William Shatner, the actor best known for playing Captain James T. Kirk in "Star Trek," is getting a lot of attention these days. Earlier this year he won a second Emmy for his performance as Denny Crane in "Boston Legal," and in the last couple of weeks he was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall Of Fame. He also made a much publicised trip to hospital after developing a kidney stone. He recently told a television audience that it was an agonizing experience, according to Zap2it.com.

"I was doing a scene and I was feeling uncomfortable and then I got on my knees behind the scenes, before going on," Shatner said in an appearance on the show "Live with Regis and Kelly." "And then I did the scene and I broke out into a cold sweat. I finished the scene and the nurse said, 'Maybe you should go to the hospital.'"

The pain was "unbelievable" Shatner told the audience of the chat show, which is hosted by another Emmy winner, Regis Philbin, and Kelly Ripa, star of the ABC sitcom "Hope and Faith." He showed them a black bag containing the offending stone, which he passed without needing surgery.

Shatner, was on the set of "Boston Legal" when the discomfort began. The hospital visit took place on Oct. 18 and was reported a day later on Airlock Alpha's recently introduced news bulletin service. Shatner was checked out on Oct. 19 and he returned to work. That day he sought to reassure fans on the message board of his official web site, William Shatner.com.

"Word got out that I had a back pain...'back pain' doesn't encompass how painful it was for a while," Shatner said in a post. "It was a kidney stone but like my favorite quarterback, Peyton Manning, I passed it for a touchdown...and the stone indeed touched down. All is well."

Now 74 years old, Shatner has re-emerged into the public eye with his success as Crane in "Boston Legal" and "The Practice." He also recently starred in the film "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous" with Sandra Bullock, and as the voice of Tony Gold in the animated movie "Lil' Pimp" Audiences will soon be able to hear him again in another animated production, Dreamwork's "Over the Hedge" with Bruce Willis and Steve Carell.

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