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William Shatner: Otherworldly Charm
By : Silvia Maestrutti
Photos © 2007 ABC, Inc.
On set, he's loved for his sense of humor, even when his costars end up being the butt of his jokes. Whether on or off the set, William Shatner never goes unnoticed. At 76 and impeccably dressed as usual, Shatner continues to captivate hearts with that charisma of yesteryear that has made him a star.
Born in Montreal on March 22, 1931, Shatner studied business before he realized that his true vocation was acting. It's a little ironic that a man who studied the classics and made his feature film debut in 1958 in a movie based on a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov) has become an icon for science fiction fans and one of the great figures of North American pop culture.
It was in 1966 when Shatner gave life to his celebrated character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, who was at the helm of the USS Enterprise on the "Star Trek" television series. This spaceship would become as famous as its commander in its mission to travel through space and explore new worlds in search of intelligent life. Even though the series unleashed an unprecedented fanaticism, it failed to pigeonhole him. Captain Kirk may very well be his most well-known role, but he is also remembered for being the patrolman T.J. Hooker, the protagonist of the series of the same name. More recently, Shatner won the first Emmy and Golden Globe awards of his acting career for his eccentric role in "Boston Legal." In that ABC series, Shatner plays Denny Crane, a cynical, egomaniacal and slightly amoral lawyer adored by the show's fans.
Over the years, Shatner has been an actor, director, producer and writer. He's also a great philanthropist, participating in various charitable efforts and even donating a kidney stone, which sold for $25,000 (the money was donated to Habitat for Humanity). His other passions are racecars and show horses. He even has time to sing. "That's right, but even I realize that I'm not good at it," he admits.
Your calendar is always full. Are you envied by other Hollywood actors?
Maybe. For example, I got some time off from "Boston Legal"—three days to go drive in a NASCAR race. I have driven in Grand Prix races, which is enviable enough. I've gotten training to drive fast cars; I mean, that's incredible, right? And then, I'm gainfully employed in a series that's very popular, and doing all kinds of other things as a result of that popularity. I went to Milwaukee with my wife to see a ballet that was choreographed to five songs that I wrote for my album, Has Been. It's all so exciting and so creative and so much fun that I must be envied…by a group of people.
What's it like to compete in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race?
They have celebrity Grand Prixs where you race against other celebrities and pros, who start a little farther back. And they require you to take training, so you go for four days to training, to driving school. So I've done that four or five times and driven 150 miles an hour on streets and around 90-degree turns, and it's fantastic.
Horses are your other great passion. Do you raise them and ride them?
I compete in three different areas. I compete on a horse called the American Saddlebred, which is a show horse. We liken it to a ballet dancer, and the male dancer is the rider. I compete in trotting horses, which go around an oval, trotting with a sulky [a lightweight, two-wheeled cart]. And it's quite dangerous in that the other guy is as close as this with a 1,500-pound horse running at you. I also run the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which is a reining show. It raises money for handicapped kids, and I've been doing it for about 20 years. And my wife Elizabeth is a former horse trainer, so my life is acting and horses and kids.
Your role in "Boston Legal" helped you win awards for the first time in your career. What is the magic of Denny Crane?
The character I play? I thought maybe it was me! The Emmy was wonderful. I accepted it with a lot of humility because it was a long time coming and a lot of work went into it. The writing is so outrageous. So my challenge is to humanize the outrageous characteristics of the character, and sometimes that can be difficult because it's almost unreal. I mean, you wouldn't get that in reality. In reality, you'd probably be locked up. He's got to charm his way into the audience's sensibility, I think. I hope I'm doing exactly that.
You've taken center stage in every show where you've played a part. To what do you credit this, and what makes you different from your colleagues?
I'm not quite sure. It might come from passion and the courage to show that passion—not to restrict it. You have to learn where the parameters are of "too much" and "too little." And the parameters are always changing depending on the character—it takes time.
What would you say has been the greatest achievement of your career?
I don't know. Different people have pointed to different things. I was watching Rita Hayworth last night in a Fred Astaire movie, just an old movie. I was pointing out to my wife that a lot of the people under 40 or 50 sometimes don't know the great movie stars of the past. 'Who's Rita Hayworth?' they ask. And I say, 'Well, there's Rita Hayworth. Her big movie was Gilda.' All I pointed to was Gilda, because as a young man, as a youngster growing up, I fell in love with Gilda. So I don't know what my biggest achievement is. I'll leave that up to you.
Star Trek XI, the prequel, is now on the way, directed by the creator of "Lost," J.J. Abrams. What will be your participation in this film?
I met with Mr. Abrams, and they have a really good plot going. [They're] trying to fit in Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk—the elderly ones. How you get a dead captain to communicate with [his] younger [self]? That's going to be very arduous plotting. I'm going to be interested to see how they solve it.
What's your relationship with the Trekkies that get together at conventions?
I [wrote] a book called Get A Life!, which examines the constituency of the audiences that go to these Star Trek conventions. I found out, to my surprise, that they came to see each other. The audience had started to pool and mix among themselves and get to know each other. I was in a "Star Trek" convention in New York, a sold-out house of well over 1,000 people, and this very question came up. I said, "I know that you're here, not necessarily to see me, but to see each other." They all sort of agreed.
When you were inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, you said that if you had known that "Star Trek" was going to last so long, you would have taken better care of yourself. Were you being serious?
It's pretty much a joke. I'm fairly old, but I don't think I am. And so I think, from that point of view, I'm lucky. And even though I could take better care of myself, I seem to be doing all right.
Do you feel very different from that young man who grew up in Canada?
It's a strange combination of feelings. Through my eyes, I am seeing the world as a 35-year-old, and you're looking at me. And I look in the mirror every so often, and I say, 'Oh, God, where did that come from?' So you're seeing me as I see myself in the mirror occasionally. And so you're seeing me as an old guy. I don't think of myself as that. I think of myself as the guy in Montreal or maybe a little older, maybe the guy in Toronto.
You appear to be having a good time. What is it that you most desire out of life?
Not to get sick. I'm so healthy and I feel so strong, and I jump up on a horse and I drive fast cars. And I'm thinking this has got to end soon, and I don't want it to end. That's my biggest dream.
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