William Shatner

Began acting career as a child on Canadian radio. Made Broadway debut in Tamburlaine the Great (1956). Made film debut in The Brothers Karamazov (1958). Early TV career included memorable episodic turns on The Twilight Zone 's "Nick of Time" (11/18/60) and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (10/11/63), and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 's "The Project Strigas Affair" (11/24/64) with future Star Trek costar Leonard Nimoy. Shared TV's first interracial kiss on the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren"… Show more (11/22/68) with Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura. Mask of killer Michael Myers in the original Halloween (1978) was a likeness of his Star Trek character, Captain Kirk, painted white. Title of his memoir Get a Life! (1999) was derived from a 1986 Saturday Night Live skit spoofing fans of Star Trek . Varied (and much spoofed) music career includes cult classic The Transformed Man (1968), featuring unique covers of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," and Has Been (2004), with Ben Folds, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and others. Made several talked-about appearances reading Sarah Palin's speeches as beat poetry on The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien in 2009. ~ Rovi

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