Law in Popular Culture
TV’s Best Character: Denny Crane, Flawed Sr. Partner on ‘Boston Legal’
Posted Jul 30, 2008, 09:28 am CST
By Martha Neil
How did a less-than-admirable, arguably over-the-hill lawyer come to be one of television's most best-beloved characters? Actor William Shatner, 77, who plays the "skirt-chasing, politically incorrect, stogie-puffing tough but tender" senior partner on Boston Legal, says the Denny Crane role was written specifically for him.
Crane is the most memorable character in a television show for decades, writes a Vancouver Sun columnist. Plus, the signature scene at the end of each show, in which Crane and another flawed attorney, would-be partner Alan Shore, played by James Spader, relax on Crane's grand balcony and candidly discuss life, is another screen classic.
Now entering its final season, the critically acclaimed show will be missed when it finishes its run, but has left its mark on the cultural landscape. Meanwhile, for those who want to know more, Shatner, once best-known for his long-running role as Captain Kirk on Star Trek, discusses his award-winning work as Denny Crane at length in a new autobiography, Up Till Now, and, as the newspaper says, "how it invigorated his rather eclectic, and sometimes ridiculed, career."