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William Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Anna (née Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, shortened the family name to "Shatner". Shatner's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Hungary,and Shatner was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended Willingdon Elementary School, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Baron Byng High School in Montreal, and earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Montreal's McGill University in 1952 .

 

Early stage, film, and television work

Trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, Shatner performed at the Shakespearean Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario. He played a range of Shakespearean roles at the Stratford Festival in productions that included Shakespeare's Henry V and Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great. Shatner made his Broadway debut in the latter. In 1954, he was cast as Ranger Bill on the Canadian version of the Howdy Doody Show.

Though his official movie debut was in the 1951 Canadian film entitled The Butler's Night Off, Shatner's first feature role came in the 1958 MGM film The Brothers Karamazov with Yul Brynner, in which he starred as the youngest of the Karamazov brothers, Alexei. In 1959, he received decent reviews when he took on the role of Robert Lomax in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong. In 1960, Shatner appeared in two episodes as Wayne Gorham in NBC's The Outlaws Western series with Barton MacLane. In 1961, he starred in the Broadway play A Shot in the Dark opposite Julie Harris and directed by Harold Clurman. Walter Matthau (who won a Tony Award for his performance) and Gene Saks were also featured in this play. Shatner also starred in two episodes of the NBC television series Boris Karloff's Thriller, "Grim Reaper" and "The Hungry Glass".

In 1962, he starred in Roger Corman's award-winning movie The Intruder. He also appeared in the Stanley Kramer film Judgment at Nuremberg and two episodes, "Nick of Time" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", of the acclaimed science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone. In the 1963-1964 season, he appeared in episodes of two ABC series, Channing and The Outer Limits. In 1964, he guest starred in the episode "He Stuck in His Thumb" of the CBS drama The Reporter starring Harry Guardino as journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe.

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. He also starred in the critically acclaimed drama For the People in 1965 as an assistant district attorney, costarring with Jessica Walter. The program lasted for only thirteen episodes. Shatner starred in the 1965 Gothic horror film Incubus, the second feature-length movie ever made with all dialogue spoken in the constructed language Esperanto.

Star Trek career

Shatner was first cast as Captain James T. Kirk for the second pilot of Star Trek, entitled "Where No Man Has Gone Before". He was subsequently contracted to play Kirk for the Star Trek series and held the role from 1966 to 1969. In the episode "Operation Annihilate" he also played the corpse of the recently killed George Samuel Kirk (the brother of James T. Kirk).

In 1973, Shatner returned to the role of Captain Kirk, albeit only in voice, in the animated Star Trek series. He 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.

Between 1979 and 1991, William Shatner played Captain Kirk in the first six Star Trek films, and directed the fifth. In 1994, he 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 the video game Starfleet Academy, although he 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 he 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.

Shatner has not been "offered or suggested" a role in the new film Star Trek, as of October 2007. Director J.J. Abrams said in July 2007 that the production was "desperately trying to figure out a way to put him in" but that to "shove him in...would be a disaster."As a result, Shatner had invented his own idea about the beginning of Star Trek with his latest novel, Star Trek: Academy - Collision Course.

In 2008, he joined Star Trek: The Tour in Long Beach, California – an exhibition which is planned to tour 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada. In an interview, he spoke about accepting the dominance of Star Trek in public recollection of his career, and coming to terms with the adoration of fans.

Shatner writes in Star Trek Memories that "The Devil in the Dark" was his favourite original Star Trek episode.From his perspective, the episode was "exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent, it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best Star Treks."

Post-Star Trek career

Shatner did a number of television commercials for the Ontario, Canada based Loblaws supermarket chain in the 1970s, and finished the ad spots by saying, "At Loblaws, more than the price is right. But, by Gosh, the price is right."

Shatner was an occasional celebrity guest on The $20,000 Pyramid in the 1970s, once appearing opposite Nimoy in a matchup billed as "Kirk vs. Spock". His appearances became far less frequent after a 1977 appearance, in which, after giving an illegal clue ("the blessed" for Things That Are Blessed) at the top of the pyramid ($200) which deprived the contestant of a big money win, he threw his chair out of the Winner's Circle. He appeared on the Match Game, though he was never a regular on this program.

