Only last month, George Takei vowed to never again talk about his feud with fellow Star Trek icon William Shatner – but it seems he doesn’t need much encouragement to boldly go back to it.
George, who was Hikaru Sulu in the sci-fi series, hasn’t been on speaking terms with the Captain Kirk actor since they fell out on its set in the 1960s.
And it only takes a mention of 91-year-old Shatner’s trip into space last October for him to bristle.
“Well, he wasn’t really in outer space and it wasn’t for very long” says George, 85, of Shatner’s flight with Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin.
“I’ve also been in zero gravity but I did it for longer. I took a parabolic flight and experienced five minutes of weightlessness, whereas William only experienced three minutes. So I’ve spent more time in zero gravity than him.”
As he’s brought it up, I ask what’s behind the decades of animosity.
“Oh, there’s no animosity,” insists George – but then goes on: “In Star Trek I was blessed by wonderful and lifelong friends, and we all enjoyed each other’s company… except for the prima donna.
“Let’s just say he’s not the easiest guy to work with and I wouldn’t leap at another opportunity. That’s a universal feeling, although the others have a better sense of restraint and discretion. I believe in being honest and forthright.”
Their falling-out became public in 2008, when George married Brad Altman – inviting all his co-stars except Shatner.
So would he ever meet up with him and try to work things out?
“We meet up all the time,” says George. “We do Star Trek conventions. We cross paths and I say, ‘Hi Bill’ and he says, ‘Hi George’, and we keep on walking.”
When he’s not squabbling over who spent a minute longer without gravity, George is one of America’s most vocal political activists, especially in the fight for LGBTQ and immigration rights.
Since the 70s, he’s been involved in grassroots politics in LA and was a critic of then-President Donald Trump ’s decision to ban Muslims from entering the US and migrant detention policies.
Most of his passion comes from his childhood, when his family were among 120,000 Japanese-Americans put in internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Habor in 1942. Most, including George’s family, had everything taken from them and after the war were given just a train ticket to anywhere in the US and $25 to start over again.
In 2019, George published They Called Us Enemy, a book recounting his experiences as a five-year-old after his family were taken from their Sacramento home to a camp in the Arkansas desert.
And he has now brought his Broadway musical about it, called Allegiance, to London’s West End. He says: “To tell that story has been my mission. I went through that experience as a totally innocent child. For my parents it was a horrific, anxiety-filled experience but I had fun because I didn’t know any better.
“As a teen I was curious, so I started asking my father questions and he began to tell me about all the horrors. The nation had been swept up in this racist perception of American citizens of Japanese ancestry – but they were Americans and had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor. My parents were born in the US, we were neither enemy nor alien.”
George’s father Norman, who ran a dry cleaning business, was elected manager at one of the camp’s blocks.
George says: “He told me how people were unjustly put in a concrete jail cell and brutalised, and he had to convince guards they were innocent.”
But he said his family never lost hope – or faith in their country.
“My father realised there were people who were depressed, defeated. He told them we had to survive and make life meaningful. So he negotiated with the administration and got a record player. After dinner, the teenagers all had their dances. My father had been in the San Francisco baseball team, so he built a baseball diamond. He knew it would give people joy and exercise.
“When I would tell Japanese-American friends I was writing a musical of the internment they would say, ‘A musical?’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, don’t you remember the dances, the baseball?’ The music and the laughter, that was how we survived.”
The production of Allegiance, at Charing Cross Theatre until April, means he and Brad, 68, have been living in a Central London hotel since November – not that self-confessed Anglophile George minds.
The actor, who came third in I’m a Celebrity in 2008, says: “My father loved Britain. I was born three weeks before the coronation of George V and that’s how I got my name. I’m not so much a chip off the old block as a huge chunk, I love all things British.
"I’m often telling Londoners about their heritage. One was Joe Swash, who I did I’m a Celebrity with. He’s a Londoner, a Cockney to boot, but I had to tell him where the best rest-aurants were here.”
George studied architecture before starting out in Hollywood by dubbing Japanese films into English.
He got parts alongside stars like Frank Sinatra, Richard Burton and Cary Grant before joining Star Trek.
After the cult show hit the big screen he found himself in great demand. And now aged 85 and doing eight London shows a week, George shows no signs of slowing down. When I ask his secret, he flashes me the Vulcan salute.
“On Star Trek we have this greeting, which means ‘Live long and prosper’, and I’ve been blessed with longevity and prosperity.
“Have a mission in life, something you want to do, have good health habits, exercise, eat well, don’t smoke and enjoy alcohol as a special treat. My grandmother lived to 104, she said her hobby was collecting birthdays. Do I intend to beat her? Oh, yes. I’m a very competitive guy.”
Allegiance is on at Charing Cross Theatre, visit allegiancemusical.com
