A curious thing about William Shatner's TV guest star role in the early 1960's is the inordinate number of times he is called on to play an individual with some degree of mental disturbance. Consider the following roles . . .
The "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode "Mother, May I Go Out to Swim?" Shatner plays a momma's boy in this episode similar to the character in the TZ's "Young Man's Fancy" - in fact, he even goes so far as to murder his new bride to preserve his relationship with his mother.
The "Twilight Zone" episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet". Shatner's role is a man who recently suffered a nervous breakdown, and who now sees a little man in a furry Teletubby suit on the wing of the plane he's flying on.
The "Thriller" episode "The Hungry Glass". Shatner plays a man who has just bought a haunted house on the New England Coast - but are the spectral images he sees in the house's mirror real, or are they a result of the recurrence of a mental breakdown he suffered previously in the Korean War?
The "Naked City" episode "Portrait of a Painter". Shatner plays a young artist who murders his wife and then blots the memory of the murder from his mind as if it was a canvas he was dissatisfied with.
The "Route 66" episode "Build Your Houses With Their Backs to the Sea". Shatner's character blames his father (Pat Hingle) for the death of his beloved brother and vows to commit patricide as revenge. The two men eventually commit ritual suicide at the episode's climax. (see avatar at left!)
The "The Fugitive" episode "Stranger in the Mirror." Shatner plays an ex-cop who subconsciously resents his dismissal from the force, and just as unconsciously commits a spree of murders against policemen.
If it wasn't for "Star Trek", Shatner might have become typecast as a loony . . .
