular role in a fellow Aaron Spelling production, Dynasty. She replied "...I'd get really nervous and want to be prepared..." for Shatner and the experienced cast of Dynasty. After Hooker ended Shatner helped Locklear get other roles. Locklear supporting a grieving Shatner in 1999 when he was mourning the death of his wife, Nerine. In 2005, Locklear appeared in a two episodes of Shatner's Boston Legal as Kelly Nolan, an attractive, youthful woman being tried for killing her much older, wealthy husband. Shatner plays Crane, a founding partner of a large law firm, and a legendary litigator. Now in the twilight of his career, Crane's flaws outshine his strengths, but he also has moments of insight that he did not before. Crane is attracted to Nolan and tries to insert himself into her defense. He is about the same age as Nolan's deceased husband, so Crane courts death by pursuing Nolan. Locklear was asked how she came to appear on Boston Legal. She explained "I love the show, it's my favorite show; and I sorta kind of said, 'Shouldn't I be William Shatner's illegitimate daughter or his love interest?'"
Shatner is notable for having participated in the first interracial kiss in a U.S. television drama series between fictional 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. Nancy Sinatra's kiss of Sammy Davis Jr. has been described as "It was not a passionate kiss, but more familial" , therefore, the Shatner-Nichols kiss can be accurately called the "first interracial amorous kiss."
The Plato's Stepchildren 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 both with the kiss and with a cut-away shot which merely implied a kiss, and then a subsequent decision would be made about which scene to televise. 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.
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. In the 2004 Star Trek DVD sets, Shatner seemed to have buried the hatchet with Takei, but the gulf continues to resurface. 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.
Takei continues to speak negatively about Shatner. In a 2008 television interview, he stated "he has a big, shiny, demanding ego." Shatner, in turn, recorded videos for YouTube, calling Takei "psychotic".
In popular culture
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". Poking fun at himself, Shatner professed when interviewed to have no idea whom Allen was parodying.
Entrepreneur Richard Branson, head of the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, offered William Shatner a free ride into space on the inaugural space launch of the VSS Enterprise scheduled for 2008, saving Shatner $200,000; however, Shatner turned it down, and said, "I do want to go up but I need guarantees I'll definitely come back."
In the Halloween series, Michael Myers wears a Captain Kirk mask that is painted white. Designer Tommy Lee Wallace wanted a mask that represented a "blank face", and decided to use the Kirk Halloween mask. "It didn't really look like anybody." Wallace cut the eyeholes larger and rounder, removed the eyebrows and sideburns, poofed up the hair so it looked "demented and strange" and finally spray-painted the mask. Wallace explains, "It created a shiver right in the room, and we knew we had something special." John Carpenter claims that the mask looked nothing like Shatner whatsoever, but joked, "I guess I owe the success of Halloween to William Shatner." According to Jamie Lee Curtis, the mask needed to be a "human image", and the only thing in stores at the time that matched what they needed on set was the Kirk mask.
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 commentary of Zapp'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." Shatner himself along with most of the rest of the surviving Star Trek cast would appear in the fourth season episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". In a later episode, "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV", the character Calculon exclaims "Great Shatner's Ghost!".
On the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, William Shatner reprises his roles as James T. Kirk, T. J. Hooker, and the host of Rescue 911 in a parody of the feature film crime thriller Se7en. In the 3rd Rock From The Sun episode "Frozen Dick", John Lithgow's character has a panic attack after seeing something on the wing of an aircraft. This is an allusion to a scene played by Lithgow in Twilight Zone: The Movie, which itself is an updated version of an original The Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", in which the same role was played by William Shatner. In the later 3rd Rock episode "Dick's Big Giant Headache", Shatner, playing the Big Giant Head, mentions to Dick that he saw something on the wing of his plane, and Lithgow exclaims, "The same thing happened to me!".
In the animated series The Critic, which took shots at most of Hollywood, Shatner was a frequent target of satire. In one episode the main character denounces an actor as "worse than Shatner".
On The Simpsons, Shatner's singing career is a constant subject of ridicule, specifically in the episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch?".
The movie Fight Club features a scene where characters played by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt ruminate on who would make the ideal opponent for 'the ultimate fight'. Norton thinks for a moment and utters one word: 'Shatner'.
On Invasion Iowa, Shatner had a fake promotion going on the set. He and his production crew sold the
unsuspecting participants baseball caps, known as "Shats".
In the animated television program Family Guy Shatner has been portrayed with a staccato vocal delivery as well as wildly gesticulating body language; both are wild exaggerations of his distinct style.
"Weird Al" Yankovic, in his song "eBay" from Poodle Hat CD mentions bidding on "Shatner's old toupee" in the satirical song about the variety of odd items available on the auction website.
Students at McGill University elected to name the student union building 'Shatner Hall' in a 1993 referendum. However, the university administration refers to the building as the University Centre. (Traditionally, the administration names buildings in honour of deceased members of the university community or for major benefactors—and Shatner is neither.)
In the Farscape episode "Revenging Angel", Harvey dismisses John Crichton's mention of Kirk's heroism by pointing out, "and then he did Priceline commercials!".
Nominations
In 2004, Shatner won his first Emmy Award for his role as “Denny Crane” on The Practice. In 2005, he won his first Golden Globe award and a second Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Boston Legal.
Works
Film
The Butler's Night Off (1951)Oedipus Rex (1957)The Brothers Karamazov (1958)City Out of Time (1959) (short subject) (narrator)Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)The Explosive Generation (1961)The Intruder (1962)The Outrage (1964)Incubus (1965)White Comanche (1968)Impulse (1974)Big Bad Mama (1974)The Devil's Rain (1975)Land of No Return (1975)Universe (1976) (documentary) (narrator)Mysteries of the Gods (1976) (documentary) (narrator)Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)A Whale of a Tale (1977)The Third Walker (1978)Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)The Kidnapping of the President (1980)Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)Visiting Hours (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)Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995)Land of the Free (1997)Trekkies (1997) (documentary)Free Enterprise (1998)Jefftowne (1998) (documentary)Miss Congeniality (2000)Falcon Down (2000)Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)Festival in Cannes (2001) (Cameo)Osmosis Jones (2001) (voice)American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002)Showtime (2002)Shoot or Be Shot (2002)Groom Lake (2002) (also director and writer)Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005)Lil' Pimp (2005) (voice)Over the Hedge (2006) (voice)The Wild (2006) (voice)Stalking Santa (2006) (voice)Fanboys (2009)William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet (2009)Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2009) (voice)
Television
Space Command (1953 & 1954)Howdy Doody (1954)Billy Budd (1955)Studio One (1957)Tactic (TV series) (1959-1960)Julius Caesar (1960)The Night of the Auk (1960)The Twilight Zone (1960 & 1963)Thriller (US TV series) (1961)The Outer Limits (1964)The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964)For the People (TV series) (1965)Twelve O'Clock High (1965)Star Trek (1966-1969)Dr. Kildare (1966)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)Mission: Impossible (1971-72}Kung Fu (1972)The People (1972)The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972)Star Trek: The Animated
