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Earliest Career and First Acting Roles
Nicholas Meyer’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, a science fiction movie and a breakthrough moment for Kirstie Alley acting career as it marked her first major role. Until this time, Alley had been just another face in the crowd of show business, she starred in the sci-fi sitcom “Quark” and appeared on some game shows like the “Match Game”. However, at that time, she did not think about acting as her life pursuit, but instead, she thought of it more as something done for fun or extra income rather than a serious career. It was only after auditioning for Star trek II that she made up her mind to take acting more serious and concentrate on nothing else.
Tragedy While Auditioning
In tragic circumstances, Kirstie Alley went through an audition process in order to get into “Star Trek II”. One day during auditions, Kirstie lost someone very close to her. A car accident had killed Kirstie Alley’s mother while leaving his father with severe injuries. This led the then young actress to suspend all other engagements in order to stay by her dying dad’s bedside. Paramount Pictures gave an unprecedented permission allowing her enough time off work so as to be around her loved ones during this hard period in life. She spent several hours each day beside him while he was still unconscious hoping that he would return back into reality. One morning before leaving home for work, He called his daughter from hospital bed one night just to say how proud he is of what she is doing.
Securing the Role of Saavik
Despite the emotional distress she went through; Kirstie Alley would still go on with auditions without thinking twice about it . She eventually got selected for playing Saavik, a character who is both Vulcan and Romulan half breeded . Saavik serves as the helm officer on the USS Enterprise and is a protégé of Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, this was a turning point for Alley in her career and she could not contain herself. It was both her break into serious acting as well as a step into establishing herself within the Sci-fi field. Saavik is a complex character who must be portrayed as both a Vulcan with Romulan-like passions, which showed that Alley had great potential in this role if given another opportunity to play other characters too.
However when the time came for Kirstie Alley to report to the set, she was suddenly confronted with the reality of her inexperience. Surrounded by professionals like Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner, who had decades of acting experience, Alley quickly realized that she was just an amateur. That’s because Nimoy and Shatner always knew their lines and hit their marks, which stood as a constant contrast to what Alley did. She didn’t always have her lines down and frequently missed her marks, which made her feel out of place and unprofessional. Alley candidly admitted in an interview with StarTrek.com in 2016 how unprofessional she was during the shooting of “Star Trek II,” feeling ashamed about not being prepared or having such experience as her other actors had.
The Reality of Inexperience
Kirstie Alley embarrassment on the set of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” didn’t mean she disliked being there, but rather, she loved it so much just as meeting all these other fellow actors whom they used to act alongside William Shatner whose comic character was larger than life itself. Nonetheless, working with such experienced actors demonstrated how unprepared she was for professional performing. It did not matter that a novice like her enjoyed working with iconic players on this stage. She learned a lot from William Shatner’s energetic personality while acting together. As one writer reflects: “Well I loved it; Bill is quite a mixed bag though he is funny at times; I think he thought one time ‘why did they hire this girl who has never done anything?’”
Alley acknowledged that one thing she found particularly difficult was learning lines since rehearsal work is important in acting professionally. This meant that any experienced actor would easily see through her lack of knowledge about acting hence making fun at her expense. She disclosed: “I wasn’t so good at my lines, I will tell you. The repercussion for me never having acted before was that I wasn’t the world’s best at learning lines. And I was sort of irresponsible.”
Celebrating too much
Some of Alley’s lack of preparedness has to do with her tendency to party every night. She was exhilarated about getting a part in a big movie and would go out and drink the night away, affecting her performance the next day. In an interview, she admitted: “I mean if you want to know the honest truth, I would go out every night and celebrate that I got a job in a movie. So I would stay out too late, and then I would come in, let’s call it ‘unprepared.’
That might be a polite way to say it.” Alley’s nightly merriment is understandable; nevertheless, landing a role in “Star Trek” marked an important milestone in her career that should have been treated cautiously instead of indulging herself daily all through that period while playing such an extensive character. Saavik had more than just bit parts but featured prominently in the film with numerous scenes.
Alley’s time on Star Trek II proved to be an important lesson in professionalism. She came to understand that her party habits were not consistent with the requirements of a serious acting calling. In this regard, she learnt it the hard way when it was about time to abandon merry celebrations and start concentrating upon the role she was given. It was a moment of truth for Alley, because through it, she realized how much she had been missing out on due to lack of preparation and dedication as an actress.
Influence of the “Star Trek” Cast
Kirstie Alley can be counted as one lucky girl when it comes to her experiences with Star Trek II: “The Wrath of Khan” for she worked with a number of pros who had been in that field. From the onset, Kirstie knew that she was not going to be alone on the set since there were people like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy who had been playing Captain Kirk and Spock respectively since 1960’s; this is something which inspired her because they got their job right. While reflecting on his experience, she said: “…They were just all so professional. They know what they are doing. I mean Bill … he’s Captain Kirk for God’s sake. And Leonard was Spock so they knew exactly what they were doing.” Everybody was professional probably except me.”
Alley found herself ill at ease in her new position but managed to put up a fantastic performance as Saavik. However, when “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” came out in 1984, Alley was no longer playing Saavik—this role went to Robin Curtis instead. This change resulted from some sort of contract dispute. Even though she did have an opportunity to again play this part, Alley rejected the offer after Paramount offered her less money than she received for ‘Star Trek II,’ despite the fact that Saavik played a more significant role in it than before in its sequel. Unsatisfied by the terms agreed upon, Kirstie decided to leave.
Career Breakthrough and Major Roles
Acting career blossomed after leaving star trek franchisee between 1983-1984 where Kirstie appeared in many films such as “Champions,” “Blind Date,” and Runaways among others (New York Times). She also starred in Masquerade TV series which was short lived and North and South miniseries. She achieved her greatest triumph in 1987 as the Cheers television show landed her a big part. This was followed by Look Who’s Talking, a comedy that Amy Heckerling directed and became extremely successful in 1989. Her works with famous directors like Carl Reiner, John Carpenter and Woody Allen also helped to solidify her standing in Hollywood. Furthermore, she launched her own popular TV series (Veronica Closet) which showcased her versatility and skill in the entertainment business.
Kirstie Alley had an extraordinary career punctuated by excellent performances and successful projects. She kept on wowing fans with her acting prowess and beauty until she died at age 71 in 2022, leaving behind a repertoire of varied roles.
