William Shatner - Up Till Now: The Autobiography

Up Till Now

Up Till Now

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

WILLIAM
SHATNER

WITH DAVID FISHER

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS

St. Martins Press New York

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martins Press.

UP TILL NOW. Copyright 2008 by William Shatner. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Book design by Heather Saunders

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shatner, William.

Up till now : the autobiography / William Shatner with David Fisher. 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-37265-1

ISBN-10: 0-312-37265-5

1. Shatner, William. 2. ActorsCanadaBiography. I. Fisher, David. II. Title.

PN2308.S52A3 2008

791.45028092dc22

[B]

2008006234

First Edition: May 2008

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Ive written several books and many other things, and always cherished the dedication. In fact, one can riffle through my life based on the various people or, indeed, events that surrounded my time on this planet. But up to now, I have never acknowledged my father and my mother...my dear, hardworking, caring, loving dad, and my funny, frustrated, gentle mother. All that I am or mightve been is their due. I bow with great humility in their direction.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Without the love of my wife, Elizabeth, and daughters, Leslie, Lisbeth, and Melanie, there would be no book.

Id would also like to acknowledge David Fisher, who turns out to be not only a wonderful writer and listener but a dear soul, as well. Blowing away some of the mists of memory, in his company, was an honor, as always.

And we would also like to express our gratitude to those members of the Shatner family and the many friends and associates who so willingly and enthusiastically gave their time and memories to help us create this personal portrait. We also deeply appreciate the efforts of our agent, Carmen La Via of the Fifi Oscard Agency; our publisher, Tom Dunne; our editor, Peter Joseph, and all of those truly supportive professionals at Thomas Dunne Books at St. Martins Press. This book would not have been possible without the work of Suzanne Copitzky and her staff at the Karmen Executive Center, and the hospitality of dear friends Eli and Noa Attia and George and Kathy Hicker.

David Fisher would simply like to express his love and his appreciation to his wife, Laura Stevens, who makes even the hard days wonderful.

Up Till Now

ONE

I was going to begin my autobiography this way:

Call me... Captain James T. Kirk or Sergeant T.J. Hooker or Denny Crane Denny Crane or Twilight Zone plane passenger Bob Wilson or the Big Giant Head or Henry V or the Priceline Negotiator or...

Well, thats the problem, isnt it? Ive been a working actor for more than half a century and Ive played so many different roles on the stage, on television, and in the movies that it would be impossible to focus on just one of them. Besides, my career as an actor is only part of my story, so I realized I couldnt begin this book that way.

Then I decided I was going to start this book by telling the story of my memorable meeting with Koko the gorilla:

In 1988, to help the Gorilla Foundation encourage Californians to contribute to its Endangered Species Campaign, I was permitted to visit Koko the gorilla in her quarters. Koko was an extraordinary animal who had learned to communicate with human beings. She was able to sign more than six hundred words, but more impressively, as her handlers told me, she understood the meaning of those words. She knew the signs for water and for bird and the first time she saw a duck landing on a lake she signed water bird . That displayed a synthesis of knowledge. So you see, she was obviously very intelligent. I was allowed to go into her compound, to enter a room with her all alone. As I walked into that room I was reminded that she was an imposing, powerful animal; smaller gorillas have been known to tear off mens arms in anger. I am not often afraid, but truthfully I was frightened.

There is a form of acting that teaches: feel it and say it, and that feeling will be revealed through your words. The English form is quite different: say it and then you feel it. To deal with my fear of this magnificent animal as I got closer and closer to her I found myself saying, I love you, Koko. I love you. I said it earnestly and honestly and I looked directly in her eyes as I spoke. I crouched over a little to show submission, moving forward rather than backward to show I was not afraid. Over and over I repeated, I love you, Koko, I love you. And as I said it, I began to feel that love. Finally I stopped directly in front of her and looked into her deep brown eyes and saw her furrowed brow and her enormous hands. I love you, Koko.

And with that she reached out and grabbed me by my balls. And looked me right in the eyes. After a slight pausein a substantially higher voiceI tried to repeat, I love you, Koko. Obviously these words had more significance than a few seconds earlier.

Her handler, standing just outside the room, said, Stand very still. She wants you to go to her bedroom. So I stood very still because I did not want to go to her bedroom. I think it is fair to say that few people in history have ever stood as still as I did at that moment. Meanwhile, in the adjoining compound a young gorilla who they hoped would mate with Koko was pounding on the door like a jealous husband. There I was, caught in the eternal triangle, with a gorilla holding on to my rapidly shrinking scrotum. Eventually she got bored...

Starting this book with that story would enable me to inform the reader that its not going to be limited to my professional career, that it will also include stories about all the extraordinary opportunities Ive been given to explore the world. Id discuss all the amazing experiences Ive had, from that dark night in Africa when I pursued a wild elephant to the afternoon a helicopter left me more alone than Id ever been in my life on top of a twenty-thousand-foot-high glacier, and even to that memorable moment when I saw aliens in the desert. And it would also demonstrate that there are going to be a lot of laughs in this book, most of them at my expense. But then I realized that people know me primarily from the work Ive done as an actor, so that wouldnt be effective as a beginning. So I decided not to begin that way either.

Then I had a great idea. I was going to start the book by quoting the lyrics to a song Id written about the truly tragic death by drowning of my beautiful wife, Nerine Shatner: