When I read Shatner’s autobiography, I was very surprised to see the huge number of shows he had parts in in the years leading up to and after Star Trek. I really didn’t remember seeing him in anything else, but then I was also very young! Now when I watch a lot of vintage shows…there he is! Everywhere I look now, I see him. And a lot of his stuff is very good.
Hmm, funny, I’m not seeing it. Shatner as Kirk was rarely “nuanced,” and often quite silly. And who can forget the scream?
Nor is there anything in the body of work as T. J. Hooker which would convince me otherwise. There might be other stuff, but I don’t watch Boston Legal and I’ve not seen Shatner in anything else that I can recall. I do know that he wasn’t exactly a “nobody,” but he wasn’t a household name, either.
Nimoy, by comparison, usually did quite a fine job on Star Trek. He also can hardly be said to have been “typecast” (which also was not true of Shatner post-Star Trek). I think if it had not been for the presence of Spock, most of Star Trek would be unwatchable.
DeForest Kelly was anything but a good actor. It’s almost painful watching him try. I just got done watching “For the World Is Hollow, and I Have Touched the Sky.” It’s so funny watching it, because he simply cannot convince you of anything he’s trying to accomplish with his acting. I cry to this day when Spock delivers his line in “This Side of Paradise” about self-made hells; I have no emotion whatsoever as Natira cries on McCoy’s shoulder over the fact he won’t be with her on her journey through the stars. Occasionally, he managed the emotion of exasperation well enough, beyond that, not so much else worthwhile. And that’s part and parcel with his westerns work prior to Star Trek; the acting is so poor I cringe when I watch it.
My thoughts went this way as well. If you ask me to name what Mark Hamill has been in, for instance, my first answer would be Star Wars, followed quickly by playing a great Joker in Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: Arkham Asylum (other titles as well, but those are probably the two largest), as Christopher Blair in the later Wing Commander games, and then probably his guest spot on The Simpsons singing “Luke Be a Jedi Tonight” in a pretty forgettable episode. I’d probably, if given more time to think, come up with all the work he’s done on Robot Chicken. Considering my age, I don’t think that’s too bad of a list, though a quick look at Wikipedia shows he’s done a lot of other things.
Compare what comes up when I think of Hamill’s career to, say, Carrie Fisher, who I last saw on television playing some sort of Celebrity Blackjack. I can’t think of a thing she’s done in the last 25 years. A look at her bio on Wikipedia shows a lot of movies I actually recognize, though I couldn’t tell you that she was in any of them.
So I think there’s a combination of systemic effects at work as well as people in the general public like me that don’t really pay attention to actors, what they are doing, and so on, and you wind up with identifying an actor with the character as that is the only referent you’ve got.
Watch City on the Edge of Forever, especially the scene when he realizes that Edith needs to die, and then later, when she actually does. Watch Galileo 7, especially at the end when he realizes that the five crew members made it on board in time. Or The Conscious of the King, when he’s struggling with his past, with keeping Spock at arm’s length, and trying to conduct his own investigation, and when Spock confronts him. Watch The Naked Time, when he’s affected by the virus, or Operation: Annihilate when he discovers that his brother has been killed, or when he learns Spock has been blinded. Or Amok Time when he’s trying to get to the bottom of Spock’s strange, aggressive behavior. Or his silent, but unmistakable rage in The Computer.
I think you might have forgot the scream. It’s not as dramatic as all the subsequent parodies. But while we’re discussing the film, why not watch the scene where Spock dies? Or the eulogy scene? He’s neither silly or hammy in those scenes. Or in Search for Spock, where he’s struggling with coming to terms with the fact that his best friend is dead, including when Sarek forces him to relive the loss. Or at the end, when Spock says “Your name is Jim.”
Yeah, I’m fully aware of the episodes where Shatner comes across as “silly.” But I can’t blame him for some of the choices he made as an actor. He had a substantial background in theater (which caused big, over the top habits) and often on Star Trek he was asked to do things that were silly. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with him as an actor.
I put it to you that you are either not watching ST:TOS closely enough or you are seeing what you want to see. Shatner does much to build the character of Kirk. There are countless examples of subtle facial expressions, wry smiles, reaction shots that show his character’s, er, character. It’s easy to point out (and mock) the over the top stuff, but one of the reasons ST:TOS remains as popular is due to Shatner and the chemistry between the Big 3. Nimoy and Shatner were perfect foils for one another. If anything, it is Kelley who comes off as too strident and uneven–but even that is a direct result of the character he is playing.
