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Claude Kirk could be hysterically funny and fearlessly bold, and he championed the environment, education, and diversity long before those issues were fashionable.

My model for Kirk was Horatio Hornblower from the C.S. Forester sea stories. Shatner was open-minded about science fiction and a marvelous choice.

I did my very first film with Kirk in Detective Story when he was the greatest, greatest star in the world. I fell in love with him, had a crush on him then.

And I enjoyed the celebrity and the creativity that was involved in Star Trek.

Truly charismatic people, in my experience, don't come along very often.

All in all, Kirk's character is something I am very proud of.

I always loved Sid Caesar and all the people on his program.

We had some very distinguished fans: I know one chancellor of a major university who used to schedule his meetings around Star Trek. We were thrilled to discover that Frank Sinatra was a big fan.

Obviously, the person who had most influence on my career was Ken Thompson.

Martin Lawrence is one of my comedic heroes, and he's a genius.