I just want to point out that he didn’t use to be a ham. In the first Twilight Zone episode, and many early Star Trek episodes he has a very laid back and lovely approach.
Seen last mostly in Star Trek II where Meyer pulled a brilliant performance out of him with a team of horses. He has some nice moments in the following Trek movies also…though by Generations, he’s morphed into a cross of himself/Crane/Kirk.
I dont think he’s a ham at all. I think that when the part calls for a over-the-top “ham” part, they get him.
In other words, it’s the parts they cast him in, not his actual style.
I don’t see Shatner as being an example of the Long/Caruso possibly misguided entertainment industry gamble. Star Trek got canceled. He didn’t quit or refuse to take anything less than a giant offer. It just got canceled.
My favorite Shatner moment (OK, it’s really a George Takei moment) came during Comedy Central’s roast of Shatner several years ago. Earlier, Shatner had ridden his horse onstage. It’s no secret that Takei and Shatner have a running feud with each other. When Takei’s turn to make his remarks came, he said, “Bill, I’ve been waiting to say this to you for 40 years, and tonight is the perfect time for it. FUCK YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!!”
This really sounded genuine and from the bottom of Takei’s heart.
Don was on TAGS as a regular for 5 seasons, and he won 5 Emmys for the role of Barney Fife, but they were not consecutive.
Two were in later seasons when he returned as a guest star.
He also left not because he wanted to leave the show, but more because Andy had always said 5 seasons was all he was going to do, so as the ending of season 5 approached, Don started looking for work and signed contract with one of the studios ( Universal, I think), and after that Andy got convinced $omehow by the tudio, and exec at CB$ to stay around a bit longer But Don was already committed to do the movies.
Lots of people mentioned Shatner but I don’t think anyone’s mentioned his predecessor Jeffrey Hunter. Accounts vary whether Roddenberry tired of Hunter’s wife ex-model/manager or if she told them that Jeffrey was a movie star, not a tv actor. His movie career went downhill and many people think that an accident on the set killed him.
Someone mentioned Jean Hagan, the first wife on “Make Room for Daddy”. Rumor has it that Danny Thomas detested her so much his will keeps her episodes out of circulation.
You hate to criticize anyone for following their religious beliefs, but Steven Hill was unavailable to work full time on “Mission Impossible” and left after one year. Later on Martin Landau, who didn’t have a contract, left in a salary dispute and his wife Barbara Bain, who did, join him. She got sued for breach of contract and lost.
When “The Avengers” started the star was Ian Hendry. Patrick Macnee was introduced in the first episode. A strike cut short the first season and Hendry took off for a film career. Only two episodes survive. When the show returned, Macnee stayed and they tried two different women, first Julie Stevens as a nightclub singer and breaking out with Honor Blackman as Catherine Gale. In fact, they basically gave Blackman the lines meant for Hendry and had her dressed in a black leather jumpsuit. The show lasted until 1969.
Hendry did make an appearance in the late 1970s “The New Avengers”, not as the same character, but Macnee told him not to wait 17 years before showing up.
Truth be told, I actually prefer the hammy Kirk to the laid-back Kirk. In those early episodes of TOS, he came across as a dick when the situation called for “Stern Military Commander” and the good humor seemed forced when he was supposed to be “Mr. Nice Guy.”* Shatner, like Nimoy, didn’t actually define his character until the middle of the first season (compare “Galileo Seven” to “Squire of Gothos” and you’ll see what I mean).
*Would you have kicked Eve McHuron out of your quarters? Neither would I. Neither would the later Kirk.
Yes, and Gale was followed by Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg. Both Blackman and Rigg left the show to become James Bond girls. Rigg was replaced by Linda Thorson as Tara King, and the show became OTT campy and died soon afterwards.
MacNee said in an interview (or article) that when Rigg left, he knew it was the end of The Avengers.
According to Solow and Justman, Mrs Hunter showed up instead of Jeffrey one day and told them exactly that. In another version I read, Hunter just saw the finished first pilot and decided he no longer wanted the role.
I remember hearing on the radio when I was 13 or so that Hunter had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken his neck. I never knew this was in dispute.
Jason Priestley has written that he left “Beverly Hills 90210” because the plots were far-fetched and he was afraid of becoming typecast. He found out he was typecast and now thinks if you are in a hit tv show, milk it for all it’s worth.
Or, do what Johnny Depp did, and take some parts that are a million miles from what you think you’ve been typecast as.
Depp didn’t want to be a teen idol, so he started working with odd, quirky directors like John Waters and Tim Burton. Leonardo Dicaprio became part of Martin Scorsese’s stable.
Priestly might or might not have succeeded, but if he wanted to escape typecasting, heneeded to find some indie director and do something VERY different, just to prove that he COULD.
I agree with you, astorian.
That’s what hiatus is for, making a movie. And since you’ve already got a gig, you can afford (literally) to be choosy and pick the right role. You might not get the lead for your first movie role, but still, it’s a chance to put yourself out there as something besides your TV character.
The thing is, as I’ve said before, you can’t just make a decision one day that you want to begin appearing in quality independent movies. You can’t even make a decision that you want to appear in crappy movies. There are hundreds of other actors fighting for those same parts.
To succeed in show business you need more than just talent. You also need a heap of good luck. And too many actors fail to realize their heap of good luck was getting a role in a popular TV series.
Agreed. Lesley Anne Warren got Academy Award/Golden Globe nominations for “Victor/Victoria” and found the only role she could was the crappy “A Night in Heaven”.
Depp has done good work in good films but it’s interesting that his biggest moneymaker is “Pirates of the Caribbean”-based on a Disney amusement park ride in a genre that hasn’t been popular in a half century.
In addition to Clooney and Depp, as you cited, most SNL comedians follow this formula, staying with the SNL skits until they’ve done a few movies. Their movie careers wane sooner or later but they have enough money by that point not to care.
I’ve got your back, astorian, unless he tries to diss “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”. Then, he’s all mine.
Well, IIRC, he got a faceful of Angie Dickinson’s tits, so, it was at least a pretty good score!
Sometimes you can’t do a film if you have a tv role. Kate Jackson wanted to do the Meryl Streep role in “Kramer vs Kramer” but couldn’t get away from “Charlie’s Angels”. Tom Selleck decided to honor his contract with “Magnum P.I.” and turned down “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. As it turned out, a writer’s strike delayed Magnum for six months and he could have been Indiana Jones.
This isn’t a perfect analogy, but I’ll try it anyway.
I work in the tech field at a state agency in Texas. Over the years, I’ve had numerous colleagues leave to take higher paying jobs or to pursue better opportunities in the private sector.
SOME of those people have done extremely well for themselves, and have no regrets. SOME of them got laid off during bad times. Somer found themselves working insane hours. Some made very good salaries but didn’t get much in the way of benefiits. Some eventually got married and had kids, then found that the job offered no flexibility (I get to go home at a reasonable hour every night, which is a big deal when you have a kid with special needs).
Is the moral that “State workers should be happy with what they have and never try to pursue other opportunities?” Of course not. All it means is that life is uncertain and filled with tradeoffs. No matter what field you’re in, if you give up a steady job with decent pay and benefits in hopes of finding something better, you MAY succeed beyond your wildest dreams… or you may look back and think, “I was an idiot- I had a good thing going where I was.”
You take your chances.