Week 203: William Shatner (Winner: Margaret Rivas) Tidbits: William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor, musician, singer, author, film director, spokesman and comedian. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James Tiberius Kirk, commander of the Federation starship USS Enterprise, in the science fiction television series Star Trek, from 1966 to 1969; Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1973 to 1974, and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films from 1979 to 1994. In his role as Kirk, Shatner famously kissed actress Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) in the November 22, 1968, Star Trek episode, Platos Stepchildren. The episode is popularly cited as the first example of an interracial kiss between a white man and a black woman on scripted television in the United States. Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner began performing at the Shakespearean Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, beginning in 1954. In 1954, he was cast as Ranger Bob on The Canadian Howdy Doody Show. Shatner was understudy to Christopher Plummer; the two would later star as adversaries in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Shatner had a leading role in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents third-season (1957–1958) episode titled The Glass Eye, one of his first appearances on American television. A martial arts enthusiast, Shatner studied American Kenpo karate under black belt Tom Bleecker (who trained under the founder of American Kenpo Ed Parker). His fellow students included Steve McQueen and Elvis Presley. Shatner landed a starring role on television as a police officer in T. J. Hooker, which ran from 1982 to 1986. He then hosted the popular dramatic re-enactment series Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996. Shatner dislikes watching himself perform, and claims that he has never watched any Star Trek or Boston Legal television episodes nor any of the Star Trek movies except the unedited footage from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier which he directed. In his spare time, Shatner enjoys breeding and showing American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses. Shatner rode one of his own horses, a mare named Great Belles of Fire, in his role as James T. Kirk in Star Trek Generations.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 21:31:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015