The Canadian Shatner William became famous and became known to most viewers by his role as captain of a starship in the series and the feature film Star Trek. However, in addition to his acting career, he is known as a novel writer, musician, producer, director and advertiser. For one of the roles in the movie, he was awarded the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.
The article offers a short biography, information about the personal life, career of the actor. And also described the biography of his protagonist - James Kirk.
short biography
Shatner William is from Montreal, Canada. He was born on 04/22/1931. His mother is Anna (before the marriage of Garmez), his father is Joseph, a clothing manufacturer. In addition to William, the family had two more children - the girls Joy and Farla.
Grandfather and grandmother on the father's side were Jewish immigrants from the Austrian Empire. After moving to Canada, their last name Shattner was recorded as Shatner. Raised children in the spirit of Judaism.
The Canadian actor and writer studied at the time in the following educational institutions:
- Ullingdon elementary school.
- Baron Bean High School.
- West Hill High School.
- Montreal Children's Theater.
- McGill University.
Personal life
Shatner William has been married four times in his life. At one time, his companions were:
- Gloria Rand - gave birth to an actor with three daughters;
- Marcy Lafferty;
- Nerin Kidd - died in marriage;
- Elizabeth Martin is the wife to this day.
Career
Since Shatner William trained as a classic Shakespearean actor, he was a participant in the festival in Stratford (Canada). He played roles in the plays King Oedipus, Henry the Fifth, and Tamerlane the Great.
The actor also played on Broadway. Good feedback was given to his work on the image of Lomax in the production of Suzi Wong's World in 1959. Two years later, he got the main role in the play "Shot in the Dark."
He played his debut role in the movie in 1951. It was a Canadian film. But the first characteristic role was the image of Alyosha Karamazov, which he successfully embodied in the 1958 Brothers Karamazov painting.
The most famous works in the movie:
- Western Outlaw;
- television series "Thriller";
- the film "The Invader";
- The Nuremberg Trials;
- the series "Twilight Zone";
- television series "Reporter";
- "Police Woman";
- "Abduction of the President";
- "The show begins";
- television series "Man from Uncle";
- the series "Star Trek";
- "Mission Impossible";
- "Underwater Odyssey";
- TJ Hooker;
- "Practice";
- Boston Lawyers
- the series "Colombo";
- “Miss Congeniality” (1st, 2nd parts).
This is just a small list of works in which William participated. Some roles were primary, others were episodic.
In addition to acting, William acted as a director, producer, screenwriter. He also wrote novels and journalistic works, comics. Most of them are dedicated to the Star Trek series, although there are a series of war novels.
The role of James Kirk
The series "Star Trek" made the Canadian actor famous throughout the world. Together with Leonard Nemoy they played the role of the main characters for many years. Who did Shatner incarnate?
Kirk was born in Riverside (Iowa). According to the plot of the new feature film, he was born in a rescue capsule. The same confusion with the date of birth. There is no contradiction only with the year Kirk was born - 2233.
For some time he lived on Tarsus Four, studied at the Starfleet Academy, completed an internship on the Respublika starship, and was an instructor at the Academy. By 2254, he received the rank of lieutenant and was appointed to the starship Farragut.
It has not been ascertained for certain what happened in Kirk's life from 2254 to 2263. He allegedly became a lieutenant commander. At the same time, he began his service on the starship Enterprise. On it, he served for about ten years under the command of Christopher Pike. When Pike was promoted, James Tiberius Kirk became captain of the starship.
As the commander of the Enterprise, he completed a historic five-year mission to explore space. A few years after the end of the expedition, James was promoted to rear admiral. He took up a position in Starfleet operation.
In 2271, he again took command of the Enterprise, but temporarily. Then, until 2284, his fate was unknown until he returned to service again. In 2285, he was accused of stealing a starship, which he took to save Spock. Kirk was demoted to captain.
In 2293, the hero was sentenced to imprisonment in a colony mine for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor. But his friend Spock proved Kirk's innocence, who was soon released. At the same time, he participated in the test of the new Starship Enterprise, and after that disappeared without a trace. As it turned out, he fell into a temporary anomaly.
After the television series ended, the actor who played Kirk, in collaboration with other writers, created several works in which he brought his hero back to life.
In memory of Spock
James Tiberius Kirk and the Klingon Spock were best friends. According to the plot, they were ready to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of a comrade. The actors who played these characters also communicated behind the set.
Shatner in memory of his deceased colleague created his portrait using selfie fans. They depicted the welcome gesture of the Vulcans in the form of a hand, in which the index and middle fingers are located separately from the ring finger and little finger. This gesture means "Live long and prosper." In the resulting portrait, actor Leonard Nemoy is also depicted with this gesture.
The collage involved six thousand pictures that fans of the series sent to the actor before August 1. The original portrait was sent by the Canadian artist to the administration of the Guinness Book of Records.
“This is strange!”
Of the last works of the actor, it is worth noting the 2010 series "This is strange!" with William Shatner. The director was Ryan Marley. The duration of each issue of the documentary series is 43 minutes.
In each series, the actor explains the inexplicable facts and events that occur with ordinary people. All non-standard incidents are considered by science and mysticism. Eyewitnesses are interviewed to find out all the nuances. The goal of each issue is to understand whether science is capable of reaching the truth in current events or whether it remains only to say: “This is strange!”