Up Till Now: The Autobiography

series failed to get picked up and the very well-reviewed For the People was canceled after thirteen episodes, I did a third series pilot for which I had little hope. I was much more excited about starring in a beautiful play entitled The Hyphen , which had been written especially for me by Norman Corwin. I so admired Corwin, who was regarded as the greatest playwright in radio; at McGill I’d performed in all of his plays.
    A few years earlier he’d written the film Lust for Life, for which he’d been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, Kirk Douglas had been nominated as Best Actor, and Anthony Quinn had won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Norman just called me out of the blue and asked me to play the lead role in this play. My role was that of a scientist who was visited by a fairy, who had come to show me that the world is much more than a collection of scientific facts. We opened at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, and received tremendous reviews, and we were planning to take it to New York.
    While we were getting the play ready to move to New York my agent called to tell me that NBC had decided to pick up the pilot. My first series was actually going on the air. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It’s called... Star Trek ?
    Well, if you haven’t heard of it apparently you’ve been living in a cave on a remote atoll somewhere in the South Pacific or have been participating in some bizarre experiment. Star Trek is arguably the best known, most enduring, and influential television series ever produced. If you haven’t actually seen an episode of this show, perhaps you might have run across some of the merchandise? Some of the estimated two billion dollars’ worth of Star Trek merchandise that has been sold. Maybe you’ve seen one of the many dozens of collectible models of the Starship Enterprise, including the Wrath of Khan battle-damaged Enterprise, some models which light up or play recordings of my character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk; or the series of dozens of collectible plates including twentieth-anniversary editions of “Amok Time,” “Journey to Babel,” “Piece of the Action,” “The Trouble with Tribbles,” or the twenty-fifth-anniversary Mr. Spock, Captain Kirk, Chekov, Mr. Sulu (with or without a certificate), a 3D McCoy plate and a 3D Scotty plate as well as Classic Kirk, Classic Uhura, and Classic Spock plates; or the Starfleet Academy T-shirt, DJ Spock T-shirt, Captain Kirk “Risk Is Our Business” T-shirt and the infant/toddler T-shirt; the Starfleet Academy mug, disappearing image transporter mug, the “I Slept with Kirk” mug and “I Slept with Kirk” large mug, the Enterprise stein, the tankard, collectionof glasses, Icee cups, and glow-in-the-dark cups; the complete DVD sets of the original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek:Voyager, Star Trek:The Animated Series, or videos of the ten Star Trek feature films; numerous recordings of the music; the literally thousands of different action figures, among them nine- and twelve-inch clothed figures, the twelve-inch classic edition Chekov, twelve-inch Dr. McCoy, and twelve-inch Engineer Scott, the nine-inch Kirk Casual Attire and the nine-inch Command Edition Captain Kirk, the five-inch fuzzy Tribbles, six-inch Mirror Scotty Ltd. Edition, seven-inch Commander Kirk and Command Chair, the Dr. McCoy Action Figure European Special Edition, fourteen-inch porcelain Dolls from Hamilton Collectibles and Acrylic Sculptures; the United Federation of Planets blanket; Limited Edition Hand Phaser Prop replica kit, limited edition fortieth-anniversary bronze Phaser and the Danbury Mint Gold-Plated Laser; “Her Name is Enterprise ” Journal; over one hundred novels including Ashes of Eden, hundreds of comic books and magazines and guides; Star Trek trading card sets from more than a dozen different manufacturers, including cards with glossy finishes, 3D cards, moving-picture cards, holographic picture cards, autographed cards, and even gold-plated cards, as well as playing card sets and trading card tins and card holders; visible Klingon postcards; Star Trek scripts; annual Christmas tree ornaments; the “Trek Chicks Rock” trucker’s hat; Franklin Mint chess set, checkers set, 3D chess set in pewter, 3D chess set in wood; dozens of different watches, including the twenty-fifth-anniversary watch and video game watch, wall clock, desk clock, alarm clock, and traveling