TxBubba.com A Texas Bubba's Internet Sandbox

Up Till Now.. A revelation?

Ok it's time I start writing again, and what better way to get started than to talk about a book I am reading.  I am about 1/2 way through William Shatner's latest autobiography (yes, he has written others about specific times in his life..) that is called "Up Till Now".

Bill Shatner's latest Autobiography

You can tell this product is very different than his others, even though there is another writer working with him on this one.  Shatner rambles on quite a bit but all of it is interesting and a lot of it humorous.

One thing that jumped out at me as I was reading was in Chapter 6 when he is describing his life immediately after Star Trek was canceled.   It surprised me to learn that he was flat broke after making that series, in the throws of a divorce, and was working in local theaters to make ends meet.  He bought himself a pickup truck with a camper bed and was living in the parking lot of theater he was working at in some local production.  It would be years and years before Shatner saw a dime from his Star Trek role as Captain Kirk outside of his regular paycheck for each episode.  Apparently back then the actors did not have any of the contracts they do today where they are paid portions of profits for syndication runs, merchandise, etc.  It was not until years later when Star Trek had really taken off and he started doing conventions is when he started making money again as Captain Kirk.  He did a lot of movies and other television shows in the mean time struggling to make ends meet which he talks about a lot in his book.

Where is this going in my blog post? No where really.  I am a fan of Shatner's work and of Star Trek and this section of the book came as a real surprise. I guess I just assumed he made lots of money as an American Icon in Star Trek.  He was a struggling actor for many years, a guy like the rest of us trying to make ends meet, and work that he did in his past did not pay dividends until much later in his life.

Maybe we could all take a lesson from that.  More later as I get through Chapter 7.

-Jeff