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Publisher | MacMillan | ||
ISBN | 9780330452977 | ||
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Gareth
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Synopsis
William Shatner gets the joke about William Shatner. In fact, most of the time he's the one telling it. His self-effacing attitude, so perfectly parodied in the bombastic character he now plays on Boston Legal, Denny Crane, is one of the reasons for his huge popularity. While best known for his creation of Captain James T. Kirk on "Star Trek", William Shatner has been a working actor for more than half a century. He has experienced all the ups (the awards and acclaim) and the down (having to live for a time in the truck bed of his camper when he couldn't get work) that are a part of the actor's world.In "Up Till Now" he tells us about his remarkable life, from training as a Shakespearan actor to his time on Broadway, his movie career and, of course, his successful tv series. He writes, with glee, about some of his less successful ventures, including Incubus, the only feature ever made entirely in Esperanto. As funny and charming as the man himself, this book will delight his many fans of all ages. 'Crammed full of anecdotes from a long and full life, and infused with a self-deprecating humour' - "Private Eye".
Review
I picked this book up with some trepidation. All I knew about William Shatner was his role as "James Tiberius Kirk", the captain of the Starship Enterprise and it would've been easy for me to think that was all there was to him. He's known... for.. talking.. like this.. on overly dramatic scenes; and is infamous not only for his "amazing" rendition of "Rocket Man" but also for his well aimed quip at Trekkies. (on one "Saturday Night Live" sketch he told all the Trekkies to "get a life!"), but what I didn't expect was his sense of candidacy nor his sharp wit and humour -most of it being aimed at himself.
This is a really fun read, extremely enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining. It takes a disjointed look at Shatner's life -interspersed by some quite surreal quips and anecdotes (not to mention shameless self-promotion, but done in a very light hearted way) - and covers all the bases you'd expect it to: His involvement in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20000 Feet"; Star Trek and TJ Hooker. But it also takes a frank look at his failed marriages and his dedication to his life as an actor. It's interesting to hear Shatner's explanation of why Star Trek 5 wasn't as successful as it's predecessors - it looks like his hands were tied as the director of the "Final Frontier" and he had nowhere near the budget that the others had.
"Up Till Now" is a very humane book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys autobiographies. With this book William Shatner comes across as a three dimensional person, and one who is not afraid of taking stock of his life and laughing at himself, and I feel that is an important quality for a person to have.
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