William Shatner

Actors

William Shatner OC (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor, author, producer, director, screenwriter, and singer. In his seven decades of acting, he became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the Star Trek franchise. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk, being a part of Star Trek, and life after Star Trek. Shatner has also co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe, and a series of science fiction novels called TekWar, that were adapted for television. He has also pursued a career in music and spoken word recordings since the late 1960s, having released eight albums.

Notable early films include Richard Brooks’ The Brothers Karamazov (1958), with Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, and Richard Basehart; Stanley Kramer‘s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Montgomery Clift; Roger Corman‘s The Intruder (1962), with Frank Maxwell, Beverly Lunsford, Robert Emhardt, Leo Gordon, Charles Beaumont, Jeanne Cooper; Martin Ritt‘s The Outrage (1964), with Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson, Howard Da Silva, and Albert Salmi; White Comanche (1968), with Joseph Cotten, Perla Cristal, and Rosanna Yanni; Big Bad Mama (1974), with Angie Dickinson and Tom Skerritt; The Devil’s Rain (1975), with Skerritt, Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn and John Travolta; The Kidnapping of the Present (1980), with Hal Holbrook, Van Johnson, and Ava Gardner; and Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), with Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Chad Everett, Rip Torn, Sonny Bono, and Raymond Burr.

Shatner also played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker (1982–1986) and hosted the reality-based television series Rescue 911 (1989–1996), which won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Dramatic Series. Shatner also featured in two episodes of the television detective series Columbo almost two decades apart. He also appeared in seasons 4 and 5 of the NBC series 3rd Rock from the Sun as the “Big Giant Head” that the alien characters reported to. Films in the 1990s include Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), with Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathy Ireland, Frank McRae, and Tim Curry; and Free Enterprise (1998), with Rafer Weigel, Eric McCormack, Audie England, Patrick Van Horn, Phil LaMarr, Jonathan Slavin, and Deborah Van Valkenberg.

