William Shatner's
Biography
William Shatner was born on March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Canada.
He studied commerce at McGill University in Montreal, later
switching to acting. While there he was in many student
productions, and went on to perform with the Stratford (Ontario,
Canada) Shakespeare Festivals, playing a number of Shakespearean
roles. The 'Shatner Building' at McGill is named after him. In
1956, he moved to New York, and worked in live TV dramas and on
Broadway, where he attracted the attention of TV producers. His
first TV appearance was in the Goodyear Television Playhouse,
episode - 'All Summer Long' on October 28, 1956. His onscreen
debute was in, The Brothers Karamazov, in 1958, as 'Alexi
Karamazov'. The first TV series he starred in was, For the People
(January 31, 1965 - May 9, 1965), as 'David Koster'. The next TV
series was Star Trek - The Original Series (September 8, 1966 -
September 2, 1969), and he also played the voice of Captain Kirk
in Star Trek - The Animated Series (September 8, 1973 - October
12, 1974). He played 'Jeff Cable' in The Barbary Coast (September
8, 1975 - January 9, 1976), 'Captain Harrison' in How The West
Was Won (1978), 'T.J. Hooker' in T.J. Hooker (March 13, 1982 -
September 17, 1987), Himself in Rescue 911 (1989), and 'Bascom'
in the TekWar series (1994). Movies he's been in include: The
Intruder, Judgment at Nuremberg, The Explosive Generation, The
Outrage, Incubus, Star Trek (Pilot), Comanche Blanco, Sole
Survivor (TV), The Andersonville Trial (TV), Owen Marshall
Counsellor at Law (TV), Vanished (TV), The People (TV), Incident
on a Dark Street (TV), The Hound of the Baskervilles (TV), Horror
at 37,000 Feet(TV), Go Ask Alice (TV), Pioneer Woman (TV), Indict
and Convict (TV), Pray for the Wildcats (TV), Impulse, Big Bad
Mama, Land of No Return, The Devil's Rain, The Barbary Coast
(Pilot), A Whale of a Tale, The Tenth Level, Perilous Voyage (TV),
Kingdom of the Spiders, Testimony of Two Men (TV), The Third
Walker, Crash of Flight 401 (TV), The Kent Chronicles (TV), Little
Women (TV), Disaster on the Coastliner (TV), Reil, The Babysitter
(TV), Kidnapping of the President, Airplane II: The Secquel,
Visiting Hours, T.J. Hooker (Pilot), Secrets of a Married Man (TV),
North Beach and Rawhide (TV), Broken Angel (TV), Happy Birthday
Bugs!: 50 Looney Years (TV), National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon,
Family of Strangers (TV), TekWar Movies (TV), Janek: The Silent
Betrayal (TV), Trinity and Beyond, Prisoner of Zenda (TV), Dead
Man's Island (TV), Land of the Free, and of course, Star Trek
(I-VII). He has made guest appearances in many TV series: Thriller,
Dr. Kildare, Twelve O'Clock High, The Nurses, Mannix, The Music
Scene, Barnaby Jones, Medical Center, Studio One, Alfred Hitchcock
Presents, The United States Steel Hour, The Twilight Zone, Naked
City, The Defenders, Route 66, The Outer Limits, The Man from
U.N.C.L.E., The Virginian, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater,
The Fugitive, The Big Valley, Gunsmoke, The F.B.I., Cade's County,
Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Dr. Simon Locke, The Amazing
World of Kreskin, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kung Fu, Police Story,
The Magician, Petrocelli, Columbo, Police Squad, Madame's Place, The
Ray Bradbury Theatre, Saturday Night Live, The Larry Sanders Show,
SeaQuest DSV, Eek! the Cat, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Muppets
Tonight, Perversions of Science, Space Cadets, Dateline NBC, and
Politically Incorrect. Some of his other works include TV commercials:
'Commodore Computers' (1982), Oldsmobile (1989) with his daughter,
Melanie, Web TV (1998), 'NFL on Fox' (1998), and a Radio commercial
for priceline.com (1998). His daughter Lisbeth wrote the script for
the T.J. Hooker episode 'Partners in Death' (1986). He is active in
conservation and environmental causes and loves horses. He breeds
and shows his many American Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses. He is
also an avid tennis player. He has written several books, including
the TEK series. He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir
on the song 'Voices That Care'. He married and divorced Gloria Rand
in the 50's. He married Marcy Lafferty in 1976, but later divorced.
Since 1997 he's been married to Nerine Kidd. He has 3 daughters,
Lesley, Lizebeth, and Melanie, and 1 son, Daniel. He lives in
Southern California and also has a 360 acre horse farm in Kentucky.
William Shatner
c/o William Shatner Connection
P.O. Box 7401725
Studio City, CA 91604, USA
More indepth information can be obtained through the following sources.
Biographies
Star Trek Memories by William Shatner
Star Trek Movie Memories by William Shatner
Biography of William Shatner by Lesley Shatner
Interviews
"Starlog" (USA) December 1998, Iss. 257, by: Raj Manoharan, "Man of Enterprise"
"Starlog" (USA) March 1995, Iss. 212, by: Peter Bloch-Hansen & Ian Spelling, "Classic Captain"
"Time" (USA), 28 November 1994, Vol. 144, Iss. 22
"TV Guide" (USA), 24 August 1968
[William Shatner]
[Star Trek TOS]