Early Life and Education
Shatner was born on March 22, 1931, in the Côte Saint-Luc neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Anne (née Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. He has two sisters, Joy and Farla. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, anglicized the family name to "Shatner". All of Shatner's grandparents were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine), and Shatner was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended three schools in Montreal: Willingdon Elementary School in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), Baron Byng High School, and West Hill High School in NDG, and is an alumnus of the Montreal Children's Theatre. Shatner also studied economics at McGill University in Montreal, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. In June 2011, McGill awarded him an honourary doctorate of letters. The Students' Society of McGill University building on McTavish Street is popularly (though not officially) named "Shatner".
Shatner has said that he faced anti-semitism while growing up in Montreal.
Read more about this topic: William Shatner
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or education:
“The conviction that the best way to prepare children for a harsh, rapidly changing world is to introduce formal instruction at an early age is wrong. There is simply no evidence to support it, and considerable evidence against it. Starting children early academically has not worked in the past and is not working now.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“If it were possible to have a life absolutely free from every feeling of sin, what a terrifying vacuum it would be!”
—Cesare Pavese (19081950)
“The study of tools as well as of books should have a place in the public schools. Tools, machinery, and the implements of the farm should be made familiar to every boy, and suitable industrial education should be furnished for every girl.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (18221893)