T.J. HOOKER BRITISH ANNUAL

excerpt one :
WILLIAM SHATNER ON SGT. T.J. HOOKER

There are times when an actor creates a role that lives so vividly in the minds of not only the audience, but the people in the film industry that he finds he is not accepted in any other part. This was the point that William Shatner's career had reached because of the phenomenal success of "Star Trek" and his role as Capt. James Kirk.

"I found there was a deep need to continue to change my image from Capt. Kirk," he says. "The role had encased me as an actor because of the series and then it was reinforced by the box-office hit movies."

When the "Star Trek II" movie was about to be released, Shatner sought a way to create a different character and found it in the role of Sergeant T.J. Hooker, the tough, bend-the-rules cop who works the streets in "T..J. Hooker" the new hit police drama series.

"After a lot of thought, I decided the best way to reach the largest audience was to do a series again," he says. "Hooker is a fascinating character. He speaks for the people when he voices his concern over how the laws have not taken care of the victims, but seem to protect the perpetrators."

Shatner believes that while Hooker reflects the feelings of most people today, usually a tough cop is not a character that attracts the audience.

"Let's face it, the good guys to most viewers are the defence and not the prosecution," Shatner remarks. "Hooker is not an easy character to create. I have to walk a narrow line between being a zealot and being a protector of the people. I have to show his humanness, his flaws and make the audience care about him."

Shatner always promised "T.J. Hooker" would not be filled with screaming tyres and blazing guns.

"It's not a crime-of-the-week show," he says. "It's a show of relationships and the action springs from the characters."

Shatner has found that returning to series work after 10 years has been brutal -- physically and mentally.

"I have a high level of energy and before the series started, I was working out daily running up to marathon distance," he says. "But this series is taking every bit of endurance I have because it makes a lot of physical demands on me with long hours and stunts. There are also many highly dramatic scenes."

Shatner is finding that the trick of memorizing 10 to 12 pages of dialogue a day is coming back to him, but he has not developed a technique of relaxation during the long days.

"When I did 'Star Trek' I used to meditate to conserve my energy," he remembers: "Actually, conserving energy in a person is no different than conserving energy in a house. You have to insulate and I haven't redeveloped that ability as yet."

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©1983 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc.

Published by GRANDREAMS LTD., Jadwin House, 205/211 Kentish Town Road, London NW5. Printed in Holland. ISBN 0 86227 155 X.