Captain, my captain, privileged is the actor who portrays you

October 30, 2011 / 1 Comment

The documentary consisted of Shatner flying to London (to meet Stewart), New York City (for Mulgrew), Princeton (for Brooks) and Los
Angeles (for Bakula and Pine) to discuss their experiences starring in the enduring science fiction series and to co-reflect on the thrills and travails of the actor’s craft.  Interspersed among these discussions were some clips from various Star Trek episodes or movies;
some droll footage of Shatner visiting worshipful fans at a Star Trek Convention, and some biographical background on each of the actors.

The documentary was packed both with meat and with fluff.  Shatner engaged in a serious discussion with Mulgrew about how the demands of Star Trek’s filming schedule left only abbreviated time for family, and the stress and strains this causes.  Mulgrew said as tough as such a schedule is on a man, it is tougher on a woman, especially one who is a single mom.   Shatner acquiesced to her point—although he,
Stewart and Bakula all confided that their devotion to the acting craft was paid in the coin of failed marriages.

I was particularly struck by a conversation between Shatner and Stewart in which Shatner revealed that he had a hard time accepting the fact that of all the roles he has played, he probably will be remembered best for giving life to Captain Kirk and the Star Trek franchise.
He said he used to resent it when fans would utter such signature Star Trek lines as “Beam Me Up, Scotty,” because he took their comments to be “derisive.”

However, Shatner told Stewart that after watching him play Captain Picard, with all the gravitas of a Shakespearean actor, he had an epiphany – that Stewart, as Picard, the fair but always in command captain, made a real impact on the public about what life in space and encountering alien species could be like, and that so, too, did he, Shatner, have a real impact as the pioneering Captain Kirk.

Shatner said whereas he once feared being remembered principally  as the actor who played Kirk, today he figures that is not such a horrible legacy after all – imagine, he gave birth to a character who  has persisted in the public imagination for nearly 50 years and shows no sign of ever aging, unlike Shatner himself.

I thought back to an appearance Henry Winkler once made before the Jewish Federation of San Diego County (then called the United Jewish Federation) during which he snarled when asked to flash the signature thumb’s up gesture of the character he made famous: Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli in Happy Days.

Like Shatner, Winkler was at war with his own success, resenting the idea that fans would identify him only as the “Fonz” rather than as a well-rounded and accomplished actor.   Well, there are many well-rounded and accomplished actors, but there was only one “Fonz” and Winkler should have counted his blessings that he could have become immortalized through his characterization of the ultra-cool high school drop out.  His character’s leather jacket is part of a museum exhibit at the Smithsonian—how much more than immortality can an actor
really hope for?

Imagine there were television and movies in the days of Mark Twain.   What actor wouldn’t have been glad to have been remembered as the creator of the role of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer?  Or go further back, to Shakespeare.  Imagine if an actor then could have created
the role of Hamlet or Othello or Romeo, and that performance became the standard against which all other performances were judged.  Would that actor resent the public for constantly associating him with any of those roles?  If he did, how vainglorious he’d be.

Captain Kirk and the Fonz are immortal whereas our fellow Jews, Shatner and Winkler, are not.  Rather than it being an insult to remember them for their characters, it’s quite a compliment.

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com