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William Shatner wrote an early TV episode for himself but lost the role to Bob Newhart… who also lost the role
'Checkmate' ended up being a losing game for two rising stars.
In 1961, William Shatner was a common sight on television but hardly a star. The stage-trained actor had largely appeared in dramatic anthology series such as The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Studio One in Hollywood, Kraft Theatre and Playhouse 90 — shows that could essentially be seen as theater shot on camera.
So, to give himself a leg up, the Canadian wrote his own screen story. He could give himself the lead role. Shatner whipped up a yarn for the show Checkmate, a stylish detective series starring Sebastian Cabot, who is now best known as the dapper "gentleman's gentleman" from Family Affair.
Shatner's titled his tale "The Button Down Break." The plot centered around a cocky, creepy killer named Luther Gage, who vows revenge on Cabot's character after being sent to prison. It was a meaty role for a young actor. Shatner intended for himself. Unfortunately, Hollywood does not always work that way.
"You'll get a kick out of this," Shatner told newspaper columnist Hal Humphrey in July 1961. "I just sold a script to the CBS Checkmate series and naturally I figured I would play the lead guest part. Then comes word from the sponsor that they want a bigger name."
Drat! This is where it gets interesting.
The "bigger name" is now a legend, though, at the time, the pick made Shatner scratch his head.
"They're trying to get Bob Newhart, the comic," Shatner confessed in disbelief. "But I understand he's never done any acting."
That was true! Newhart had never done acting, certainly not a drama about a killer. But Newhart was a hot name at the time. A few month early, the funnyman had won the Grammy Award for Best Album for his stand-up album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. He also took home the trophy for Best New Artist at that 3rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The guy behind The Button-Down Mind must have seemed like an obvious choice for "The Button Down Break." At least, it was probably something as simple and stupid as that.
But here's the thing — Newhart lost the role, too!
Who did play the killer? Well, if you paid attention to the photo up top, you know the answer. It was Tony Randall!
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SC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVlcVa3MEIw
WS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o74J6JcDr9U
EN-joy.
For that Twilight Zone episode, Sebastian Cabot had to have his hair and beard bleached blonde, for black-and-white film.
Cabot didn't care for the experience; when filming was over, he had to allow about three months for his real hair color to grow out - and he couldn't work for all that time.
Fast-forward to the '70s: Cabot was offered the Kris Kringle part in a TV remake of Miracle on 34th Street - which he nearly turned down because he didn't want to bleach again.
The makeup people came up with a way of removing Cabot's beard and putting backing on it to keep it intact, so he could keep working while the real thing grew back.
One of the tabloids caught a picture of a beardless Cabot; I wonder what became of that photo ...
(That's not the picture you've got here; that came from a period when Orson Welles used in in a movie, and insisted that he shave. After that was over, Cabot went to work on a Western clean-shaven: as he told the story later, the director saw him on set and yelled: "Who the hell's this guy? I thought we had Sabby Cabot for this part!")
