William Shatner!
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He has since worked as a musician, bestselling celebrity author, producer, director, and celebrity pitchman, most notably for Priceline.com. Currently, William Shatner stars as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal, for which William Shatner has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.
William Shatner Biography
William Shatner Early life
Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Joseph Shatner and Anna Garmaise, both of whom were the children of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine; the family name was originally "Schattner". William Shatner attended Willingdon Elementary School , West Hill High School in Notre-Dame-de-Gr'ce in Montreal, Quebec, and earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Montreal's McGill University (the Student Union building of which, was officially renamed The Shatner Building in 1989 following a referendum by the Student Union.) in 1952. Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, William 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 photos of William Shatner (as well as actor Lorne Greene) in their Shakespeare texts playing a wide range of Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Festival.In 1954 William Shatner was cast as "Ranger Bill" on the popular Howdy Doody Show in the United States. William Shatner's 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, William Shatner received good reviews when William Shatner took on the role of Robert Lomax in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong. In 1962 William Shatner starred in Roger Corman's award-winning movie The Intruder. William Shatner 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 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". William Shatner subsequently was 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. William Shatner 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. KirkShatner 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 staring at 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 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. 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 first six Star Trek films, and directed the fifth. In 1994, William Shatner 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 William Shatner 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 William Shatner 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.
William Shatner 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 William Shatner believes was due to his being typecast as Captain Kirk, making it difficult to find other work. Moreover, William Shatner's wife Gloria Rand left him. With very little money and acting prospects, William Shatner 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 William Shatner 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. William Shatner did however land a starring role in Cowboy series The Barbary Coast during 1975-1976. 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, William Shatner returned to television in the 1980s, starring as a police officer in the T.J. Hooker series from 1982 to 1986. William Shatner then hosted the popular dramatic reenactment series Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996.
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. William Shatner 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 William Shatner 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 William Shatner 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 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 National Public Radio, written and directed by Norman Corwin.
Shatner was cast as "The Big Giant Head," a womanizing, party animal of a 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. William Shatner was nominated for an Emmy for this role.
In 2003, Shatner appeared in Brad Paisley's Celebrity country music video along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Jason Alexander, and Trista Rehn.
William Shatner as Denny Crane in Boston LegalIn 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 William Shatner was awarded an Emmy, and then its subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal, for which William Shatner won a Golden Globe and an Emmy in 2005. (He 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 more rare, 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. William Shatner eventually passed a kidney stone, but recovered and soon returned to work.
In 2006 Shatner sold his kidney stone for $75,000 to GoldenPalace.com. The money will go to a housing charity. (In an appearance on The View on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, Shatner stated that the $75,000, along with 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. William Shatner plays for the Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horse Show.
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.
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 begins in November 2006.
William Shatner Family and other ventures
William Shatner has been married four times; to Gloria Rand (1956-69), Marcy Lafferty (1973-94), Nerine Kidd (1997-99) and Elizabeth Martin (2001 to present)Shatner has three daughters, Leslie Carol (1958), Lisabeth Mary (1960) and Melanie (1964), born 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 km') horse farm in Kentucky named Bellreve, where William Shatner raises the winning horses.
William Shatner Personal tragedy
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. While various conspiracy theories have circulated online suggesting Shatner's wife died under mysterious circumstances, 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 William Shatner and William Shatner 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 was never completed.
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.
William Shatner Musical tangents
Shatner's 2004 Has Been album coverWilliam Shatner has had a much-parodied musical career, starting with the 1968 album The Transformed Man. His exaggerated, interpretive reading of "Mr. Tambourine Man" became an instant camp classic. Shatner would eventually parody his own musical style several times in the 1990s, including during an episode of Futurama, in which William Shatner performed a spoken word version of the rap hit "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 cigarette in hand, William Shatner 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. William Shatner 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.
This started a relationship that would ultimately bring Shatner to ask Ben Folds to produce his second studio album, Has Been, in 2004. 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 - Go" by Lemon Jelly, featured on their CD entitled '64 - '95, and in Brad Paisley's music video for "Celebrity".
William Shatner Friendship with Leonard Nimoy
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 to 1974), and the first six Star Trek motion pictures. That same year, both Nimoy & Shatner made cameo appearances as both Spock & Kirk on The $10,000 Pyramid with Dick Clark. Nimoy guest-starred in Shatner's T.J. Hooker and in one of Shatner's recent series of Priceline.com television ads. In March 2003, William Shatner 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.
