Shatner was intimiated by Montalbán?

A long standing rumor is that during filiming of "Space Seed" Shatner was very intimidated by Ricardo Montalbán's incredible physique. That he was downright hostile on the set because he had no answer to Ricardo's stature and presence. I have heard this for years. Are there any facts to support this?

 

Never heard this.

 

Please cite your source(s). Thanks.

 

Sounds like bullschidt to me.

 

Shatner was a solidly-built actor because he pumped iron for his role in Alexander the Great. It didn't go to series, and he later said something like "All I got out of it was a set of muscles." But he most-often looked very good in a tight Star Trek uniform, and he had a catlike, athletic grace in the action scenes.

He played very well against Khan, Apollo, Kryton ("Elaan of Troyius"), and the Morg guards in "Spock's Brain." In those situations he played the strong man fighting as underdog. Everybody loves a hardy underdog.

 

Interesting. Sounds like BS to me...BUT...they never did have a scene together where they were both on the same set at the same time in STII:TWoK.

 

George Takei, lol

 

Sounds like a steaming pile of BS. Funnily enough, I just watched Space Seed last night and there's a scene where Khan stands up at the end of the dinner scene, both Shatner and Montalban were the same height.

Someone was borrowing Richard Basehart's apple box...

 

I've never really understood fandom's need (playful or vindictive....or anything in between) to pick at Shatner. I see more comments about his hairpiece, weight, alleged conflicts with co-stars, etc etc than most of the other Trek actors combined.

 

Indeed, he really gets the brunt of it. Especially his hair. As if he was the only actor to wear a piece.

 

I've said this for years. Dee Kelley was a saint but let's not pretend that he didn't have a helmet stapled on.

As for the Montalban story, nonsense and if anything, it was probably the reverse. After all, Kirk wasn't even intimidated by Khan, and I have a feeling the actors didn't have a similar strength disparity.

 

And his eyebrows were tweaked more than Nimoy's. Watching these in production order and Kelley's hair and makeup is constantly evolving.

 

I remember years ago, someone here discovering that Shatner had a hairpiece, and asking why they didn't just hire an actor with a full head of hair for the role.

 

I don't think it's true and if there was something it's probably overblown, as a lot of stories about Shatner seem to be in my opinion.

A look at the Wrath of Khan wikipedia page under Ricardo Montalban's cast listing noted that his biggest complaint about filming Wrath of Khan was not getting to act with Shatner in person for the film (they filmed months apart and their characters only interact over viewscreens). Sounds like Ricardo wanted to work in person with Bill again, so how bad could Shatner supposedly have been during Space Seed to him?

 

Harve Bennett said in a recent interview before he died (can't find the link now sorry) that Khan would've just pummeled Kirk with his genetically enhanced strength if they actually met, and that personally he wouldn't have changed anything if he redid WoK and kept Kirk and Khan separate.

 

Did Bennett actually watch “Space Seed”?

 

In regards to the original post, I'm beginning to remember something the late Nichelle Nichols said about Montalban supposedly being confused by Shatner's strict manner while filming Space Seed, which may be the source of this rumor. Keep in mind, all due respect to Nichelle, but she wasn't on good terms with Shatner a lot of times and her recollection may be influenced by that. And as I said, whatever tension there supposedly was couldn't be that bad if Montalban was hoping to act with Shatner again in person on WoK.

https://www.startrek.com/article/interview-with-harve-bennett

why wasn’t the Kirk-Khan showdown done with them face to face?

(Laughs) Well, let me answer the second question first. If you watch “Space Seed,” Khan is a superman. He was cryogenically engineered to be invulnerable. That would have given him a tremendous advantage if we’d chosen to put him in the same place as Kirk. We just felt that if they never saw each other, except on screens, it’d work better. You had the distance of time – the 25 years since they’d seen each other – and the physical distance of space. If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was a novel way to have the protagonist and antagonist fight through two hours of a movie.

 

“It was a novel way to have the protagonist and antagonist fight through two hours of a movie.”

It wasn’t at all novel given it was done in “Balance Of Terror” and the film “The Enemy Below.”

 

From what I understand, he watched them all but "Space Seed" gave him the perfect story to follow up on thanks to Spock's closing lines. I give Bennett a lot of credit for be coming familiar with the mythos once taking charge.

 

I thought that was Meyer, not Bennett.