Shatner still enterprising on ABC’s new ‘Boston Legal’
William Shatner won a guest actor Emmy last month for playing bombastic barrister Denny Crane on “The Practice.”
That show’s gone, but Crane is back with a full-time job on the new spinoff, “Boston Legal” (Sundays at 10 p.m. on ABC).
“The Practice” also earned James Spader a lead acting Emmy as oddball attorney Alan Shore, and he, too, has joined “Boston Legal’s” international law firm, Crane, Poole & Schmidt.
David E. Kelley, creator of both shows (as well as that former iconoclastic legal series, “Ally McBeal”), wrote the quirky Crane character with Shatner in mind.
Unlike his forever-famous role as Capt. James T. Kirk of “Star Trek,” Shatner says his latest TV persona leaves us guessing whether Crane is in full command.
“I think that we don’t know whether he’s dumb or smart, whether he’s cunning or stupid, whether he knows what’s going on all around or is totally unaware. I think that’s part of the fun of playing it,” he says.
“Standing on the set when that collision of actor and role happens, when it’s such a perfect fit – that’s the kind of thing you live for,” says Bill D’Elia, executive producer and director of “Boston Legal, who describes Shatner as “just a force of nature.”
“I’m trying to make it fun because acting should be playing, and you’re at your best and most at ease when you are playing,” says Shatner, 73.
“The hours are long and the drill of learning lines is difficult, but I wouldn’t call it hard work. Coal mining is hard work.”
Besides the long hours of a regular series, he’s got another of his “Star Trek” novels to promote, his self-mocking “Has Been” CD to sell and those Priceline commercials to shoot.
There are even horses to drive. Shatner just returned from winning a fine harness world championship at the Kentucky State Fair.
Shatner is the father of three grown daughters and three times a grandfather.
His third wife, Nerine, drowned in their swimming pool in 1999. He’s now married to Elizabeth, a fellow horse enthusiast.
After his “Star Trek” series years, he was the title character in six seasons of the cop show “T.J. Hooker.”
He also starred in seven “Star Trek” movies and directed the fifth, “The Final Frontier.”
Oddly, he hasn’t watched the current “Enterprise” series, or any of the other “Star Trek” spinoffs.
“I don’t know why.” he says. “My surface excuse is that I don’t have time, but you would think I would look at one or two.”
Although he once told “Trekkie” fans to “get a life,” he later wrote an affectionate book with that title about them and is happy to attend their conventions.
“In a strange way I think being on stage for an hour, an hour and half, not knowing what I am going to say next, having to react with total spontaneity answering questions, sharpens my mind in terms of repartee, comebacks, inventive stories, the whole creative process,” he says.
“It’s a help in learning to stay entertaining.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Peter Coyote is 62. Singer John Prine is 58. Actor-dancer Ben Vereen is 58. Actress Jessica Harper is 55. Singer David Lee Roth is 49. Country singer Tanya Tucker is 46. Actress Julia Sweeney (“Saturday Night Live”) is 45. Actor Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) is 45. Actor Mario Lopez (“The Other Half,” “Saved by the Bell”) is 31. Singer Mya is 25.