Almost 60 years since Captain Kirk went “where no man has gone before,” William Shatner finally traveled to space and journeyed to the red planet, hosting the TV series, Stars on Mars.
The nonagenarian, widely known as the captain of the USS Enterprise in the hugely popular Star Trek franchise, is still boldly going strong and exploring new spaces in film and TV — because he says “time is gunning” for him.
William Shatner, the 92-year-old Canadian-born actor, made his TV debut in 1954 as Ranger Bob in the Canadian Howdy Doody Show. After several appearances in film and TV, he landed the role of a lifetime as James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series, a role he reprised in 7 Star Trek films.
After Starfleet was grounded, the legendary Shatner traded his captain’s uniform for a police sergeant in T.J Hooker, where he played the titular character, starring alongside Heather Locklear and James Darren.
As a natural transition, he played the “Big Giant Head” in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, then hosted Rescue 911, a TV series that featured re-enactments of emergencies.
While working on his acting career, Shatner was also building a career as a spoken word recording artist, releasing his first album The Transformed Man in 1968.
But his musical talents were questioned.
Appearing on the Tonight Show, Shatner failed to dazzle Johnny Carson and guests with his rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Tambourine Man.”
Shatner, who claimed that Carson mouthed the words “What the f—?” after his performance, said: “You need to hear the two pieces… But they don’t want me to do two pieces. They want me to do one, so I do “Mr. Tambourine Man” [and] ‘What the hell is he doing?’ [people thought]. Because they don’t get it in context.”
That didn’t stop him. In 2011, Shatner released another spoken-word album called Seeking Major Tom, an album that includes Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” where he intones the lyrics.
“I don’t sing the way Freddie Mercury sings ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ but I’m an actor, and I love the spoken word,” Shatner explained. “I love the musicality of the word and I love the rhythm of the word and so, in a way, speaking can become musical–iambic pentameter.”
He added, “I don’t mean you to laugh at… But it’s on the edge. In fact, it’s so on the edge that some people will laugh at it, mock it.”
Though his musical career might be laughable, Shatner – who’s credited with almost a dozen albums – is a consummate professional who, refusing to be influenced by public opinion, is reaching for the stars.
And the host of the TV series The UnXplained is still looking for new adventures.
In October 2021, he launched into space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space shuttle and confessed that 40 years of exploring space as Captain Kirk did nothing to prepare him for what he would see.
Aloft for only 10 minutes, Shatner – now the oldest person to have ever traveled to space – said the experience was transformative.
“I saw the incredible smallness of this planet,” says the actor, who wrote about his trip in his 2022 memoir Go Boldly: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder. Shatner continued: “The air that allows us to live is paper-thin. My concern was for what’s happening to all these sacred things that took 4.5 billion years to form on Earth. I saw the devil in what we are doing to our planet.”
Though in his 90s he’s had a few health scares, the award-winning screen and stage actor is still filming and recording. In 2021 he released the album Bill, which features guest artists like country music star Brad Paisley and Joe Walsh from the Eagles.
In 2023, Shatner can be seen as the host of Stars on Mars, a TV series that places celebrities – like Ariel Winter of Modern Family and professional racing cyclist Lance Armstrong – on a base camp in Coober Pedy, Australia, simulating life on Mars.
Sharing his experience with Closer, Shatner said: “They put me behind these reality goggles, and I virtually walked on Mars! Everywhere I looked was the footage the Mars rover had taken. I could turn 360 degrees and see Mars all around me.”
The father of three, who’s been divorced four times, continued, “I was there in Coober Pedy, 500 miles into the Outback. You couldn’t spend a great deal of time outside because the flies attacked you. But the whole thing had a patina of really being on Mars! It was definitely intriguing.”
When the nonagenarian isn’t performing, he’s advocating for the well-being of the planet and animals, mostly spending time at his home near Lexington Kentucky, where he breeds horses. Shatner said his ranch is “…a whole other world, and one that I am recognized in. They don’t go, ‘There goes a Hollywood guy.’ I’m a horseman.”
As for his future plans, he said he has none: “It may seem, given the things I’m doing, that there’s a plan, but there’s no plan. Things come and I think, ‘Oh, that’s interesting. If you feel that something is right for you, it’s worth exploring.”
“The mistakes you make and all the things you did that you wish you hadn’t, stick with you longer. But time is gunning for me,” he added.
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William Shatner is a real legend and we can’t imagine a world without him! His recordings might be otherworldly, but his acting roles are ones that will be enjoyed for generations to come.
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