William Shatner Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is an actor and writer who was born in Montreal, Quebec. Shatner is most famous for his starring role as Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. Shatner has written three books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of the Star Trek franchise. He has since worked as a writer, producer, director, and best-selling author.
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2 Star Trek career 3 Post-Star Trek career 4 Family and other ventures 5 Musical tangents 6 Trivia 7 Memorable quotes 8 Books 9 Albums 10 External links |
Shatner earned a Bachelor's degree from McGill University in 1952. Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, he performed at the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario before going to the United States to work. In 1959 he was given good reviews when he took on the role of Robert Lomax in a theatrical production of The World of Suzie Wong. His movie debut was in the classic MGM film The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner in which Shatner starred as the pious brother Alexei. He also appeared in the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg.
William Shatner was first cast as James T. Kirk for the second pilot of ', entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He subsequently was contracted to play Captain James Kirk for the Star Trek series and held the role from 1966 to 1969. In 1972, Shatner returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the . He was slated to assume the role of Kirk for ', a follow-up series regarding the second five year mission of the Enterprise, but Star Trek: Phase II was cancelled in pre-production and expanded into .
Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the six Star Trek films. In 1994, he returned to the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations. This was to be his character's final role as the character of Captain Kirk was killed in the film.
In the summer of 2004, rumors began circulating that the producers of were considering bringing William Shatner back to Star Trek. Reports in the media indicated that the idea is being given serious thought, with series producer Manny Coto indicating in Star Trek Communicator magazine's October 2004 issue that he is preparing a three-episode story arc for Shatner. However, it is not known if Shatner would be playing James T. Kirk, an ancestor of Kirk's, or an unrelated character. Playing Kirk again seems unlikely given he is more than 10 years older than he was when he last played the role (making some sort of pre-Generations appearance by Kirk problematic). One potential stumbling block is his current commitment to another series on a rival network.
Shatner had a long dry spell in the decade between the original Star Trek series and the Star Trek movies, which he attributes to his being typecast as Captain Kirk, making him unable to find other work. He says this period was a humbling one, as he would take any odd job, including small party appearances to support his family. In 1970, Shatner appeared as the prosecutor in a PBS television film of the Broadway play The Andersonville Trial. This was directed by George C. Scott and received excellent reviews. The dry spell ended for Shatner (and the other Star Trek cast members) when Paramount produced in 1979, under pressure from long loyal fanss of the series. Its success re-established Shatner as an actor, and Captain Kirk as a cultural icon.
While continuing to film the successful series of Star Trek movies, he returned to television in the 1980s, starring as a uniformed police officer in the T.J. Hooker series; this show became a popular hit.
As the unwilling central public figure of a widespread geek-culture of Trekkies, Shatner is often humorously critical of the sometimes "annoying" fans of Star Trek. He also has found an outlet in spoofing the cavalier, almost superhuman character persona of Captain Kirk, in films such as (1982), National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon I (1993) and Saturday Night Live, in which he advised Star Trek fans to "Get a life!", repeating a popular catch-phrase.
Shatner has enjoyed success with a series of "Tek" science fiction novels. The first—published in 1990—was entitled TekWar. This popular series of books led to a number of television movies, in which Shatner played a role, and to a short-lived television series. In 1995 a first-person shooter game named William 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 Third Rock from the Sun as The Big Giant Head, a fat, womanizing, substance-abusing, higher-ranked officer from the same alien planet as the show's protagonists.
In 2004, Shatner was cast as the eccentric but highly capable attorney Denny Crane for the final season of the legal drama The Practice and then its subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal.
William Shatner has been married four times:
In his spare time, Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horsess. 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.
His musical album The Transformed Man (1968) has become a camp favorite. It includes spoken-word covers of "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles. These are widely held to be so bad they are hilarious. George Clooney chose William Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds as one of his Desert Island Discs as an incentive to leave the island. He said, "If you listen to [this song], you will hollow out your own leg and make a canoe out of it to get off this island."
In 1978, Shatner hosted The Science Fiction Film Awards where he performed Elton John's "Rocket Man"[1].
In recent years, Shatner has been spoofing his earlier musical career, performing in the same style for a series of Priceline.com television commercials. One such commercial featured Shatner with frequent collaborator Ben Folds performing an irony-laden version of Diana Ross hit, Mahogany. In his appearance on the animated science-fiction TV series Futurama he recited Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" song during a feast, spoofing his own "Lucy" chant. Shatner also appeared on Ben Folds' "In Love" (on the album ), a "song" about how love can go ever so wrong.
In the fall of 2004, he released a new album entitled Has Been, produced and arranged by Ben Folds and with songs composed by Shatner and Folds. The LP has been critically acclaimed for its unique "pop-driven" style. Its sole cover, a version of Pulp's "Common People" performed with Joe Jackson, has received good notices, often to the surprise of the reviewers.
"I am not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don't live on Starship NCC-170...[some audience members say "one"], or own a phaser. And I don't know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock. And no, I've never had green alien sex, though I'm sure it would be quite an evening. [Pomp and Circumstance begins playing] I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt's, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me 'Live long and prosper', I seriously mean it when I say, 'Get a life'. My doctor's name is not McCoy, it's Ginsberg. And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. And yes, I've gone where no man has gone before, but I was in Mexico and her father gave me permission! My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!"
This is an Article on William Shatner. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About William Shatner Early life
Star Trek career
Post-Star Trek career
Family and other ventures
Shatner has three daughters: Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie, and a son, Daniel. Melanie is the proprietor of Dari, an upscale women's clothing boutique. He currently lives in Southern California.Musical tangents
Trivia
Memorable quotes
Books
Fiction
Nonfiction
Albums
External links