WILLIAM SHATNER Horses Make Miracles
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W U Montr BY DANIELHOROWITZ growing upJewishinMontreal backthen.” wasalmostaritualwith time—usually onaSundayevening. ChinesefoodorMoishe’s orthisChineserestaurantallthe tory onSt.Lawrence,andwe’dendupatMoishe’s recalling75, hischildhood.“Myfatherhadclothingfac- Street,” enthusesShatner, Canadian atheart. horses makemiracles Even today, on the set of Shatner’s popularABCseries onthesetof Shatner’s Even today, deliallthetimeonSt.Lawrence usedtogoMoishe’s “I loveMontreal.We eal smokedmeatcanoftenbe found. Canadian homelandfortheglamorofHollywood,Shatneris stillvery mucha 15 secondsbeforeonethingisclear:Nomatterhowlongago helefthis ittakesonly Shatnerindowntown Toronto, pon meetingMontrealnativeWilliam ILLIAM www. lifestylesmagazine A CTORS 28 S HATNER .com Boston Legal , trays of Photo courtesy of William Shatner ACTORS “To this day, every so often, the McGill University in 1952. from every side; the football players company that bought my kidney stone, Unlike millions of Canadian chil- thought I was a sissy because I was an Goldenpalace.com, has given me the dren who grow up dreaming of actor; the actors couldn’t believe that I extraordinary gift of being able to order wearing the blue and white of their wanted to play football, and the anti- smoked meat and bagels from beloved Toronto Maple Leafs, or the semites were beating me up because I Montreal, which are then sent to the blue, blanc et rouge of the Montreal was Jewish. All of it was a kind of child- set in Los Angeles. And, I must say, the Canadiens, Shatner’s athletic prowess hood in chaos.” entire cast and crew of the show are did not make him hopeful of achieving But Shatner found his niche when now angling to become Jewish strictly sporting stardom. he began appearing on the radio. because of the quality of the “During those early years, I smoked meat, bagels, and cole was on a radio drama of children’s d slaw,” he jokes. “This incredible n fairy tales. A radio producer by the u F l bonanza of food arrives and it’s as a name of Kaplan for CBC in n o i t though you ordered it from the a Montreal began giving me small N h s store as regular take-out. It’s hot i roles to play. In fact, I was w e J and fresh and absolutely deli- f Montreal’s Prince Charming for a o y s cious. Until they tasted it, pas- e good run. So, between football t r u o trami was a foreign word here. c and fighting, I was also on the o t Even James Spader, who is Irish o radio. It actually helped me h P Catholic, now wants to be Jewish finance my college career.” in the worst way.” (For the Trained as a classical record, Shatner sold the afore- Shakespearean actor, Shatner per- mentioned kidney stone for formed at the Stratford Festival of $75,000 to the on-line gambling Canada. His official movie debut site GoldenPalace.com in 2006. was in the 1958 MGM film The That money, along with an addi- Brothers Karamasov with Yul tional $20,000, paid for the con- Brynner. Of course, it was his role struction of a house by Habitat on Star Trek as Captain James for Humanity.) And although the Tiberius Kirk that turned him from bounty arrives fairly often, actor to icon. Although the land- Shatner is still unclear about how, mark science fiction show only exactly, the food arrives. Could it Elizabeth and William Shatner at a lasted from 1966 to 1969, his des- therapeutic riding center in Israel. simply be “beamed up?” tiny was sealed. “No, it’s not really beamed Still, insists Shatner, his career up in the sense you’re thinking, but, “I skied for my high school team,” was moving ahead quite nicely before rather, it arrives via the new beaming he says. “Then I tried out for high he landed Star Trek. process, Fed-Ex,” he says with a hearty school football and I became part of a “I had starred on Broadway, been laugh. “However it gets here, it causes great high school football dynasty that in big movies, and I had even done a a great deal of excitement because won the city championships for several short-lived television series before Star people from other sets come running years. Westhill high school was the best Trek came along,” he says. “I was to our set when they smell its arrival then. I was on the second team and, making a good living. In fact, I was just and quite frankly, there isn’t enough quite clearly, I was, at most, second- about to return to Broadway to per- room in the local synagogues.” best.” form in a play written especially for me Shatner remembers that some of when I got the news that Star Trek had R his fiercest battles were not necessarily been bought. I decided to do it Born to Joseph and Anna, Shatner on