SHAT ATTACK - "The Early Days Of William Shatner" (1958 - 1978)

 

Out of over 3300 films and TV shows we've written about, we've never done one "Star Trek" episode unless you count the Turkish version, but it's not because we're not big William Shatner fans, it's just that we'd rather focus on the strange things The Shat's done in his career, and boy, there are plenty of them! I created this "Shat-scape" that shows some of Bill's strangeness we've covered so far, but there is far more than the average Shat fan even realizes, and that's why I've got some samples for you on this Weird Wednesday down in The Dungeon!

 

William Shatner just turned 90 a few months ago, and he has a whopping 246 credits to his name playing a wide assortment of characters, plus he has another 464 credits where he appeared as himself. One of his earliest appearances was in 1954 where he appeared on "The Howdy Doody Show" as Ranger Bob. I couldn't find any pictures of Ranger Bob. The shot above is from an appearance he made on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1958 where he appeared with France Nuyen and the cast of the Broadway show "World Of Suzie Wong."

 

Here's a weird one! William played a boxer in this "Family Theater Production" in 1962 that was a series of film meditations on the Psalms.

 

 In 1963 William Shatner appeared on the drama series hosted by Fred Astaire called "Alcoa Premiere" in an episode titled "Million Dollar Hospital," where he plays Dr. William Grant.

 

 Dr. Grant has to try and make the best of dealing with a run down hospital!

 

1963 was also the year William appeared as "Alexander The Great!"

 

In this 1963 episode of "The Dick Powell Theatre," called "Colossus," William plays Eric Tegman, a poor man who gets tired of being pushed around by the rich guys. William speaks with an accent in this show!
 

In 1964 in an episode called "The Shattered Glass" on "The Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre," William plays a man with a drinking problem!  

In 1975 Bill appeared in an uncredited role as a Doctor attending Ben Franklin in Part 4 of the mini-series "The Lives Of Benjamin Franklin."

 

In 1978, he played Captain Harrison in two episodes of the TV series "How The West Was Won."

Also in 1978.........

.........William played Paul Revere in the TV series "The Bastard."

 

In 1978, a curly haired William also played Prof. Friedrich Bhaer in the classic "Little Women."

The list goes on forever, and I've just given you a taste of what has happened in The Shatosphere in the early years, but I have to stop somewhere.

 

Thanks to my man in Berlin for showing me the way to this great YouTube site hosted by Ruby Pearl. Go there, and you'll not only find most of what I've shown you here, but also a virtual hoard of other Shatner wonders! In the meantime, enjoy this rockin' and hilarious tune done by William with Henry Rollins in 2004 called "I Can't Get Behind That."