William Shatner is best known for his role as the Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek. Starring in the original series with Leonard Nimoy, Shatner became a pop culture icon for his performance as the charismatic and casanova captain. He went on to reprise the role in six more films and is forever associated with Star Trek.
However, his first Emmy nomination came not for the sci-fi series he is best known for. He received his first nomination for his guest role in John Lithgow’s sci-fi comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun where he played the human form of the alien named Big Giant Head. Despite its legacy, Shatner revealed that he regretted the role to this day.
William Shatner regretted playing his legendary role in a sci-fi series that was not Star Trek
William Shatner was the epitome of leadership when he played Captain Kirk in Star Trek. The actor has since been irreplaceable in pop culture history and stands at the top in a legacy of Starfleet captains in the franchise, bested probably only by his successor Patrick Stewart in The Next Generation.
However, Shatner also went on to play more iconic roles on TV. He played the eponymous cop in T.J. Hooker and had a leading role in Boston Legal and The Practice. Despite his long line of work, his first Emmy nomination came for not a lead part but for a guest role in the sci-fi comedy starring John Lithgow, 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Playing the King of the Universe got Shatner an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. However, the actor reportedly was not too fond of the role. He told the Archive of American Television,
I don’t know why they thought of me as the great giant head…I don’t know why they got me involved and I’ve regretted it to this day.
However, the actor seemed to have a great deal of respect for his co-star John Lithgow and called him one of the greatest ‘Farcers’ of the time, despite having great chops for dramatic acting as well.
John Lithgow and William Shatner pranked everyone on the sets of 3rd Rock from the Sun
While William Shatner expressed his regret at playing the role of the Big Giant Head on 3rd Rock from the Sun, the actor reportedly did have a lot of fun on the sets of the show. John Lithgow, who was the lead actor in the series, was reportedly a huge prankster on set, and even pranked co-stars like Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The first time Shatner was supposed to show up on set was reportedly April 1st and Lithgow planned a prank where the two pretended like they did not get along and scared the entire production crew. Lithgow recounted the day on The Kelly Clarkson Show,
At the big network run-through where we presented the show that we were going to do in front of a live audience, it exploded into this huge fight between Shatner and me…’This is not Star Trek! This is Third Rock’…[We went] off to our dressing rooms [saying] ‘I’m not coming back until that man apologizes’…You should have seen the NBC executives…Then of course we came out with an April Fool’s cake.
Lithgow then joked that it was the best acting Shatner had ever done in his life.
3rd Rock from the Sun is available to stream on Hoopla.
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