Shatner just plays lawyer — he doesn't even like them

LOS ANGELES — William Shatner isn't a lawyer, he just plays one on TV. Which doesn't mean he necessarily thinks a whole lot of lawyers. Even though his daughter is one.

Shatner stars as Denny Crane, the offbeat senior partner in "Boston Legal" — a character introduced last season on "The Practice."

He said that when his daughter graduated from college, she didn't know what to do next. So he suggested law school. She went, graduated, passed the bar exam "and never practiced a day."

"I was very upset by the fact that all of this time and money had gone into her education and she as a lawyer and she never practiced," he said. "And she said something along the line about not admiring the legal field. And . . . only after many experiences with lawyers do I realize the intelligence with which she spoke."

So . . . you really like the legal profession, huh?

"I don't think you want to have a principled lawyer on your side if you're in a tough case. So that is sort of a problem, isn't it?" Shatner said. "It's a conundrum. What do you do? If you want to think of the law as being something that is what mankind has invented and raises us above the animals and, on the other hand, it's down and dirty in the pit. And you want somebody who can slug it out."

So . . . maybe somebody like Denny Crane, the decidedly strange character Shatner plays on "Boston Legal"? A character series creator David E. Kelley "specifically wanted Bill to play," according to executive producer Bill D'Elia?

"He likened the role to the attorneys whose names we all know — the big attorneys in the public mind that have been brilliant in the courtroom who perhaps can say and do anything they feel like saying and doing now," D'Elia said.

So . . . if you needed a lawyer, would you want Denny Crane representing you?

"No, I wouldn't hire a lawyer that was like Denny Crane because he's too stupid," Shatner said, quickly reconsidering his words. "I should have said cunning. The character is cunning, not stupid."

Which doesn't really make sense, does it? It's understandable that he wouldn't want a lawyer who's stupid, but he wouldn't want one who's cunning?

Ah, well.

IT'S NOT A JOKE: Shatner, whose sort of speak-singing album from the 1960s has been widely mocked over the years, is about to release another album featuring him singing.

Really.

Titled "Has-Been," the album is scheduled to be released on Oct. 6. And Shatner insists he's serious.

Really.

Which is not to say that he's not a little worried.

"You take a position of when you do something for the public to say, 'This is really good' and then it comes out and people don't think it's really good. It's double trouble," Shatner said. "First of all, it's not good. And, secondly, you look like a fool because you thought it was good.

"But I think this record is good. And I think you'll be surprised and I hope you like it."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com