William Shatner
It was forty-odd years ago that William Shatner played Captain Kirk on Star Trek. But it was the show’s afterlife, in reruns during the seventies and on, that turned Shatner into a cult figure and a representative of America’s love of science fiction.
Today a new cohort of fans who never knew him as Kirk adores Shatner as Denny Crane, the blustery, ridiculous senior partner on Boston Legal. Several critics think Crane is some of the best acting of his career. Now, at 80 years old, William Shatner is busier than ever. He has a new book out: Shatner Rules and a new album called Seeking Major Tom, which imagines (in Shatner’s signature spoken-word performance) what happened to the tragic astronaut hero of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Shatner tells Kurt how he continues to go about life at warp speed: “You’ve got to be interested in something. Whether it’s for keeping the front of your shirt clean, if you’re 80 and dribbling … or the squirrel that is your love life, or the gray-haired old lady who’s nodding off beside you – whatever it is, care. And that will keep you alive.”
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