MONTREAL – The former captain of the starship Enterprise told university graduates in his hometown that they should boldly go forward to seek out their future – and not be afraid to wind up making an “ass” of themselves.
William Shatner, best known as Capt. James T. Kirk of the “Star Trek” franchise, was given an honourary doctorate of Letters at Montreal’s McGill University on Thursday.
He accepted it with self-deprecating humour and the offer of some fatherly advice to the fresh young faces looking at him from the audience.
“Don’t be afraid of taking chances, of striking out on paths that are untrod. Don’t be afraid of failing,” Shatner told students.
“Don’t be afraid of making an ass of yourself.
“I do it all the time, and look where I got,” he said, holding the degree aloft.
It was like the embodiment of the philosophy of Kirk’s shipmate Mr. Spock, who always told people to “live long and prosper” in the fabled “Star Trek” series.
“If you live long enough, everything comes around,” Shatner told reporters after the ceremony.
Even if it takes 59 years.
Shatner explained that he had never gotten to cross the stage to get his degree in 1952 because he missed the convocation that year.
He described how he was forced to take an extra math course to make up for one he had failed. He eventually got his degree but, until Thursday, Shatner had never been to a McGill convocation ceremony.
The 80-year-old star received thunderous applause when he took the stage to get his honourary doctorate and drew numerous laughs during a funny speech.
Shatner hinted in that address that he had not always hit the books hard when he was at McGill. Shatner was, however, active as president of McGill’s radio club and in campus theatre productions.
While working on that extra math class toward a bachelor’s of commerce, Shatner got his first job – as assistant manager of a small acting company in Montreal.
Get daily National news
He fibbed to get the job.
Shatner told his employer he already had a degree, was adept at math, and had accounting and banking skills.
“It wasn’t long before they discovered two things: that I had no accounting skills whatsoever – my math skills are really bad – and that I was a good actor,” Shatner said.
“My talents didn’t lie in the field of accounting. My father, who paid for my education, was not amused.
“But my talents lay in trying to be funny and entertaining people. Although I didn’t study that, per se – that’s Latin, by the way – I got my education, complete, whole and useful, at McGill.”
The star of stage and screen explained to students that his university experiences paved the road, in ways he couldn’t have imagined, to his future successes.
Sometimes, he said, the path to success is circuitous.
He illustrated his point with references to Montreal geography.
“The road of life isn’t linear – it isn’t Sherbrooke Street. It’s more like Cote-des-Neiges,” he said, drawing more laughs with the reference to the famously twisty downtown thoroughfare.
“It’s a country route, dusty and dirty, with soft shoulders and high banks.”
Shatner, who has won Emmy Awards, also made his mark as an actor in such movies as “Judgment at Nuremberg” and TV shows including “Boston Legal” and “TJ Hooker.” He has also authored best-selling books.
Shatner shared two other details with his audience.
First, a piece of advice about everyday life: “Get up earlier in the morning! There’s nothing you can’t accomplish when standing on two feet. When you’re lying down all you accomplish is some REM sleep, and working out your dream life.”
He also offered a confession.
Shatner began his speech with a description of how corporal punishment was regularly meted out when he was in high school, with students getting the leather strap across the hand for being tardy or rambunctious.
He revealed that he was even accused, once, of setting fire to the principal’s car in high school. He said that, for more than six decades, he has continued to deny the act and insist it must have been someone else.
But at the end of his address Shatner made another confession.
He said he’s only ever told two big lies in his life: that he’s good at math, and that someone else must have burned down the principal’s car.
Thursday’s convocation was a homecoming to the recent winner of a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement and he waxed nostalgic not only about his time at McGill but in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood.
During a news conference, he said it was in NDG that his love of horses was kindled when he cleaned the stalls of a local stable. Down the street, his mother enrolled him in drama courses given by “two very weird ladies” that fostered his childhood dreams of being a performer.
And almost every day, Shatner, who described himself as “being very lonely” in school, had to fight his way through a gauntlet of neighbourhood toughs to get home.
“What with horses and drama and the struggle to stay alive and playing football for the high school team, I formed a great deal of my character in NDG,” he said at the relaxed news conference where he kibbitzed easily with reporters.
During the news conference, the Emmy Winner for “Boston Legal” praised Canada as “the greatest country of all in every aspect.”
He also waded into public policy, saying government grants alone can’t support the arts. He said people have to buy tickets to shows.
The space-action hero admitted he’d be too nervous to be a real-life commercial space tourist.
And, finally, he said he can’t fathom retirement.
“I’m doing the greatest thing in the world,” said the fit-looking Shatner, who credits his youthfulness to exercise, eating right and living well although “it all really hinges on the DNA.”
He did allow he might one change one thing after his trip to McGill on Thursday.
“I’m going to insist that everyone call me doctor,” he joked, saying he would take his newfound status for a walk around Montreal.
“I’ve been back several times but with a doctorate, there’s a glisten to it that it didn’t have before.”
Shatner has received other honours from his alma mater: his name now adorns the McGill Student Union building.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly referred to Shatner winning an Oscar
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.