William Shatner isn’t ungrateful for Star Trek but he had other opportunities

William Shatner likes Star Trek but he doesn’t give it much credit for his success.

Star Trek brought William Shatner to the masses as James T. Kirk, and immediately he captivated millions of homes for years. His adventures, his quotes, and his excellent acting had many people clamoring for more Shatner. Especially more Shatner in Trek. Shatner would go on to star in a bunch of Trek films while starring in shows like T.J. Hooker, and Boston Legal.

Yet, if you were to ask him if he feels that Trek made his career, he wouldn’t necessarily agree. Speaking to the Sarasota Times about his career, the author asked Shatner if Kirk was the role that meant the most to him, but Shatner dismissed the concept, saying;

"I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I started long before Star Trek. So I’ve had a multitude of things to do and say and perform, been given a lot of opportunity."

William Shatner isn’t wrong about his career prior to Star Trek

Shatner didn’t make his name in Star Trek, though it’s fair to say that it was the biggest break of his career when it happened. He was already on shows like The Man from U.N.C.LE., The Outer Limits,  Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Twilight Zone, and Gun Smoke, while appearing in about a half-dozen films. While Shatner wasn’t the toast of the town, he was a well-known name across Hollywood by the time he landed his role as Kirk.

It’s fair to say with how he looked and his talents, Shatner was going to land a big role somewhere, somehow. That said, it’s fair to say that it’s not likely Shatner would’ve been such a huge name in the pop culture zeitgeist had it not been for Trek. The fan support over the decades is single-handedly the reason why the 91-year-old is still someone people talk about to this very day.