Shatner wrote a couple of books about his experiences on the original Start Trek tv series and the movie franchise. I have them both. He and Leonard Nimoy had a fascinating contractual link. They had their contracts written in such a way so that neither could gain anything financially from their star status on the series unless the other was granted the exact same benefits. So if Spock's star was rising, Kirk got pulled along and vice versa. Very smart.
Shatner was aware that although it was an ensemble cast, he and Nimoy were the "stars" and they were pretty aggressive in making certain they got the lion's share of screen time. This caused a lot of ill will among the other cast members, who wisely kept their mouths shut to keep their jobs. After the series was cancelled, all the others came out with caustic remarks. Jimmy Doohan (the late "Scotty") said the same crap as Takei. Still it seems like sour grapes and jealousy to me. What has any of them done? The exception was the late Deforrest Kelly who was a champion of the "B" Western from the 60's. I almost remember him as much for those as for Star Trek.
Takei was always more than a screaming liberal. In fact he's an American hating communist. I think he wrote a book that was more autobiographical than expository on Star Trek. He was always ranting about how evil this country was and how he suffered in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. You know, come to think of it, when I was an army officer stationed at Fort Lewis Washington, I used to party quite a bit in Seattle. One night I was riding an elevator to the top of the famed Space Needle for dinner and a drink with some of my buddies, and I noticed that the other passengers in the elevator were George Takei and Walter Koenig (Chekov). I remember recognizing them because they were wearing polo shirts with the Starfleet logo. Both of them seemed to be quite a bit shorter in person than they seemed on TV. I thought not much about it and didn't ask for an autograph or anything, which I think was a relief to them. This was in 1983 and Sulu was still in the closet about his sexuality. They were alone, just the two of them. Hmmmmmmm. I wonder.....
I was stationed at Ft. Lewis from 1980-1982, C Company, 9th Med Bat. You?
It was a TV series, with perhaps 40ish minutes to tell a story. It made good sense to keep the series focused on a few individuals. Kelly, I think, understood that - or maybe he just figured it was a good paycheck.
The others - the complainers - are the ones who have nothing on their resume except Star Trek. And they complain they didn’t have bigger parts? Maybe that was because they weren’t up to CARRYING those roles.
Shatner has a big ego. He also has a pretty good work history. They used to say that if you could back it up, you weren’t boasting.
Where on earth did you find out about the contractual agreement? Whatever, I agree with you. That was a very smart move by them and/or their agents at that time. Probably paid off big time. Kelley seemed not to be bitter about his status after the series went off the air. He was more realistic about the actual chances of his career taking off. So many of these actors end up like the rest of us out here making a living and not being on T.V. making gazillions of $$ when we do it.
I wouldn't call The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral a "B" Western, what with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster and all.