William Shatner's Powerful Turn on How the West Was Won

After his defining work as Captain Kirk, William Shatner shifted from the far future to the recent past in the three-season television drama How the West Was Won. This is not the theatrical film; it’s the ABC series led by James Arness, and Shatner appears in the second season, first at the end of the episode "Orville Gant" as Captain Robert Harrison and then more fully in the following episode, "Amnesty." In "Amnesty," Arness’s Zeb Macahan saves Beth Harrison, played by Vera Miles, and follows her to a secluded mountain cabin where he meets the blind Union captain.

Harrison had been presumed dead after a Native American massacre but survived blinded from a battle with the warriors who had kidnapped Beth. The captain has drifted into a suicidal despair, while Beth has remained faithful for the twenty years since. Shatner’s performance in the episode draws attention for its intensity.

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