the football field. because an earlier pilot I had seen of attended Willingdon Elementary School “At the same time that I was trying the show interested me and I saw some and West Hill High School in Notre- to play football and trying to become of the magic the concept held. I also Dame-de-Grace. He went on to earn a an actor, I was also fighting off the anti- had certain ideas about how we could bachelor’s degree in commerce from semites,” he says. “I was getting killed make the show better, which I shared www.lifestylesmagazine.com 29 ACTORS with the producers. Then, after the show had become a moderate hit, it “We want all kids—Jews, Bedouins, Israeli- provided me with an income to buy a Arabs, Jordanian, Palestinian, and house and, later, to put my kids through school.” Egyptian—to benefit from these thera- After hanging up his phaser gun at the end of the Star Trek run, Shatner peutic horseback riding centers.” appeared in various films, television shows, and theatrical productions. riding centers across Israel in partnership Consortium Endowment for Israel, Then in 1979, Paramount Pictures with the Jewish National Fund (JNF). which hopes to fund the nearly 30 decided to produce the highly suc- The benefits of horseback riding therapeutic riding programs that exist cessful Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for those with disabilities have been throughout Israel. The goal is to raise which was followed by eight subse- recognized for over 3,000 years, $10 million to support these unique quent Star Trek films. In the 1980s, he explains Shatner. Therapeutic riding has programs and to maintain their accessi- starred opposite Heather Locklear as a been widely used since the early 1950s bility for people of all economic back- cop in T.J. Hooker, before going on to as a tool for improving the lives of the grounds. “We want all kids—Jews, host the popular Rescue 911 from 1989 disabled. Individuals with decreased Bedouins, Israeli-Arabs, Jordanian, to 1996. cognitive, physical, or emotional dis- Palestinian, and Egyptian—to benefit from these therapeutic horse- m s i r u back riding centers,” insists R o T f o Shatner. y From his humble thespian r t s i Shatner’s partnership with JNF n beginnings on CBC radio, i M l began over lunch at Factor’s e Shatner has carved out one a r s I Deli in Los Angeles with his f of the most impressive, o y s friend, Marvin Markowitz. The e t varied, durable and r u o two men shared a dream c admirable careers in , m about helping physically and a r Hollywood. It’s a career that i T n mentally challenged children o has spanned five decades as s s a with riding therapy. S an actor, director, producer, The Shatners speaks with Israel’s Minister of Toruism, y b Markowitz, a member of JNF’s o screenwriter, recording Isaac Herzog, about The Jewish National Fund’s t o h P executive committee, knew he artist, and author. In fact, it Therapeutic Riding Consortium Endowment. could count on Shatner’s sup- could be argued, Shatner owns one of ability can benefit from the horse’s port to build upon the JNF’s long- the most recognizable faces on the gentle and rhythmic movements. Riders standing relationship with the Red planet. with physical disabilities often show Mountain Riding Centre at Kibbutz Today, with his career on warp improvement in verbalization, flexibility, Grofit in the Negev. speed, Shatner has become one of balance, muscle tone, motor develop- “Successful people take passion as Hollywood’s most prominent philan- ment, and emotional well–being. their guide, and it was the passion from thropists. Combining his life-long pas- Shatner is the spokesperson for the Elizabeth and William Shatner that sion for horses with a desire to help William and Elizabeth Shatner/Jewish drove our relationship to where we are children, Shatner turned his philan- National Fund Therapeutic Riding today,” says Markowitz in typically thropic attention to therapeutic horse modest fashion. In fact, to help jump- “Successful people take passion as their start the JNF program, Markowitz recently made a $1 million donation to guide, and it was the passion from the therapeutic riding endowment fund. Elizabeth and William Shatner that drove For the past 20 years, Shatner has our relationship to where we are today.” spearheaded the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which features some of —Marvin Markowitz the best riders in the United States www.lifestylesmagazine.com 30 ACTORS raising money for charity. In his spare nations, too. What better way to create from generations of horse owners, and time, Shatner enjoys breeding and a dialogue than by helping handi- I’ve owned a horse myself since I was 8.