'Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a captain'
Beam me up to the convocation, Scotty.
Captain James T. Kirk is getting an honorary degree from McGill University.
Montreal-born actor William Shatner, best known as the steely commander of television's most famous spaceship, has been tagged to receive a honorary doctorate at graduation ceremonies for the faculty of arts on June 2.
Shatner, who turned 80 this winter, graduated from McGill in 1952 with a commerce degree. But even as an undergraduate, his true passion was acting, serving as president of McGill's Radio Workshop, performing with the McGill Players and producing and directing the 1949 edition of McGill's Red and White Review.
Winner of two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe, he has appeared in more than 30 movies, performed on Broadway and at the Stratford Festival, has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and has received lifetime achievement awards from the Governor General's Performing Arts Foundation and the Banff World Television Festival.
His film credits include roles in The Brothers Karamazov, with Yul Brynner, and Judgment at Nuremberg, with Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster and Marlene Dietrich.
But his career took a stratospheric leap in 1966 when he was cast as the captain of the starship Enterprise in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, where his memorable lines included "Second star to the right ... and straight on till morning" and "We come in peace."
The classic line "Beam me up, Scotty" actually was never uttered by Shatner.
The campy science fiction series would become an enduring cult favourite, spawning five spinoff series and 11 feature films.
Shatner appeared in seven Star Trek movies between 1979 and 1994. As he once put it, "Captain Kirk has been a source of pleasure and income for a long time."
Shatner has also starred as the hard-boiled police officer in T.J. Hooker, a lawyer in Boston Legal and The Practice, and more recently, as the crusty old man in $#*! My Dad Says.
Several years ago, McGill students named the student centre on McTavish St. after the celebrity alumnus, although the university never made it official.
In his comic rant at the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics in Vancouver last year, Shatner gave McGill the kind of plug that university advancement officers dream about, listing it among the things that make Canada great.
Read full article: , May 6, 2011