William Shatner reflects on legacy and ‘not having long to live’

William Shatner recently weighed in on his decision to release a documentary about his life, titled, You Can Call Me Bill.

“I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before. But I don’t have long to live,” Shatner admitted, in an interview with Fox Digital.

“Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor. I’ve got grandchildren. This documentary is a way of reaching out after I die.”

The upcoming doc, You Can Call Me Bill, offers some insights into the star’s nine decades in film.

During the course of the chat he also addressed the lessons he’d learned since its release, and claimed, “I’m trying to discover something I’ve never said before or to find a way to say something I’ve said before in a different way so I can explore that truth further.”

“The sad thing is that the older a person gets the wiser they become and then they die with all that knowledge.”

“When Leonard Nimoy died a few years ago, his funeral was on a Sunday. His death was very sudden, and I had obligated myself to go to Mar-a-Lago for a Red Cross fundraiser. I was one of the celebrities raising money . . . I chose to keep my promise and go to Mar-a-Lago instead of the funeral.”

The main reason for this is because, “People ask about a legacy. There’s no legacy. Statues are torn down. Graveyards are ransacked. Headstones are knocked over. No one remembers anyone. Who remembers Danny Kaye or Cary Grant? They were great stars. But they’re gone and no one cares. But what does live on, are good deeds. If you do a good deed, it reverberates to the end of time. It’s the butterfly effect thing."