From 2004 until 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane both in the final season of the legal drama The Practice and in its spinoff series Boston Legal (with James Spader), a role that earned him two Emmy Awards. He appeared in both seasons of the comical NBC real-life travelogue with other male companions “of a certain age” in Better Late Than Never, from 2016 to 2018. Films in the 2000s include Miss Congeniality (2000), with Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Ernie Hudson, and Candice Bergen; and Showtime (2002), with Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy, and Rene Russo.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • The Butler’s Night Off (1951) – directed by Roger Racine
  • Oedipus Rex (1957) – directed by Tyrone Guthrie
  • The Brothers Karamazov (1958) – directed by Richard Brooks
  • The Christmas Tree (1958) – directed by Kirk Browning
  • The Explosive Generation (1961) – directed by Buzz Kulik
  • Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – directed by Stanley Kramer
  • The Intruder (1962) – directed by Roger Corman
  • The Soldier (1962) – directed by Richard A. Colla – short
  • Operation Bikini (1963) – directed by Anthony Carras – uncredited narrator
  • Alexander the Great (1963) – directed by Phil Karlson – TV movie/pilot
  • The Outrage (1964) – directed by Martin Ritt
  • Incubus (1966) – directed by Leslie Stevens
  • White Comanche (1968) – directed by José Briz Méndez (as Gilbert Kay)
  • The Skirts of Happy Chance (1969) – directed by David Pressman – TV movie
  • Sole Survivor (1970) – directed by Paul Stanley – TV movie
  • The Andersonville Trial (1970) – directed by George C. Scott – TV movie
  • Swing Out, Sweet Land (1970) – directed by Stan Harris – TV movie
  • Vanished (1971) – directed by Buzz Kulik – miniseries
  • The People (1972) – directed by John Korty – TV movie
  • The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972) – directed by Barry Crane – TV movie
  • Incident on a Dark Street (1973) – directed by Buzz Kulik – TV movie
  • Go Ask Alice (1973) – directed by John Korty – TV movie
  • The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973) – directed by David Lowell Rich – TV movie
  • Pioneer Woman (1973) – directed by Buzz Kulik – TV movie
  • Indict and Convict (1974) – directed by Boris Sagal – TV movie
  • Pray for the Wildcats (1974) – directed by Robert Michael Lewis – TV movie
  • Impulse (1974) – directed by William Grefé
  • Big Bad Mama (1974) – directed by Steve Carver
  • Perilous Voyage (1975) – directed by William A. Graham – TV movie
  • The Devil’s Rain (1975) – directed by Robert Fuest
  • A Whale of a Tale (1976) – directed by Ewing Miles Brown
  • The Tenth Level (1976) – directed by Charles S. Dubin – TV movie
  • Testimony of Two Men (1977) – directed by Leo Penn & Larry Yust – miniseries
  • Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) – directed by John “Bud” Cardos
  • Land of No Return (1978) – directed by Kent Bateman
  • The Third Walker (1978) – directed by Teri McLuhan
  • Crash (1978) – directed by Barry Shear – TV movie
  • Riel (1979) – directed by George Bloomfield – TV movie
  • Disaster at the Coastliner (1979) – directed by Richard C. Sarafian – TV movie
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) – directed by Robert Wise
  • The Kidnapping of the President (1980) – directed by George Mendeluk
  • The Babysitter (1980) – directed by Peter Medak – TV movie
  • Visiting Hours (1982) – directed by Jean-Claude Lord
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)** – directed by Nicholas Meyer
  • Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) – directed by Ken Finkleman
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) – directed by Leonard Nimoy
  • Secrets of a Married Man (1984) – directed by William A. Graham – TV movie
  • North Beach and Rawhide (1985) – directed by Harry Falk – TV movie
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – directed by Leonard Nimoy
  • Broken Angel (1988) – directed by Richard T. Heffron – TV movie
  • The Trial of Standing Bear (1988) – directed by Marshall Jamison – TV movie
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) – also director, co-story
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) – directed by Nicholas Meyer
  • The Voice of the Planet (1991) – directed by Michael Tobias – miniseries
  • Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) – directed by by Gene Quintano
  • Family of Strznger (1993) – directed by Sheldon Larry – TV movie
  • TekWar (1994) – also director – TV movie
  • TekWar: TekLords (1994) – directed by George Bloomfield – TV movie
  • TekWar: TekLab (1994) – directed by Timothy Bond – TV movie
  • TekWar: TekJustice (1994) – directed by Jerry Ciccoritti – TV movie
  • Star Trek Generations (1994) – directed by David Carson
  • Janek: The Silent Betrayal (1994) – directed by Robert Iscove – TV movie
  • Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb (1995) – directed by Peter Kuran – narrator – documentary
  • Dead Man’s Island (1996) – directed by Peter Hunt – TV movie
  • The Prisoner of Zenda, Inc. (1996) – directed by Stefan Scaini – TV movie
  • The First Men in the Moon (1997) – directed by Jack Fletcher
  • Land of the Free (1998) – directed by Jerry Jameson
  • Free Enterprise (1998) – directed by Robert Meyer Burnett
  • Miss Congeniality (2000) – directed by Donald Petrie
  • Falcon Down (2001) – directed by Phillip J. Roth – TV movie
  • Osmosis Jones (2001)* – directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly (live action) & Piet Kroon and Tom Sito (animated)
  • The Kid (2001) – directed by Larry Jacobs – TV movie
  • Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime (2001) – directed by Peter Jaysen – himself – documentary
  • Shoot or Be Shot (2002) – directed by J. Randall Argue
  • Showtime (2002) – directed by Tom Dey
  • American Psycho II: All America man Girl (2002) – directed by Morgan J. Freeman
  • Groom Lake (2002) – also director, story
  • A Carol Christmas (2003) – directed by Matthew Irmas – TV movie
  • Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)* – directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
  • Lil’ Pimp (2005) – by Mark Brooks & Peter Gilstrap – direct to video
  • Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) – directed by John Pasquin
  • Last Laugh ’05 (2005) – directed by Joel Gallen & Rick Austin – TV movie
  • Stalking Santa (2006) – directed by Greg Kiefer
  • The Wild (2006) – directed by Steve “Spaz” Williams
  • Over the Hedge (2006) – directed by Tim Johnson & Karey Kirkpatrick
  • Live Life (2007) – directed by Jonathan Pasternak – short
  • Everest (2007) – directed by Graeme Campbell – miniseries
  • Gotta Catch Santa Claus (2008) – directed by Jin Choi Il, Peter Lepeniotis, & Jamie Waese – TV movie
  • Fanboys (2009) – directed by Kyle Newman – cameo as himself
  • The True History of Puss ‘N Boots (2009) – directed by Jérôme Deschamps, Pascal Herold, & Macha Makeïeff – English dub
  • William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet (2009) – directed by Pat Buckley, Bobby Ciraldo, Kevin Layne, & Andrew Swant – documentary
  • Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2010) – directed by by Harry ‘Doc’ Kloor & Dan St. Pierre
  • The Captains (2011) – also director – documentary
  • Escape from Planet Earth (2013) – directed by Cal Brunker
  • A Christmas Horror Story (2015) – directed by Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, & Brett Sullivan – anthology
  • Baby, Baby, Baby (2015) – directed by Brian Klugman
  • Just in Time for Christmas (2015) – directed by Sean McNamara – TV movie
  • When Elephants Were Young (2015) – directed by Patricia Sims – narrator – documentary
  • Range 15 (2016) – directed by Ross Patterson
  • A Sunday Horse (2016) – directed by Vic Armstrong
  • Batman vs. Two-Face (2017) – directed by Rick Morales – direct to video
  • The Indian Detective (2017) – directed by Sandy Johnson – miniseries
  • Aliens Ate My Homework (2018) – directed by Sean McNamara
  • The Steam Engines of Oz (2018) – directed by Sean Patrick O’Reilly
  • To Your Last Death (2019) – directed by Jason Axinn
  • Devil’s Revenge (2019) – directed by Jared Cohn – also co-writer
  • Creators: The Past (2020) – directed by Piergiuseppe
  • Senior Moment (2021) – directed by Giorgio Serafini