Shatner had a long dry spell in the decade between the original Star Trek series and the first Trek film, which he believes was due to his being typecast as Captain Kirk, making it difficult to find other work. Moreover, his wife Gloria Rand left him. With very little money and few acting prospects, he 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 he would take any odd job, including small party appearances, to support his family. He did however land a starring role in the western-themed secret agent series Barbary Coast during 1975 and 1976, as well as a major role in the horror film The Devil's Rain. He also made guest appearances on many 1970s television series such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Columbo, The Rookies, Kung Fu and Mission: Impossible. 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, he returned to television in the 1980s, starring as a police officer in the T.J. Hooker series from 1982 to 1986. He then hosted the popular dramatic reenactment series Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996. During the 1980s, Shatner also began dabbling in film and television directing, directing numerous episodes of T.J. Hooker and the feature film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

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. He 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) and National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon (1993). During a guest-host spot on Saturday Night Live, in a skit about a Star Trek convention, he advised a room full of Trekkies to "Get a life", repeating a popular catch-phrase. Shatner also appeared in the film Free Enterprise in 1998, in which he 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 published under his name, though most are widely believed to have been written by uncredited co-writers such as Ron Goulart. The first, published in 1990, was 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 which Shatner made several appearances; he also directed some episodes. In 1995, a first-person shooter game named William Shatner's TekWar was released, and was the first game to use the Build engine. William Shatner books

In the 1990s, Shatner appeared in several plays on National Public Radio, written and directed by Norman Corwin. In the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun, Shatner appeared as the "Big Giant Head", a womanizing party-animal and high-ranking officer from the same alien planet as the show's protagonists in several episodes. The role earned Shatner a nomination for an Emmy. In 2003, Shatner appeared in Brad Paisley's "Celebrity" country music video along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Jason Alexander, and Trista Rehn.

In 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 he was awarded an Emmy, and reprised the same character in the subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal, for which he won a Golden Globe, an Emmy in 2005 and 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 rarer, Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series. Shatner remained with the series until its end in 2008.

Also in 2004, Shatner was a guest photographer for Playboy Magazine, shooting former playmate Deanna Brooks.

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. He eventually passed a kidney stone, recovered and soon returned to work. In 2006, Shatner sold his kidney stone for US$75,000 to GoldenPalace.com.[18] In an appearance on The View on May 16, 2006, Shatner said $75,000, 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. He plays for the Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity Horse Show. Shatner has appeared in Priceline.com commercials both online and on TV, as the "Chief Negotiating Officer". Shatner is also the CEO of the Toronto, Ontario-based C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, which provided the special effects for the 1996 film Fly Away Home.

On August 20, 2006, 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 began in November 2006. The show was cancelled in December 2006 due to low ratings. It was Shatner's first unsuccessful attempt at a series since Barbary Coast in 1976. Shatner continues to co-star on Boston Legal.

On March 22, 2007, Shatner was announced as the inductor of legendary professional wrestler/broadcaster Jerry "The King" Lawler at the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, set to occur on March 31, 2007, at the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan. Shatner was chosen because of a memorable 1995 appearance on WWF Monday Night Raw in which Shatner, promoting the TekWar TV series, pushed Lawler to the ring canvas during an interview segment. Shatner later managed fellow Canadian Bret "Hit Man" Hart in a match against Jeff Jarrett, managed by Lawler.Shatner briefly reprised his role as James T. Kirk for a recent 2006 DirecTV advertisement featuring footage from Star Trek VI. Shatner has starred in a series of Kellogg's All-Bran cereal commercials in the UK and Canada.

In January 2007, Shatner launched a series of daily vlogs on his life called ShatnerVision on the LiveUniverse.com website. Along with his daughter Lisabeth; they provide a unique and unparalleled look into Shatner's private life and adventures in life.

Shatner also appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, featuring a dozen celebrities in a stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Shatner matched up against former NFL coach Bill Cowher and former volleyball superstar Gabrielle Reece. Shatner was disqualified in the episode for repeatedly crossing a safety line on the track. As of 2007, Shatner is the first Canadian actor to star in three successful TV series on three different networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC).

Shatner has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (for Television work) at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. He also has a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame.

On November 20, 2007, Shatner was featured as part of the "What's Your Game?" national television commercial series for World of Warcraft along with Mr. T and Verne Troyer.

Shatner is currently hosting Shatner's Raw Nerve, a celebrity interview series airing on The Biography Channel. The first episode of the series aired on December 2, 2008 and featured actress Valerie Bertinelli.