# William Shatner, awful actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419 "2003-10-30T10:59:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/21 "2003-10-30T20:51:12Z")
Shatner acts like a Royal Shakesperian stage actor, which he was. You can tell them rom a mile away: the hesitations, pacing, inflections and gesturing, attention to tidiness are all similar. Patrick Stewart, another Royal Shake (new menu item!), is a little better in that he can change rhythm in speech like normal people do. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/22 "2003-10-30T20:56:38Z")
Shatner acts like a Royal Shakesperian stage actor, which he was. You can tell them rom a mile away: the hesitations, pacing, inflections and gesturing, attention to tidiness are all similar. Patrick Stewart, another Royal Shake (new menu item!), is a little better in that he can change rhythm in speech like normal people do. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/23 "2003-10-30T21:41:13Z")
Based on what I’ve seen, Shatner is not a bad actor, merely an actor of limited range. So what? Michael J. Fox built a whole career out of playing Alex Keaton: Alex Keaton travels through time, Alex Keaton goes to Vietnam, Alex Keaton moves to New York and does lots of cocaine . . . ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/24 "2003-10-30T21:43:03Z")
How about Shatner in the Twilight Zone Gremlin episode? Chewing the scenery, he is. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/25 "2003-10-30T22:26:19Z")
There’s. Something on! The _wing!_ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/26 "2003-10-30T23:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \* > \*\*Passable actor, EXCELLENT singer. 😉 > > \*\* (Picture Bill on knees, back arched, shirt ripped, fists clenched in front of face) “MR. TAMBORINE MAN!” * * * She told me she loved me like a brother. She was from Arkansas, hence the Joy! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/27 "2003-10-30T23:26:29Z")
When he’s not doing preposterous self-parody, he does okay. He was flamboyant (well, flaming) in the straight-to-video _Loaded Weapon 1_ (the only non-Trek movie to feature Shatner and James Doohan) and okay as a muted, borderline-self-loathing aging lothario in the straight-to-video _American Psycho II_. How the Oscars manage to keep overlooking him continues to mystify me. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/28 "2003-10-30T23:36:50Z")
Ex! Cell! Lent! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/29 "2003-10-30T23:49:07Z")
Do yourselves a favor and Google “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” +Shatner +farpointstation. I pissed myself the first time I heard it. ::constipated:: "Looooook for the girlllllll with the sunnnn in her eyessssssss… …and she’s GONE! GONE! GONE! GONE! GONE!" ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/30 "2003-10-31T00:30:24Z")
Awful actor! Yes, yes, YES!!! ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/31 "2003-10-31T00:49:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > **Do yourselves a favor and Google “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds” +Shatner +farpointstation. I pissed myself the first time I heard it.** In a BOAT…on a RIVER…with TANGERINE TREES…and MARMALADE SKIES I’m dying here, **Dooku**. TOWERING…OVER YOUR HEAD! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/32 "2003-10-31T01:24:36Z")
😃 I love it how he sings exactly the way he speaks as Kirk. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/33 "2003-10-31T01:37:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*I think he’s actually quite good at _intentional_ comedy—did you see his turn on _3rd Rock from the Sun_, as the Big Giant Head? \*\* Yes, he was a hoot there. That was inspired casting IMHO. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by seal\_cleaner \* > \*\*Chewing the scenery, he is. > \*\* Speaking like Yoda, you are. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/34 "2003-10-31T02:01:41Z")
I think it was Animaniacs that once had Shatner singing “The Little Drummer Boy.” Parum… papa… RUM! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/35 "2003-10-31T02:03:20Z")
I should clarify: I don’t believe it was the real Shatner, just a guy doing his voice. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/36 "2003-10-31T02:04:49Z")
It was. Best. Skit. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/37 "2003-10-31T02:05:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*_Laurence Olivier: The Mother Teresa of Great Actors._ > > - “Great” by reputation only; actually, he was a ghastly ham. \*\* You mispelled “John Barrymore”… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/38 "2003-10-31T02:27:44Z")
Aside from **Judgement at Nuremberg** , you should check out Shatner’s work in **The Brothers Karamazov**. Shatner was actually a highly regarded actor before _Star Trek_. He won acting awards, and got a shot on TV because he had been in three successful Broadway plays where his acting got good reviews. His early work on TV was in ‘artistic’ productions like _Circle Theater_ and _The Twilight Zone_. The thing is, like a lot of other actors who had a career-defining role, Shatner became a bit of a caricature of himself as the years went on. Leslie Nielson is a good comparison - the young Leslie Nielson was an excellent character actor, completely unrecognizable from the over-the-top ham he became later, when his role in _Airplane!_ typecast him. I’ll bet you that if Shatner was given some serious dramatic performance with a high billing, he could pull off a very good performance. Say, if Quentin Tarantino had a juicy role for him as a washed-up cop who does despicable things or something. I’ll bet he could turn the ham off, and do something serious if he really wanted to. But at this point in his life, he may not want to. He’s getting up there in years, and I get the feeling that he really likes being William Shatner. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/39 "2003-10-31T02:28:23Z")
A limited, mannered actor (for the reasons others have pointed out) who knows how to play into his few strengths and is quite comfortable to do so. He does seem able to tone them down in supporting roles when he wants to or when he isn’t doing broad comedy poking fun of his own image. OTOH, he was perfect as The Big Giant Head on _3rd Rock From The Sun_. Great use of what he’s known for. Ditto for the spoof of _Se7en_ for the MTV Movie Awards several years ago where he played all the parts. Classic. I’ve wanted to see the old Roger Corman film _The Intruder_ where Shatner plays a white supremacist. I’ve heard it’s one of his better acting performances where isn’t relying on the mannerisms and style that he’s so well known for. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419/40 "2003-10-31T02:37:12Z")
Ah shucks. I come here late and that **Sam Stone** made the points I was gonna. I’ll add that _The Enemy Within_ could’ve succeeded as a stage play because of the way Shatner portrayed the two Kirks. Watch it again. The SNL skit of the evil Kirk/Shatner at a Trek convention was amazing, btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shatner-awful-actor/210419.md?page=3)