William Shatner

He got married to actress Gloria on 12 August, 1956. The couple had three daughters. The marriage ended in divorce after 13 years.

In 1973, he got married to Marcy Lafferty but this marriage too ended 23 years later in 1996. They had no children.

In 1997, he got married to actress Nerine Kidd but two years after their marriage, Kidd died as a result of drowning in a swimming pool due to the effects of alcohol and Valium.

William Shatner was born in Notre-Dame-De-Grace, Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 22 March, 1931 in a Jewish family to Joseph Shatner and Anne Shatner. His father Joseph had a cloth manufacturing business and his mother worked as an elocutionist. Shatner had two sisters.

He studied at West Hill High School and later at Baron Byng High School. He showed a talent for acting as early as eight when he captivated audiences as a member of the Montreal Children’s Theatre. Shatner was also active on radio programmes on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

He became quite popular as a young performer but instead of continuing with it he pursued commerce programme at the prestigious McGill University in Montreal. Shatner was awarded his bachelors’ degree in 1952.

In 1954 William Shatner started off as a performer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival after having trained in the nuances of Shakespearean acting at the Canadian National Repertory Theatre. Two years later Shatner acted in the play ‘Tamburlaine the Great’ at Broadway.

Shatner acted in plays as well as television programmes for some years before he got his first break in films in the year 1958 when he was cast in the film ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ produced by MGM. The same year, Shatner’s performance in the play ‘The World of Suzie Wong’ was well received.

Throughout the 1960s William Shatner worked in movies and television simultaneously, along with a bit of theatre. He starred in films like ‘Explosive Generation’, ‘Intruder’ and ‘Judgement at Nuremberg among others while on television he was a part of the cast of ‘Thriller’, ‘Twilight Zone’ and ‘The Outer Limits’.

In 1966, Gene Roddenberry decided to cast William Shatner in the role of Capt. James T. Kirk in the famous TV show ‘Star Trek’ and he starred in the show for its entire duration of three years. It was one of the most important roles in Shatner’s career and he went on to star in the Star Trek films that were made later.

In 1968, Shatner began his career in music with the album ‘The Transformed Man’ and went on to produce three more albums in his career. The three albums were ‘Has Been’, ‘Seeking Major Tom’ and ‘Ponder the Mystery’. The last one was released 45 years after his first album was released.

He has had a long career in television, films and the stage and he has produced excellent work across mediums. However, the most important work of his career was his portrayal of Capt. James T. Kirk in the Star Trek films.