The 91-year-old actor William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the television series Star Trek, spoke candidly about his life and mortality, suggesting he doesn’t “have long to live.”
“I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before. But I don’t have long to live,” Shatner said in an interview with Variety in advance of his new documentary You Can Call Me Bill.
CAPTAIN’S LOG: WILLIAM SHATNER EXPERIENCED ‘STRONGEST FEELINGS OF GRIEF’ FROM SPACE TRIP
The new documentary to be released on March 16 reflects on his nine decades of life and acting career.
The two-time Emmy-winner dismissed the idea of having “a legacy” because “no one remembers anyone.”
“People ask about a legacy. There’s no legacy. Statues are torn down. Graveyards are ransacked. Headstones are knocked over. No one remembers anyone. Who remembers Danny Kaye or Cary Grant? They were great stars. But they’re gone and no one cares. But what does live on, are good deeds,” he said.
Shatner hopes his new documentary will be way for fans and particularly his grandchildren to remember him after he’s passed.
“Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor. I’ve got grandchildren. This documentary is a way of reaching out after I die.”
The actor reflected on how there is a “sad thing” that happens after a lifetime of “feeding” his mind of interesting ideas and books.
“The sad thing is that the older a person gets the wiser they become and then they die with all that knowledge. And it’s gone. It’s not like I’m going to take my ideas or my clothing with me,” he said.
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He added, “What am I going to do with all these thoughts? What am I going to do with 90 years of observations? The moths of extinction will eat my brain as they will my clothing and it will all disappear.”
In addition to his upcoming documentary, Shatner published a book Boldly Go: Reflections on a life of Awe and Wonder last year. He shared his experience as the oldest person to travel into space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard vehicle in October 2021 and reflected on how emotional it made him to see Earth from that view in space.
