Whither the Shat?

[Drone]

What if Jeffery Hunter overcame his reluctance, whether it was about money or a desire to be back in film (which didn't work out too well for him a few years later) and decided to do the second pilot. He is the Captain of Enterprise for its still likely three year run.

My interest is what becomes of the career arc for Shatner. Does he run out the string doing guest tv shots? Does his body of supporting work impress some producer enough that he gets a chance at a lead role later on like The Immortal or even T.J. Hooker? Does he focus more on stage work? Does he move to the other side of the camera? Or maybe he might have been found in "96 or so wheeling a shopping cart around somewhere in L.A, muttering about quasi-Cardassian totalitarians.

Thoughts? Guesses?

 

[Christopher]

Shatner was seen as a major up-and-coming star pre-ST. Some thought he might be the next Olivier. If anything, ST probably hurt his career by associating him with the science fiction genre, which at the time was not taken seriously. (Heck, just last week I came across someone who assumed that Star Trek was a kids' show. The prejudice still lingers.) Without ST, Shatner might've had a successful movie career, or a bigger TV career.

One thing's for sure -- without ST, Shatner wouldn't have suffered chronic tinnitus as a result of an on-set special-effects explosion.

 

[Terok Nor]

I think Shatner would have been fine without Trek. It's not the only thing he's known for. Eventually he'd have gotten his big break in something else.

Strange to think that Jeffrey Hunter may still be alive or at least have lived a lot longer if he'd stuck with Star Trek. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't he suffer a cranial injury filming a movie during what would have been his 3rd season of Trek? He died during surgery a week before the series finale as I recall. Obviously his alcoholism was always going to limit his lifespan considerably either way.

 

[Drone]

Shatner was seen as a major up-and-coming star pre-ST. Some thought he might be the next Olivier. If anything, ST probably hurt his career by associating him with the science fiction genre, which at the time was not taken seriously. (Heck, just last week I came across someone who assumed that Star Trek was a kids' show. The prejudice still lingers.) Without ST, Shatner might've had a successful movie career, or a bigger TV career

Really? Are you sure that isn't being a bit hyperbolic? There's no question that he was constantly working from the late '50's and I don't have any doubt that he was seen as a very dependable supporting player in a variety of genres. The vast majority of his resume was in television.

Let's look at it this way. By the time Trek came along, he was in his mid-30's. He had appeared in perhaps half a dozen features, the most notable were the "Brothers Karamazov" and "Judgement at Nuremberg". I'm fairly certain I recall that he received positive notices in the former at least. But these were 8 and 5 years before Trek premiered. His film credits after that included a Roger Corman production(albeit a rather interesting one) and "Outrage", not exactly rated up there in the pantheon of Paul Newman starring turns. This path doesn't exactly seem to lead to feature stardom other than, perhaps, lead roles in Grade B European productions as he aged.

He came along way too late for the studio system to have furthered his progress with steadily more important roles set up for him. I do think that he could have possibly scored a starring role in an action/adventure network series (would one argue that Christopher George was the superior performer) but it would have probably have to have happened fairly soon, if it was to come off at all.

I'm not denigrating his talent. One only has to watch his noted turn in The Twilight Zone or consider the fact that he was a frequent performer on the "high class" drama hours of the era. But talent to be even thought of being within leagues of Olivier? I certainly don't see that and would certainly be interested if you have any quotes, reviews, etc. that broached such a contention.

 

[Christopher]

^You're forgetting theater. A large part of Shatner's early career was on the stage, including a stint on Broadway. That's where he got the most acclaim early on. And no, I can't cite sources; I'm going from memory. But I'm certainly not making it up.

 

[Drone]

You're quite right about that omission and if he had decided to return to the stage as his predominant métier, it's certainly plausible that a notable star turn or two on Broadway could have been the mechanism to lead to much more prominent roles in features, if that turned out to be what he might have wished to do at that point.

The only fly in the ointment with this scenario is that while I don't know if he continued with the theater in between the tv roles, I think that for most actors the steady work and income that someone like Shatner was experiencing at the time, would make the siren song of once again committing himself to the stage again, even if it was his first passion, somewhat problematic. Then, as now, unless a performer in that realm of a high echelon, making a consistent living could be more than dicey.

I also want to say that I have no doubt that the critical acclaim you are referring to have seen was genuine and I sincerely regret my comments giving you that impression. I can only add that, whatever their provenance, I don't find that I can agree with them in substance.

 

[Maurice]

His Broadway career was fairly short. Three plays prior to Star Trek and nothing else til his one man show Shatner's World: We Just Live In It in 2012.

A Shot in the Dark [Broadway]
1961
Paul Sevigne
view the PLAYBILL here

The World of Suzie Wong [Broadway]
1958
Robert Lomax

view the FULL PLAYBILL here

Tamburlaine the Great [Broadway]
1956
Usumcasane
view the PLAYBILL here

 

[Drone]

Well as Christopher alluded to, even at an early stage of his career he was indeed catching some critical eyes as a performer of definite promise. Thanks for that very interesting offering.

 

[Push The Button]

Perhaps a 56-year old Shatner would have been cast as the new captain of the Enterprise in TNG.

I agree that he would have had a successful acting career with or without Trek.

 

[stardream]

But how would Trek have fared without him?

 

[Christopher]

But how would Trek have fared without him?

Well, Nimoy was the breakout star, and Roddenberry and Shatner had to fight to keep Kirk front and center despite network and fan pressure to center the show around Spock. Perhaps another lead wouldn't have fought so hard to stay central, and it would've become an even more Spock-centric show than it did.

 

[Nerys Myk]

But how would Trek have fared without him?

Well, Nimoy was the breakout star, and Roddenberry and Shatner had to fight to keep Kirk front and center despite network and fan pressure to center the show around Spock. Perhaps another lead wouldn't have fought so hard to stay central, and it would've become an even more Spock-centric show than it did.

So eventually Spock would jump over a shark?

 

[Melakon]

The real question is whether anyone today would remember Leonard Nimoy if he hadn't done Star Trek in 1964. Without Trek, he never would have been tapped to replace Martin Landau on Mission: Impossible.

 

[Drone]

He had a rather longer history than Shatner in doing tv spots and was continually busy. I think most of his roles were in the western and detective/police genres. I certainly remember him from the Outer Limits. I think I would agree with your contention about MI, barring his having become a noted feature player in some other series during the interim.

Although, I might reasonably ask, was appearing as Paris that big of a deal anyway? It was only two years and as it happens his initial season coincided with the show's precipitous ratings decline though it did hang on for two years after his departure.

 

[Melakon]

Nimoy did have a working career in supporting roles, but hadn't quite reached up front guest star billing yet. Most things I've seen him he seemed to get end title billed. He did good work; saw him in an episode of The Untouchables as a sympathetic crook, even had a love interest, and you see small touches in the performance that became Spock characteristics. But he himself said Star Trek was his first steady job in 15 years as an actor.

 

[Christopher]

Nimoy did have a working career in supporting roles, but hadn't quite reached up front guest star billing yet. Most things I've seen him he seemed to get end title billed.

Does that count shows that did, in fact, use up-front guest billing in the first place? Star Trek never did, except with Robert Lansing. It wasn't as universal to bill guests up front as it is now. (Although a number of current Canadian shows work the same way, only billing the top one or two guests at most in the front credits.)