Today is William Shatner's 84th birthday. (If you want to know why I love the guy, read this.) With the recent passing of Leonard Nimoy, Shatner seems more of a national treasure than ever (well, considering he's Canadian, I guess he's an international treasure).
Captain Kirk has been a part of the pop cultural zeitgeist for nearly fifty years now, but, for me, Shatner's greatest performance, and most memorable character, is Boston Legal's Denny Crane. But why do we have to choose?
Here's a terrific tribute to Denny Crane:
And here's one of Captain Kirk's greatest moments:
One of these days I'll do a full-out Shatner Top Ten (which would undoubtedly include extraordinary performances in The Andersonville Trial, The Intruder and The Twilight Zone), but for now, let's end with Shatner and Ben Folds performing a fantastic track from their 2004 collaboration, Has Been:
Happy birthday, Mr. S: Here's to many more.
It was also Keith Relf of Yardbirds leadsining fame and my birthday.
ReplyDeleteJust seen the great Shatner in a horror called The Devil's Rain, which is seldom shown here in the UK. Have you seen it, Mr D?
ReplyDeleteIt's quite an odd film, which manages to be both corny and genuinely creepy and unsettling at times.
Worth checking out, even if it's just for the stellar cast.
I saw it years ago, Karlos. Hardly a classic, but you're right: it's definitely creepy and it's got a very strong cast...including, I believe, a young John Travolta in his first screen role!
DeleteThat's correct, Mr D! A young Travolta and so many other good actors in that film.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, Mr Shatner is indeed an international treasure. Here's to him!
Still doing great work at 84. Pretty amazing, isn't it? Looking forward to his upcoming arc on SyFy's HAVEN.
ReplyDeleteDirected by Robert Fuest who gave us the amazing Dr. Phibes movies with Vincent Price and The Last Days of Man, the only attempt to bring Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius to the screen. A fun little flick.
ReplyDeleteA Michael Moorcock movie and I've never heard of it? I'll have to do some digging, Douglas, and find out more about it. Thanks for the tip.
DeleteAlso known as The Final Programme, the title of the book. It's pretty trippy, but then again all Corneilus books are pretty trippy.
ReplyDeleteI read my share of Moorcock back in the day...but it's been a while, I remember being totally blown away by BEHOLD THE MAN when I was in high school.
DeleteBehold The Man is excellent and I'm a sucker for the Elric novels.
ReplyDeleteYes, I read Elric back then, too. Might be time to dip back into Moorcock's work.
DeleteI'm in the middle of The Chinese Agent by him right now. A funny little espionage book he wrote.
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