William Shatner

Even forty years later, William Shatner is known as Captain Kirk, the heroic starship leader on the 1960s TV series Star Trek. The show (created by Gene Roddenberry) ran from 1966 until 1969 and spawned a franchise of TV shows, movies, comics and merchandise. Shatner played Kirk in a series of Star Trek movies: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979); Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982); Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984); Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986); Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989); Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991); and Star Trek: Generations (1994). Critics sneered, but Shatner proved his popularity as a cop in the series T.J. Hooker (1982-87), as the host of the reality TV show Rescue 911 (1989) and, since the late 1990s, as that guy in those Priceline.com ads. In the TV series The Practice (2004-06) Shatner appeared as slick lawyer Denny Crane, a role he had even more success with in the spin-off series Boston Legal (with James Spader). Shatner is also the author of the TekWar series of science fiction novels.

Extra credit: Shatner married his fourth wife, Indiana native Elizabeth Martin, on February 13, 2001... Shatner's third wife, Nerine Kidd, drowned in a swimming pool accident in August of 1999... In January of 2006 Shatner sold one of his kidney stones for $25,000 and donated the proceeds to charity.