William Shatner is still going strong at 87, and he is bringing his one man show Shatner's World - The Return Down Under to New Zealand in October.
James T Kirk Photo: Wikicommons
The Canadian-born, California-based actor is best known as Captain James Kirk from the original Star Trek and Denny Crane in Boston Legal but has been working steadily since the early 1960s.
He told Nights' Bryan Crump he has been performing in one form or another since he was six.
“I’ve never done anything else. I’ve been on the stage and in all the other forms of entertainment and this one-man show is the culmination of what I do, the culmination of a lifetime of stories.”
William Shatner Photo: AFP / FILE
He says the show, which he has performed on Broadway, is an audience pleaser.
“The show is vastly entertaining and it is stories from my life that amused me, or amazed me, or caused me to be sad or happy.
Shatner says the show has been lauded as a wonderful piece of theatre and he's hopeful audiences on this side of the globe will have the same opinion.
“People laugh and cry and at the end of the show - they usually applaud and so I’m hopeful New Zealand will greet me with the same enthusiasm I’ve had in other places.”
Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Photo: Wikicommons
Shatner is one of the few cast members of the original Star Trek still alive. He forged a close friendship with Leonard Nimoy, who died in 2015.
“I think about him every day, he was a dear man."
Shatner says the role that defined him and his co-hosts more than half a century ago still fascinates audiences.
“I’m still waving the flag, maybe a reason to come and see the one-man show would be just to see the Last of the Mohicans!”
William Shatner appears in Shatner’s World: The Return Down Under from October 8 to October 10.
