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The Many Iterations of William Shatner
pickens writes "The NY Times weekend magazine has a long profile, well worth reading, of self-described 'working actor' William Shatner. He began acting at age 6 and at one point in the late 1950s was mentioned in the same breath as his contemporaries Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford — until, without explanation, his career faded before it bloomed. Shatner, now 79, pulls no punches in his memories of the Star Trek years. 'I never thought it'd become a big deal, just 13 episodes and out,' says Shatner. 'I didn't think I was hard to get along with. There were a few disaffected actors who came in once a week. I had nothing to do with them. Friendly! I was working seven days a week, learning 10 pages of dialogue a day. They had one line!' Which was the beginning of the William Shatner character. 'They said I was this William Shatner character, and I figured I had to be it. Pompous, takes himself seriously, hardheaded.' Shatner said that that character evolved slowly, until one day he realized he couldn’t change it. 'So I played it. But I didn’t see it. That character doesn’t seem like me to me. I know the real William Shatner.'"
Yes.... well... this... should.... be an interesting.... read...
Shatner has what some actors actually lacks - a kind of distance to himself so he doesn't think that he is something more than he is.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
The 70's weren't good to the Shat. That and Star Trek V. The only reason there were so many horses in that movie is because he liked them.
His best role was as himself, hosting Saturday Night Live, years ago when it was funny. I remember a skit set at a sci-fi convention, and all the convention goers insisted on asking him questions about the science and logic of specific episodes. He blew up at them, telling them to get a grip. Best line: "You... have you ever *kissed* a girl?"
The CB App. What's your 20?
Shatner was definately talented.
Not sure if he lacked "big screen" presence, just had a couple bad breaks on the big screen, or if he got typecast by Star Trek.
He seemed to break free of the typecasting at the end. Denny Crane is not Kirk.
And as the other person said, Shatner had both a large ego and a unique ability to puncture that ego himself.
Not sure about the bad blood between him and the other stars. Could just be the nature of the game (He and Nimoy were bigger stars and got different treatment).
I thought Galaxy Quest was an excellent send up of the whole trek phenomenon.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
...News day?
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
...I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.
Certainly I don't know what Tim Allen was doing. He seemed to be the head of a group of actors and for the life of me I was trying to understand who he was imitating. - William Shatner, on Galaxy Quest
At the 2009 Vegas ST convention Shatner was on stage and fans were asking questions. A fan of the original series went up to the mic and told him how good of an actor he was; he then proceeded to take the next 20 minutes agreeing with her. At some point I said in a low voice 'It's like throwing gasoline on a flame,' (a quote from Galaxy Quest describing the parody character of Kirk at a convention) and the entire section burst out laughing so much he had to stop talking to find out what was going on.
"Powers. I have them."
I like Shatner, he might come across a little larger than life sometimes but there's a lot who are a whole load worse in the acting industry. And I'm not even much of a fan of the original Star Trek (do I lose my slashdot membership for saying this?) I'd certainly put him in the same class as Caine, in as far that both can easily mock themselves with a wry grin.
When his wife died by drowning in the pool at their home, I got weirded out because I had just watched an episode of Columbo where he played the murderer and, you guessed it, he killed his wife by drowning her in the pool.
Truly, a life imitates art moment.
Well he is from the Stanislavski school...
#DeleteChrome
and regardless of negative traits assigned to him I see him as what I would want in most actors. Yes he stuck with the Kirk role a long time but he did good clean breaks from it. Kirk was an iconic character and any actor with that as part of his resume will always be shadowed by the character's traits which may not necessarily be the actors. Yeah, read all the "Bad blood" between him and Takei, the "feud" with Nimoy, but honestly, which of all them did as much as he did? He didn't stop. Of course I do like Koneig from TOS too. At least Shatner wasn't afraid to make jokes about his role, let alone slip little asides into other shows which automatically connected you back to Kirk without being outlandish (his phone on BL was pretty good and subtle)
73 years, I wonder what it is like to do something you love for so long, hell I would be happy with half that in a career I enjoyed.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Bottom line, the world will be a less place when he is gone......he is an entertainer, through and through
Anyway, I have always had a soft spot for William Shatner. I grew up with the Star Trek series and loved it. Still do. Now it has more of an ironic appeal (it's great because it is so cheesy), but I am also really enamoured with the look and sound of it, the production values. They did amazing stuff with limited resources. and every once in a while there was some really good writing. And the actors just got on with the job and were believable and consistent in their roles. Shatner was Jim Kirk. No question in my mind about that.
I really have no interest in the Star Trek movies. The subsequent series failed to get my attention. There is something special about the original series.
I confess to having watched and enjoyed TJ Hooker (kill me now!) but in my defense I must posit that it was a case of pubescent hormones. Can't imagine what I saw in Heather Locklear. Tramp!
