Profile Text
Shatner in 2010, photo by kathclick /Bigstock.com
Place of Birth: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Date of Birth: March 22, 1931
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
William Shatner is a Canadian actor, author, producer, director, screenwriter, space tourist, and singer. He is known for his role as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, and for the films The Intruder (1962), Big Bad Mama (1974), and The Wild (2006). He is the oldest person to go into space.
His father, Joseph M. “Joe” Shatner, was born in Bukovina, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, of Ukrainian Jewish and Austrian Jewish descent. His mother, Ann (Garmaise), was born in Montréal, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry. William was raised in a fairly religious, family, in Conservative Judaism.
William has three daughters with his former wife Gloria Rabinowitz/Rand, including actress Melanie Shatner; Melanie is married to actor Joel Gretsch . It appears that William is a fourth cousin of musician, singer, songwriter, and poet Leonard Cohen , and actor Stephen Lack , both through their shared Garmaise lines.
William’s paternal grandfather was named Volf/Wolf Schattner/Shattner (the son of Avraham Yehuda/Yehudah Schattner/Shattner). Volf was a Jewish emigrant, from Kuty, Stryi Raion, Lvivska, Ukraine.
William’s paternal grandmother was Fruma/Frima Freyda Lecker (the daughter of Peysach/Pesach Lecker and Esteyr/Esther Gittle). Fruma was a Jewish emigrant, from Bukovina, which was, at the time of Fruma’s birth, c. 1859, an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary. Peysach was the son of Meier-Yitzchak/Yitzak Lecker and Shayna Rivka.
William’s maternal grandfather was Yaakov/Jacob J. Garmaise (the son of Avraham/Abraham Aharon/Aaron Garmaise and Esteyr/Esther/Ester Rachel Cohen/Barsdorfsky). Yaakov was a Jewish emigrant from Vilkaviškis, in Lithuania. Avraham was the son of Mordechai/Mordecai Garmeyze/Garmaise. Esteyr may have been from Romania.
William’s maternal grandmother was named Yetta Kahn (the daughter of Samuel Kahn). Yetta was a Jewish emigrant from Vilkaviškis, in Lithuania.
Shatner in 2006, photo credit: zaphodsotherhead
Sources: Genealogies of William Shatner – https://www.geni.com http://www.wikitree.com https://www.findagrave.com
William’s maternal grandfather, Yaakov/Jacob J. Garmaise, on the 1901 Canadian Census – https://familysearch.org