“He looked at me, and he said, ‘I was on the stage before you were born, son,’” the “Boston Legal” star tells EW.

William Shatner accidentally alienated Spencer Tracy while ‘trying to praise him’: ‘He never spoke to me again’

"He looked at me, and he said, 'I was on the stage before you were born, son,'" the "Boston Legal" star tells EW.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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February 22, 2026 12:30 p.m. ET

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William Shatner in Las Vegas on March 22, 2025; Spencer Tracy in 'Judgment at Nuremberg'. Credit:

Denise Truscello/Getty; Courtesy Everett

- William Shatner tells EW he "worshipped" Spencer Tracy before working with him on 1961's *Judgment at Nuremberg*.

- The *Star Trek* actor says that he complimented Tracy on a monologue scene by telling him, "You learned lines!"

- Shatner says that Tracy didn't appreciate the comment: "He never spoke to me again."

William Shatner complimented one of his heroes on the set of an Oscar-winning movie — and accidentally offended him so deeply that they never talked again.

The *Star Trek* actor worked alongside Spencer Tracy on the 1961 classic *Judgment at Nuremberg*, and tells ** that he completely fumbled his attempt to praise the legendary actor.

"I worshipped Spencer Tracy," Shatner says. "And he was very aloof."

In the film, Shatner portrayed Captain Harrison Byers, a young officer assigned as an assistant to Tracy's Chief Judge Dan Haywood as he presides over the Nuremberg Trials. The film features numerous long-winded monologues, including one delivered by Tracy that astounded Shatner on set.

Spencer Tracy and William Shatner in 'Judgment at Nuremberg'.

"One day, he did a speech, and he knew it completely," Shatner remembers. "And I was amazed that a movie actor would not do [multiple] takes or have it written out for him."

The *Boston Legal *star wanted to praise his hero for his performance after the scene was complete. "So I did approach him — I said, 'Mr. Tracy, I just want to express my admiration that you learned lines!'" he says.

Tracy didn't take kindly to Shatner's comment. "He looked at me, and he said, 'I was on the stage before you were born, son,'" he recalls. "And he left. He never spoke to me again."

Shatner laughs at the memory of his faux pas. "I alienated him by trying to praise him for memorizing his lines," he says. "Terrible. Foot in the mouth, again."

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Tracy received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his work in the film, but ultimately lost to his costar Maximilian Schell, who portrayed German defense attorney Hans Rolfe. The film's screenwriter, Abby Mann, also won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and director Stanley Kramer received the non-competitive Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the same ceremony.

Judy Garland also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as Irene Hoffmann in *Judgment at Nuremberg*. Shatner says that Garland was "very fragile" while filming her emotional scenes in the film — a quality that he recognized from seeing her perform on stage in New York City as a young man.

"I kept looking at her thinking, 'My God, she's my heroine. And I think she's drunk,'" he remembers of Garland's live performance. "I was a teenager. I thought, 'Why, she can't possibly be drunk on stage!' And, well, she was, and made no sense. And I was so disappointed."

William Shatner in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2024.

JC Olivera/Variety via Getty

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Shatner says he was extremely impressed with Garland when they shared the screen years later. "She was an enormous talent," Shatner says. "And when she came on to do her scene, I hadn't seen anything of her since that experience so many years ago. There she was, doing her fragile bit. And it was part of a continuity that I treasure."

The *Practice* star, who had only appeared in a handful of feature films at the time he shot *Judgment at Nuremberg*, still treasures the memories of working on the film, which also starred Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, and Montgomery Clift.

"It was a marvelous, astounding experience for a young actor," he says. "I was new to the movie game then, and here I was amongst all these giants who'd come in for a day or two and be filmed and leave. It was a journey. It was beautiful."

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