In Space Seed, McCoy’s life is threatened by Khan immediately. His response to it and to Khan is well acted and well written.
In Mirror, Mirror, Shatner does an excellent job conveying Good Kirk attempting to survive in Evil Kirk’s world; his reaction when he recognizes the new ensign at the end of the show displays both underplaying and humor. In A Taste of Paradise, his taunting of Spock rides that fine line between truly hurtful and deliberate provocation. In Turnabout Intruder, Shatner plays a psychotic woman possessing his body–watch his body language, his tone, his carriage. Shatner shows his talent mostly in the small, “throwaway” moments that are scattered throughout each episode. His ruefulness at whoever assigned him a female yeoman or the way he handles Charlie Evans, for other examples.
I never watched TJ Hooker and have no desire to, but Shatner came to ST:TOS as a star (the producer has said in an interview that they were lucky to get Shatner), a leading man. Being a leading man put constraints on him within the role assigned to him. Does he go over the top and chew scenery? At times, yes. But his acting is solid and does not deserve the scorn heaped upon it (not just here, but in general). Now, he may not be your cup of tea and that’s just fine, but that’s not the same thing.
That was really good! I’d never seen it. And my god, Shatner was hot back in the day… Thanks for the link.
Happy to have been of assistance.
Here he is in the Thriller episode The Grim Reaper (1961). His part begins at about 5:40. And he drives up in a Herald, like mine. 
Fair enough, I was talking [del]out of my ass[/del] extemporaneously.
Fisher has moved beyond acting. She is a best-selling author and one of the most highly-regarded script doctors in Hollywood.
And right now she’s in a one-woman Broadway show at Studio 54 called “Wishful Drinking”.
I love the picture on Carrie’s book, Princess Leia has had one too many.
Well, there you go. I think I managed to prove my point with my own ignorance.
I disagree. If you watch “classic” TV shows from the 1950’s and 60’s (which now seem to run continuously on cable and broadcast side channels) the Star Trek cast appears in numerous shows that ran prior to Star Trek, particularly Shatner and Kelly. They weren’t big stars but they were familiar faces.
Shatner also lost nearly everything after Star Trek and a divorce and was living out of his car for awhile - he might have been more aggressive simply because he was homeless and literally hungry. I also think his prior resume of roles helped as well, but let’s just say he might have had more incentive to bust his rear and get work.
Personally, I think typecasting is just an excuse. Acting is an incredibly tough business and the majority of potential actors never get a big role. Getting one big role does increase your chances for getting a second one but the odds are still against you.
So you’re the star of a hit TV series and when it’s over you never get another role of that size. Which would you rather say? “I’m an average actor who got lucky one time” or “I got typecast in a certain role”.
This is entirely inaccurate.
Harrison Ford was unknown because most people didn’t know he was in Star Wars or Indiana Jones? He is one of the best know actors of his generation. And has been for quite some time.
Word.
100% word.
There thousands and thousands of actors out there and only a handful get anything close to a hit. And those that get two hit shows? A minor percentage of that. Think of Seinfeld. That cast has been given multiple opportunities for another hit show, with no to limited success.
Sometimes you only catch lighting in a bottle once. And the actors call this failure “typecasting.”
Yes and no. Some actors are too closely connected with a TV role to be able to move on (e.g, Al Hodge, Clayton Moore). Consider George Reeves. However good Reeves was as an actor, once he played Superman, that was it for his career. When he showed up in From Here to Eternity, everyone saw Superman (I did, though obviously I saw the film long after it was released).
Playing the same role in a TV series (especially a children’s series) used to be quite a burden on an actor. It’s probably not the same today as it was in the 50s and 60s, but it can be very difficult to shed your association with a popular TV character (see Jaleel White, for instance).
Neil Patrick Harris took years to overcome the Doogie Howser image. Back when Starship Troopers was released, critics still referred to him as Doogie.
I’ve never thought that much about typecasting before, but I’ve always sort of given actors who have claimed such in the past the benefit of the doubt since it is so easy to associate a performer with a specific character.
But I must that this makes a LOT of sense and I’ve never quite considered it this way before. I think I’m going to have to mull this over.
If anyone was typecast it was the people from Gilligan’s Island.