William Shatner Starred In One Of The Best Episodes Of Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Pretty much every "Star Trek" fan knows that William Shatner starred in one of the best episodes of "The Twilight Zone" before he starred as Captain Kirk. Fewer know that Shatner also starred in one of the best episodes of a different horror anthology series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." Shatner appeared in a Season 3 episode of the Master of Suspense's CBS show, which featured a new crime or horror thriller each week. In "The Glass Eye," which aired on Oct 6, 1957, Shatner acts as something of a narrator, playing a man recounting the sad, unusual tale of his late cousin in the episode's framing device.

Shatner explains how cousin Julia — played by Jessica Tandy, who would later appear in Hitchcock's movie "The Birds" – was a terribly lonely woman until she developed a crush on a handsome ventriloquist who performed with a dummy. Upon finally getting a chance to meet the ventriloquist, however, she discovers the horrifying truth: The handsome man is really the dummy and what she thought was a doll was the real performer, a small man who wore a mask on stage. Julia flees in a panic, taking with her a glass eye that fell from the dummy's head as a grotesque memento. Shatner narrating the whole episode really adds to the atmosphere, and never feels distracting. 

"The Glass Eye" is considered one of the best episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," placing high on fan rankings. It also won awards. Robert Stevens, who would later direct the pilot episode of "The Twilight Zone," received an Emmy for Best Direction.

William Shatner was not the only member of the Starship Enterprise crew to appear on the "Rear Window" director's anthology series. Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov on "Star Trek," starred in a 1963 episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," which was what "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was renamed when the runtime doubled. "It was a good episode — it had nothing to do with 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,'" Koenig reflected in an interview with The Television Academy, noting that the subject matter wasn't the show's typical fare. "It was about juvenile delinquents."

The episode, "Memo from Purgatory," was an adaptation of writer Harlan Ellison's account of his time joining a Brooklyn street gang. Koenig, who said he played a lot of juvenile delinquents at the time, was the antagonist to his co-star James Caan's hero. In the interview, Koenig recalls a sequence where he slapped Caan's character in the face, but the ring he was wearing cut open Caan's lip. Koenig instantly felt awful, but he recalls Caan giving him a sign to keep going with the take. "He loved it. He loved the idea of the blood coming down his face."

Ricardo Montalban, who played the iconic villain Khan in an episode of "TOS" and the movie "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," also appeared in a 1960 episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."