Adventures (1973-1974)Incident on a Dark Street (1973)Go Ask Alice (1973)Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973)Pioneer Woman (1973)Inner Space (1974)Indict and Convict (1974)Pray for the Wildcats (1974)Barbary Coast (1975-1976)The Tenth Level (1975)Perilous Voyage (1976)Columbo (1976, 1994)Testimony of Two Men (1977)The Oregon Trail, episode "The Scarlet Ribbon" (1977)How the West Was Won (1978)The Bastard (1978)Little Women (1978)Crash (1978)Riel (1979)Disaster on the Coastliner (1979)The Babysitter (1980)T.J. Hooker (1982-1986)Vegetarian World (1982)Mork & Mindy (1982)Secrets of a Married Man (1984)North Beach and Rawhide (1985)The Trial of Standing Bear (1988)Broken Angel (1988)Rescue 911 (1989-1996)Voice of the Planet (1991)The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1992)Family of Strangers (1993)SeaQuest DSV (1993)TekWar (1994-1996)Janek: The Silent Betrayal (1994)WWF Monday Night Raw (1995)Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996)Dead Man's Island (1996)Muppets Tonight (1996)Space Cadets (UK, 1997[2 episodes])A Twist in the Tale (1998)3rd Rock from the Sun (1999-2000 [5 episodes])Iron Chef USA (2001)The Kid (2001) (voice)Full Moon Fright Night (2002)A Carol Christmas (2003)The Practice (2004)Boston Legal (2004-2008)Invasion Iowa (2005)Merry F %$in' Christmas (2005)Atomic Betty: The No-L 9 (2005)How William Shatner Changed the World (2005)Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (2006)Show Me the Money (2006)Everest '82 (2007)WWE Hall of Fame 2007 (2007)Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race (2007)Mars Rising (documentary) (2007) (voice)
Other work
Discography
- The Transformed Man (Decca, 1968)
- William Shatner Live (Lemli, 1977)
- Spaced Out: The Very Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner (Universal International, 1997)
- Has Been (Shout! Factory, 2004)
- Exodus: An Oratorio In Three Parts (Jewish Music Group, 2007)
Bibliography
Fiction
- See TekWar
- Star Trek series, with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
- Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden, 1995, ISBN 0-671-52035-0
- Star Trek: The Return, 1996, ISBN 0-671-52610-3
- Star Trek: Avenger, 1997, ISBN 0-671-55132-9
- Star Trek: Spectre, 1998, ISBN 0-671-00878-1
- Star Trek: Dark Victory, 1999, ISBN 0-671-00882-X
- Star Trek: Preserver, 2000, ISBN 0-671-02125-7
- Star Trek: Captain's Peril, 2002, ISBN 0-7434-4819-7
- Star Trek: Captain's Blood, 2003, ISBN 0-671-02129-X
- Star Trek: Captain's Glory, 2006, ISBN 0-7434-5343-3
- Star Trek: The Academy--Collision Course, 2007 ISBN 141650396X
- Believe (with Michael Tobias), 1992, ISBN 978-0425132968
- War series
- Man o' War, 1996, ISBN 0-399-14131-6
- The Law of War, 1998, ISBN 0-399-14360-2
- Quest for Tomorrow series
- Delta Search, 1997, ISBN 0-06-105274-4
- In Alien Hands, 1997, ISBN 0-06-105275-2
- Step into Chaos, 1999, ISBN 0-06-105276-0
- Beyond the Stars, 2000, ISBN 0-06-105118-7
- Shadow Planet, 2002, ISBN 0-06-105119-5
- Comic book adaptations
Non-fiction
- 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 0-671-68652-6
- Star Trek Memories, with Chris Kreski, 1993, ISBN 0-06-017734-9
- Star Trek Movie Memories, with Chris Kreski, 1994, ISBN 0-06-017617-2
- Get a Life!, with Chris Kreski, 1999, ISBN 0-671-02131-1
- Star Trek: I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact, with Chip Walker, 2002, ISBN 0-671-04737-X
- Up Till Now: The Autobiography, With David Fisher, 2008, ISBN 0-283-07058-7
External links
- Shatner's Video Blogs on
- .
- William Shatner has made around 40 short interview films on Videojug
- Shatner's daily vlogs on
- Shatner at
- at Slashdot
- Shatner at
- "fearing he would be ill in space or the starship would crash, ironically revealed he's terrified of space travel.", accessed 2008-07-03
- NY Times story on
- A Shatner parody of the movie "Seven"
- Shatner on
- of a 5-part interview at the .
- Glenn Beck interviews Shatner, when he says Galaxy Quest was "very funny," and his views on overpopulation.
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