A friend put me on to the album that Shatner did. Musically it was uninteresting to me but Shatner's lyrics and delivery were surprisingly listenable. Yes, funny and silly, but there is also a surprising depth.
Sounds to me like he might actually be a bit of fun to hang out with. Amazing energy for an old guy. Not bad for an old geezer. Pat Jordan strikes me as an untalented whiner. I'd be delighted to hang out with William Shatner for a day and a half. He/she made it sound like a chore. And of course Pat had to inject his/her whiny biographical details into the piece. Who is it about, Pat or Bill? Ultimately it is all about Pat. Poor Pat. Poor poor Pat.
Yes, I RTFA!
http://www.acetonestudio.com
I'm a bit sad they don't mention his music at all. The first album he recorded was pretty terrible, but Has Been is a surprisingly interesting, and often very good, album. Throughout this article I was reminded of several of the songs on it, most specifically "Real." The album as a whole is pretty self-reflective and fairly humorous, so you get to see another iteration of Bill. Oh, and he doesn't try to sing, which helps a lot.
If you happen to be looking for something a little different and have an open mind, I'd say it's definitely worth a listen. It is definitely one of the most pleasant nearly-random musical finds of my life. Ben Folds had a pretty big hand in it, so fans of Ben may be more likely to appreciate it than others.
I haven't fully researched this, but I'm guessing that Shatner went on to a bigger career after Incubus than anyone else who starred in any Esperanto film.
Shatner might have almost been a character actor, except that all the characters he has played are so *different*. I was a fan of Boston Legal, and I'd occasionally stop and look at this Denny Crane character and have to think "Thats the same guy who player Kirk!". Granted, they were 35+ years apart, but his skillset is anything but one-dimensional.
I can't wait to see "Shit my Dad Says".
And he cracks me up, the way he signs all of his tweets "My best, Bill"...
I bought William Shatner's books on his time in Star Trek. I also bought Nichelle Nichols's book, George Takei's book, Walter Koenig's book, and James Doohan's book. (I might even have one or two others I forget now.) In Shatner's book he claims to be bewildered why his former castmates seem to hold him in low regard, and claims that while filming Star Trek he never knew they didn't like him. In all the castmate books, they make clear that Shatner was not popular among the castmates, ever. I haven't read these books in over a decade; but I think their biggest complaint was that Shatner felt his character was far more important than theirs (well, fair enough) and that therefore he felt justified in treating them poorly, which made them consider Shatner a big jerk (well, seems fair enough also).
I read an essay by Harlan Ellison about his experience with Star Trek, when he wrote the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". (Summary: according to him, he wrote a totally brilliant and award-winning script, which Gene Roddenberry and company then messed up a whole lot, yet even this messed-up version was a fan favorite, and he is bitter about the whole thing even decades later.) The part that really made me wake up, though, was when he described a visit from Shatner.
According to Ellison, Shatner came over to Ellison's home and started going through the script. He counted how many lines of dialog Kirk had compared to the other cast members, and started lobbying Ellison to increase the Kirk dialog (and thus inevitably cut back other dialog).
I guess Ellison could be lying. But I also remember watching the Shatner-directed Star Trek V and I remember how much that movie revolved around Kirk. Of all the characters, only Kirk was smart enough to ask the incredibly insightful question: What does God need with a starship, given that He is omnipotent and all? The Nimoy-directed Trek movies did not focus overmuch on Spock.
Actions are a more dependable guide to character than statements, even earnest ones, from the person in question. There is also the evidence from people around him. I don't think I'd be in a big hurry to be friends with Shatner.
Yet, it seems that Nimoy really is friends with Shatner and has been for decades, so Shatner must have some redeeming qualities that Nimoy sees.
P.S. The most interesting thing from the Nichelle Nichols book was her description of the first black/white interracial kiss on broadcast television. She says that everyone was antsy about the scene, so they decided to film two versions: the real kiss, and an almost-sort-of kiss that might be less offensive to people bent out of shape over race issues. Shatner suggested they film the real kiss first, and they did so. Then, in each take of the fake kiss, Shatner made some obvious gaffe that ruined the scene. He didn't admit he was doing it on purpose, but he ruined every attempt to shoot the fake kiss. Perforce they ran the real kiss as part of the episode and made TV history. Shatner apparently forgot all about this, or at least remembered it differently, and Nichols expressed puzzlement that Shatner could forget such an unusual series of events in which he played such a large role.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
My nephew told me that he was a fan of William Shatner. I asked him if he knew what role Shatner was most famous for.
"Boston Legal," he replied.
"No, before that"
(blank look)
"He was the first captain on Star Trek."
He looked puzzled, then asked,
"You mean the bald dude?"