Up Till Now: The Autobiography

Actually, Kirk knew him so well and valued Spock’s friendship so greatly, that it was somewhat surprising that Leonard and I hadn’t become better friends. After the series ended we saw each other only when we were making an appearance and never spoke privately.
    So I was very pleased that Kirk was back, even if it was only his voice. The animated series lasted two seasons, twenty-two episodes, and won our first Emmy, for Outstanding Entertainment in a Children’s Series.
    Being Kirk was an island of tranquillity in an ocean of anxiety. It was like coming home. This was a very tough time in my career, I was having to run faster and faster just to stay in place. One of the few positive memories I have from this period, besides meeting Marcy, was that I began to work often with horses.
    There is nothing in my background to explain my deep love for horses, whether I’m riding a horse, or communicating with a horse, or simply appreciating the beauty of this magnificent animal. For some reason I found myself enthralled by horses as a child. What could have caused that? I was a Jewish kid from the streets of Montreal. No one in my family knew anything about horses; it was a word that never entered my family’s lexicon. But I do remember loving Westerns and loving being in the woods and loving animals. There was a stable near our house and when I was ten years old I went riding there for the first time. I think I had earned this ride by working there. It was obviously a big deal because my parents came to the stable to watch me. I don’t think it made a lot of sense to my father, who was a very practical man. Jews didn’t ride horses. Name one great Jewish cowboy! My mother was terribly frightened I was going to get hurt. Oy, what does my little Billy know from horses? My sisterJoy remembers sitting there with my parents as I climbed up on this horse, kicked it in the hindquarters, and galloped away.
    The three of them sat there stunned, their mouths open. My first time on a horse and I was galloping. The only possible reason I might have had for doing that is because that’s the way cowboys rode. It never occurred to me not to; in the movies it looked like so much fun. For me it was just a matter of holding on. After that I rode every time I had the opportunity—which was not very often. And I ended up doing a lot of movies in which I got to ride a horse. For Alexander I had learned how to ride bareback, but I really learned to ride while doing a movie in Spain named White Comanche .
    White Comanche was an Italian Western I made during a hiatus from Star Trek, in which I played twin half-breed brothers, or one breed, one good and the other evil, who eventually must fight to the death. Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti Westerns had become hugely popular and this was an attempt to make a less-expensive version. And when I was offered the part I realized that my childhood dream had come true: I was going to be in a Western! It turned out to be more of a macaroni and very cheesy Western. This was a truly awful experience. I was in the middle of my divorce from Gloria, I was one of the few people on the crew who spoke English, I didn’t get along with the director, and the script was dreadful.
    How dreadful was it? I think I can probably sum it up by quoting one of my better lines from this picture. After my good character shoots a bad guy he says knowingly, “Next time, don’t eat the peyote.”
    While Comanche Blanco, as it was released in Spain, is not available at my online store, WilliamShatner.com, you can get it at Amazon—for the incredible price, ladies and gentlemen, of...one cent. Literally, they are selling it for one cent. Truthfully I don’t know how they can earn a profit that way, but I’ve never been strong in mathematics. One buyer, however, did write that he had actually purchased “the upgrade for forty-three cents.”
    While making this movie I got to ride wonderfully high-spirited Spanish horses. Since each brother needed a horse, I had two horses with very similar markings. One of these horses, whom we called ElTranquillo, was to be used for close-ups. El Tranquillo had to remain calm when the clapboards snapped and the bright lights went on in his face. The horse that we used for long shots was called El Nervisio. El Nervisio was a difficult horse to ride; he’d broken the noses of several stuntmen by stopping short and as the rider’s momentum was carrying him forward sticking up his head.