Guess who's William Shatner's newest fan? (psst... he was Capt Kirk in Star Trek)

I wasn’t a fan of William Shatner until fairly recently, when I saw a comedy roast where he was the guest of honour. The roasters outdid one another in filthy language and tasteless references to Shatner, but there was nothing even remotely funny for nearly the whole of the programme – until the end, when Shatner rose to “defend” himself. He was absolutely hilarious and every shot of his zinged home unerringly. His sense of humour and timing were impeccable, and that was the day he gained himself another fan. I’d not seen him in anything other than the original Star Trek as Capt James T Kirk, most famous for shagging anything vaguely reminiscent of the female of the species, so he was pretty much a one-dimensional character to me. I thought he’d be a monumental bore as a person – but now that I’ve read his memoirs, I’m pretty sure that “boring” is not a word that would ever describe him. In fact, I’m wishing I could meet him!

The reason for this total makeover of my opinion of Shatner is his autobiography entitled “Up Till Now”. He is side-splittingly funny, with the sort of deadpan humour I adore. I was reading the book at work and from time to time I had to put it away and remove myself to the bathroom so that I could work off the fits of the giggles that came over me. I loved his wry reminiscences and his ability to poke fun at himself, and I was hugely impressed by all the things that he’s done in his lifetime – for instance, I didn’t know that he was a stage actor for a long time, that he did most of his stunts himself, that he wrote successful novels and screenplays, that he did so much for charity… and so on and so on. But then again, I knew literally nothing about Shatner and his life inside and outside of movies - other than he was the hero of Star Trek. So everything he wrote about himself was new information to me.

Getting back to his memoirs, what I love above all is that he does not seem to have succumbed to the pressures of fame and become an alcoholic or drug addict or both, like practically every Hollywood actor seems to have done at some point. At least, the impression I get from his book is that Shatner was too involved with his work to ever bother with those vices – even at his lowest points when he thought he would never make any money. Sure, he did by his own admission not shy away from women when he was between marriages, but compared to celebrities today, he was practically celibate. AND he seems to have a genuinely loving relationship with his three daughters, which is even more awesome

Yep, it’s definite. I admire William Shatner intensely, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it. I also wholeheartedly recommend “Up Till Now”. You won’t regret reading it, and you’ll definitely get a lot of laughs out of it.