Shatner William: biography, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Canadian Shatner William became famous and became known to most viewers for his role as a starship captain in the TV series and feature film Star Trek. However, in addition to his acting career, he is known as a novelist, musician, producer, director and advertiser. For one of his film roles, he was awarded the Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

The article offers a brief biography, information about his personal life, career as an actor. It also describes the biography of its main character - James Kirk.

Short biography

Shatner William is from Montreal, Canada. He was born on April 22, 1931. His mother is Anna (before her marriage Garmez), his father is Joseph, a clothing manufacturer. In addition to William, the family had two more children - the girls Joy and Farla.

My paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Austrian Empire. After moving to Canada, their surname Shattner was recorded as Shatner. Raised children in the spirit of Judaism.

Canadian actor and writer studied at one time in the following educational institutions:

• Ullingdonelementary school.
• Baron Bean High School.
• West Hill High School.
• Montreal Children's Theatre.
• McGill University.

Private life

Shatner William was married four times in his life. At one time, his life partners were:

• Gloria Rand – gave birth to three daughters to the actor;
• Marcie Lafferty;
• Nereen Kidd – died in marriage;
• Elizabeth Martin is a wife to this day.

Career

Because William Shatner trained as a classical Shakespearean actor, he was a participant in the Stratford (Canada) festival. He played roles in the plays "Oedipus Rex", "Henry the Fifth", "Tamerlane the Great".

The actor also played on Broadway. He received good reviews for his work on the image of Lomax in the production of "The World of Suzie Wong" in 1959. Two years later, he got the lead role in the play Shot in the Dark.

He made his film debut in 1951. It was a Canadian film. But the first characteristic role was the image of Alyosha Karamazov, which he successfully embodied in the film The Brothers Karamazov in 1958.

Most famous film work:

• Western Outlaw;
• TV series "Thriller";
• movie "Invader";
• "Nureberg Trials";
• TV series "The Twilight Zone";
• TV series "Reporter";
• "Policewoman";
• "Kidnapping of the President";
• "The Show Begins";
• TV series "Man from Uncle";
• Star Trek series;
• Mission Impossible;
• "Underwater Odyssey";
• "TJHooker";
• "Practice";
• Boston Lawyers;
• Colombo series;
• "Miss Congeniality" (1st, 2nd parts).

This is just a small list of works in which William took part. Some roles were main, 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 devoted to the Star Trek series, although there are series of war novels.

Role of James Kirk

The Star Trek series made the Canadian actor famous all over the world. Together with Leonard Nemoy, they played the roles of the main characters for many years. Who did Shatner represent?

Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa. According to the plot of the new feature film, he was born in an escape pod. The same confusion with the date of birth. There is no contradiction only with the year of Kirk's birth - 2233.

For some time he lived on Tarsus Four, studied at the Starfleet Academy, did an internship on the starship Republic, was an instructor at the Academy. By 2254, he was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the USS Farragut.

It has not been established for certain what happened in Kirk's life from 2254 to 2263. Presumably he 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 Pikepromoted, James Tiberius Kirk became starship captain.

As the commander of the Enterprise, he made 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 a position in a Starfleet operation.

In 2271, he again took command of the Enterprise, but temporarily. Then, until 2284, his fate is unknown, until he again returned to the service. In 2285, he was accused of stealing a starship he took to rescue Spock. Kirk was demoted to captain.

In 2293, the hero was sentenced to imprisonment in a mining colony for the murder of a Klingon chancellor. But his friend Spock proved Kirk's innocence, who was soon released. At the same time, he participated in the testing of the new starship Enterprise and then disappeared without a trace. As it turned out, he fell into a temporary anomaly.

After the television series ended, the actor who played Kirk collaborated with other writers to create several works in which he brought his character 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 to save their comrade. The actors who played these characters also chatted off set.

Shatner, in memory of his deceased colleague, created a portrait of him using fan selfies. They depicted the greeting gesture of the Vulcans in the form of a hand in which the index and middle fingerslocated separately from the ring finger and little finger. This gesture means "Live long and prosper." In the resulting portrait, actor Leonard Nemoy also shows this gesture.

The collage included 6,000 pictures that fans of the series had sent to the actor before August 1st. The original portrait was submitted by a Canadian artist to the Guinness Book of Records.

This is weird

Of the latest 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 episode of the documentary series is 43 minutes.

In each episode, the actor explains the inexplicable facts and events that happen to ordinary people. All non-standard incidents are considered from the side of science and mysticism. Eyewitnesses are interviewed to find out all the nuances. The purpose of each issue is to understand whether science is able to achieve the truth in the events taking place, or whether it remains only to say: “This is strange!”