80 Reasons Why William Shatner Is Awesome

Today is William Shatner’s 80th  birthday. Star Trek’s original Captain Kirk seems to be unstoppable as he heads into his ninth decade. As an actor, writer, pitchman, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and more, William Shatner is an endless source of inspiration and entertainment and so again we honor the man by updating our ‘awesome list’ all about Shatner with more video and, of course, more awesome.

TrekMovie.com’s 80 reasons why William Shatner is awesome

80. Travelled by war canoe as a teenager from Canada to the United States

79. Sold kidney stone for charity

78. Co-wrote "Believe," a book about hypothetic match between Houdini vs. Arthur Conan Doyle

77. Drives race cars and motorcycles – inspiring viral dance video

76. Inducted Jerry Lawler into the Wrestling Hall of Fame

75. Was Ranger Bob on the Canadian version of The Howdy Doody Show

74. Swam with dolphins and a 50 foot whale shark

73. Rerecorded Star Trek ‘final frontier’ narration for Shuttle Discovery final wake up call

71. Favorite color: leaves changing

70. Played beauty pageant host in a movie, then in real life a year later

69. Has building named after him at Montreal’s McGill University

68. Led Canada’s 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremonies

67. Reported seeing UFO in Mojave desert in 1967
(but later denied it)

66. Has great recipe for cappuccino muffins

65. Is friends with Henry Rollins  pair did a duet "I can’t get behind that"

64. Punked an entire town

63. Was immortalized in Lego

62. Talked to Koko, the signing gorilla

61. In "Fight Club" when Brad Pitt asks Edward Norton what celeb he would fight, he replies "Shatner"

60. Did live TV in 50s

59. Breeds horses

58. Speaks French

57. Nominated for Emmy for playing character named "The Big Giant Head"

56. Can sell anything from Law Offices, to Bran Cereal, to Computers

55. Appeared as himself in cult hit "Free Enterprise"

54.Was portrayed by John Belushi…and many since

53. Has his own fan club and a podcast dedicated to him called "Look At His Butt!"

52. In 1962 worked with George Lucas, cameraman for "The Psalms" – later sang "My Way" to Lucas at AFI

51. On The Hollywood Walk of Fame and in the Broadcast & Cable Hall of Fame

50. Narrated the book of Exodus for CD

49. Made movie about God in 1989, appeared as Satan on Comedy Central in 2005, and as Santa Claus in 2009

48. Poked some fun at fans with famous SNL skit – later showed transformation and embrace of fandom in ironically titled memoire "Get a Life!"

47. Plays paintball

46. Had his own customized limited edition Heinz ketchup bottle

45. Competed in the "World Poker Tour"

44. King of 70s  celebrity guest game shows

43. Started his own social networking site

42. Was guest photographer for Playboy

41. First film role, "Brothers Karamazov" 1958…with more to come still

40.Willing to laugh at himself

39. Knows how to handle a woman

38. Is active in environmentalism

37. Studied with Tyrone Guthrie, and won the Tyrone Guthrie Award

36. Starred in movie made entirely in Esperanto, "Incubus"

35. Name can easily be converted to adjective (Shatnerific, Shatastic, etc)

34. Has a degree in business

33. Was fired by a theater as business manager, then hired that same day as an actor

32. The Negotiator

31. Is Canadian

30. Is Jewish

29. Has his own talk show

28. Kingdom of the Spiders

27. Appeared on both "Circus of the Stars" and "Battle of the Network Stars"

26. Never appeared on either "Love Boat" or "Fantasy Island"

25. Brought Kirk back from the dead in his own "Shatnervese" books

24. Tek War

23. Friends with Leonard Nimoy for 45 years

22. Michael Meyer’s mask from "Halloween" movies based on Shatner/Kirk mask

21. Took the term "Has Been" and turned it into a hit album

20. Set the standard for cops jumping on car hoods (+ boats, buses, planes, etc)

19. Inspired art show

18. Inspired a ballet

17. Inspired song "If William Shatner Can, I Can Too"

16. Has over half million followers on Twitter, stars in sitcom inspired by Twitter, turned reading tweets into beat poetry

15. Appeared in 3 Broadway plays

14. Two words: Kirk-fu  (or is that one word?)

13. Worked with role model, Spencer Tracy.

12. Did two great Twilight Zone episodes including Nightmare at 20,000 feet – later parodied with Miss Piggy

11. Won two Emmys, two Saturns, a Golden Globe…and a Razzie

10. Was the first TV interracial kisser (with Nichelle Nichols)

9. Nickname at Montreal West Hills High School: ‘Toughie’

8. Is an award-winning equestrian

7. Killed a 9 foot tall kodiak bear with bow and arrow on ABC "The
American Sportsman" – which he later regretted

6. Denny Crane!

5. Rocket Man

4. Starred in groundbreaking civil rights movie, "The Intruder" in in
1962

3. Raises money for children’s charities through annual horse show

2. KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

1. At 80 he is still active and entertaining the world

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL FROM TREKMOVIE.COM

More Shatner & Nimoy Birthday celebration coming

All week long TrekMovie.com will be celebrating the 80th birthdays of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Later today we will announce the winners of the International Talk Like William Shatner Day video contest, and we have more Nimoy/Shatner articles leading up to Leonard’s birthday on Saturday.

Although a staff effort, this article would be impossible without John Tenuto, our resident Shatnologist