William Shatner Is Going To Space But His Journey Began In A Montreal Neighbourhood
William Shatner is set to launch into space on Wednesday and, this time, it's not the set of Star Trek — it's real life. But did you know Shatner's journey from infancy to outer space actually started in Montreal?
Shatner, who — at 90 — is expected to become the oldest person to ever reach space, was raised in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood.
\u201cWe are just at the beginning, but how miraculous the beginning is.\u201d @WilliamShatner is ready to go to space. #NS18pic.twitter.com/u3MnOAbWtW— Blue Origin (@Blue Origin) 1634046747
He attended Willingdon Elementary School and West Hill High School, both of which are also in NDG. However West Hill became Royal Vale in the early '90s, the Montreal Gazette reported.
Shatner went on to get a bachelor of commerce at McGill University, and later an honorary doctorate, as well as a building named after him.
In an interview with Professionally Speaking, the Ontario College of Teachers' magazine, Shatner is quoted as saying, "The Montreal Children's Theatre probably had a bigger influence on my life than any educational facility, other than McGill University."
"I wrote, directed and acted in McGill's Red and White Review three out of my four years at university. That was my education really," Shatner is quoted as saying in the Professionally Speaking article.
After finishing his undergrad at McGill, Shatner became a business manager for a Montreal theatre company called Mountain Playhouse before joining the Canadian National Repertory Theatre in Ottawa, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.
From there, Shatner started acting at Stratford Festival, then on Broadway, and then on television where he gained notoriety as Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk.
From the streets of NDG to countless TV screens to Canada's Walk Of Fame, Shatner carries a piece of Montreal with him. And, on October 13 at 10 a.m., that little piece of Montreal is set to be "beamed up" into outer space.
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