williamshatnerNARRATOR: Two men...
passionate actors,
closest of friends
born just four days apart,
they share more than just being
of the same generation,
but a legacy
that helped to define
many generations
Now they can finally look back
with the only other person
of the planet
who can truly identify
with their amazing journey
To boldly go: Where neither man
has gone before,
and along the way,
reveal the secrets
behind the voyage
of a lifetime.
SHATNER:
This is a beautiful setting...
NIMO Y: Thank you.
...reflecting the beauty
that is in you and your wife.
Mostly your wife.
Ha ha ha.
Give a little, take a little.
Ha ha ha.
Give a compliment, take it away.
Never be totally generous.
Did you know I used to drive
a taxi in this neighborhood?
- No.
- I did.
Come on.
We are in one of
the better sections,
perhaps the best, but who's
counting, of Los Angeles,
and you drove a cab up here,
ferrying the movie stars
to their homes?
196.
There were no movie stars
over here.
Ten years before you and I met.
It was all oil money.
And I was just out of the Army.
And while I was in the Army,
I got married,
and my daughter Julie was born
in Atlanta, Georgia,
at the Army post hospital.
And my wife was expecting
our second baby.
I came out of the Army
with no money,
and very little in the way
of any career expectations,
and I had to pay rent.
So the first thing I did
was take a job
driving a taxi... nights.
That's wild.
Did you make any money?
I went a long time
before I could actually
make a living as an actor.
I mean, from the time
I decided to be an actor
when I was about 17,
to the time that we met
and started to do Star Trek,
when I was about 3...
about 18 years there...
about 1 years of it
actually here in Los Angeles
looking for work as an actor.
SHATNER: Unbelievable.
I never had a job
that lasted any longer
than two weeks as an actor.
What would you have made
in those two weeks?
Or what did those 1 years
average out as an actor?
Very little. Very little.
The money was very small.
But living expenses
were not that high, either,
and I always worked
at something else.
I would always take
some kind of a job...
working at a market
or driving a taxi
or delivering newspapers
or working at a pet shop...
So give me an idea
of how much money
you made in a year.
- As an actor?
- Yes.
A couple thousand dollars.
Four thousand... five thousand.
SHATNER: It was a big year...
Ten was my goal.
I thought if make ten,
I could support a family.
And in those years,
ten thousand would have
supported a family.
Tell me about your early years.
We never talked about that.
Well, I had exactly
the opposite experience.
I started...
You made great fortunes
instantly.
Uh, piddling amounts...
constantly.
But I always made money.
How come you had
an easier time than I did?
I don't know.
It's an interesting question.
The flip answer is obvious,
but...
rather than go there, it is...
Are you better looking
than I am?
No. I...
Are you more talented than me?
No. See, I brought my glasses
to show you
that I don't really need them.
Ha ha ha.
It is, in fact, luck.
I had a number of years
of what's known
as "building character."
Character-building years.
Do you think that made you
bitter at all?
No, no, on the contrary.
I'm very grateful.
I was bitter at them, yes.
I was very unhappy, very angry.
Angry?
Now who were you angry at?
It was a very general
kind of anger.
In those years,
the studios had...
I'm sure you recall...
a certain kind of structure
for actors they would
put under contract,
and use them in movies
and move them along, hopefully,
from smaller roles to bigger
and bigger and bigger roles
and then maybe to stardom.
My problem was that the people
they were hiring
were blond,
charming-looking guys,
blue-eyed,
handsome young guys, like you.
So I became angry at you.
Ha ha ha ha.
That's the answer!