T.J. HOOKER BRITISH ANNUAL

excerpt seven :
WILLIAM SHATNER - FROM SPACE CAPTAIN TO POLICE SERGEANT

William Shatner has left the stars behind and come back to earth with a vengeance as the tough, dedicated police sergeant T.J. Hooker who faces today's villains on the streets of a big city.

In "T.J. Hooker," the new hour-long series produced by Spelling/Goldberg Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television, Shatner returns to the 20th century in a black and white police car that bears little resemblance to the sleek Starship Enterprise.

Shatner, who was born in Montreal, is one of the fortunate few who never had any doubts about what he wanted to do in life. He developed an early interest in acting and started working professionally at the CBC even before he reached his teens. He continued acting throughout his schooling, but when he entered McGill University he decided to major in business with an eye to joining his father's clothing company.

Instead, after receiving his degree, Shatner found himself drawn back to the theatre and he took the job of assistant manager at the Mountain Playhouse in Montreal.

"I was a disaster," he remembers, "always losing tickets and such. Happily I went back to the acting side of the theatre."

Shatner joined the Canadian Repertory Company in Ottawa and this led to his becoming part of the famed Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival under Sir Tyrone Guthrie. The Festival's production of "Tamburlaine" was taken to Broadway where, as a result of critics' reviews, Shatner was offered a contract at 20th Century Fox. Instead, he elected to return to Canada where he won the Tyrone Guthrie Award during his third season at Stratford.

He moved to New York after winning the award and began to work on live television on such shows as "Playhouse 90," "Studio One" and "The Kraft Playhouse." Shatner made his feature film debut in 1957 in "The Brothers Karamazov." This was followed by "Judgment at Nuremburg" and "The Intruder." At the same time, he starred on Broadway in "The World of Suzie Wong" and "A Shot in the Dark."

He continued to guest on television during the 1960s and then came the turning point in his career. He was cast as Captain Kirk in "Star Trek."

"The surprising thing was that its greatest success came after the series was put in syndication," he says. "It airs somewhere every day and its legion of fans continues to grow. It's been seen in over 100 countries."

When Shatner left Captain Kirk behind, he continued to vary his career as an actor and a director. He created a one-man show that toured 43 cities and returned to the stage in a production of "Otherwise Engaged." He guest starred in the mini-series "The Bastard" and "Little Women" and the tv film "Disaster on the Coastline."

He returned to his native Canada to star in the film "Fright" with Lee Grant and then came the opportunity to play Captain Kirk again in the feature film of "Star Trek." Again it proved to be a bonanza by grossing over $20 mkillion on one weekend in America and hitting a worldwide box-office of over $175 million. Shatner also starred in the follow up movie "Star Trek II" which was released in the summer of m1982.

Shatner, who has three daughters by a former marriage, keeps trim by playing tennis, scuba diving and jogging. He and his wife, Marcy Lafferty, divide their time between a ranch in Northern California, where they raise horses and Dobermans, and a home in the Hollywood Hills.

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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.