Shatner
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
In the early months of 1966, a handsome, hardworking thirty-five-year-old Canadian-born actor named William Shatner was cast as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, a troubled, low-budget science-fiction television series set to premiere that fall on NBC. Star Trek struggled for viewers and lasted only three seasons, but it found a huge, rabidly dedicated audience when it premiered in syndication following its cancellation—turning Shatner into a pop-culture icon and launching him on a career path he never could have imagined after graduating from McGill University with an economics degree twenty years earlier. As he approaches his ninetieth year, he's still working at a furious pace as a man of boundless contradictions: by turns one of the most dissected, disliked, revered, respected, mocked, imitated, and beloved stars in the show business firmament.
Shatner takes a comprehensive look at this singular performer, using archival sources and information culled from interviews with friends and colleagues to transport readers through William Shatner's remarkably bumpy career: his spectacular failures and triumphs; tragedies, including the shocking death of his third wife, Nerine; and, ultimately, the resilience Shatner has shown, time and again, in the face of overwhelming odds. Author Michael Seth Starr unravels the mystery of William Shatner, stripping away the many myths associated with his personal life and his relationships with fellow actors, presenting a no-holds-barred, unvarnished look at the unique career of an inimitable performer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Biographer Starr (Ringo: With a Little Help) offers a lightweight, admiring look at actor William Shatner. As Starr shows, the sheer scope of Shatner's showbiz career is staggering. After beginning in theater in his native Canada, Shatner made dozens of TV guest appearances in the 1950s and '60s (including two attention-grabbing stints on The Twilight Zone), had a Broadway hit with The World of Suzie Wong, starred in multiple television series (in addition to Star Trek, he was in T.J Hooker and Boston Legal, for which he won an Emmy), reprised his Trek role as James T. Kirk in blockbuster films, and authored a string of bestselling sci-fi novels and career memoirs. More recently, he reinvented himself as a phenomenally successful Priceline pitchman and as a notably quirky spoken-word artist (and, notoriously, as a Twitter troll). Still active at age 88, Shatner is a test case in celebrity endurance. Starr has less to say, however, about his personal life; Shatner himself didn't participate, and asked some acquaintances not to grant Starr any interviews. Trek fans will be interested to read about Shatner's problematic relationships with his Trek costars, but too much time is spent on his numerous affairs. While Starr is thorough in tracing Shatner's career, readers may wish this biography offered a deeper understanding of Shatner the man.
