Shatner deals with ‘death’ on Priceline

CHICAGO— Five years of high adventure, intrigue and mystery — all in the pursuit of travel bargains — wrapped up with a fiery bus crash last month that killed Priceline.com’s popular Negotiator in TV ads, played by William Shatner.

It seemed a fitting end for a worthy crusader who coaxed — some might say coerced — people into using Priceline’s online auction to save money on travel plans.

“The Negotiator died true to his principles,” said Shatner, the Canadian actor who is best-known for playing Captain Kirk in TV’S Star Trek and a lawyer of dubious distinction, Denny Crane, on Boston Legal.

In the TV ad that began airing in late January, Shatner’s Priceline Negotiator, a sort of travel agent with a super-sized ego, evacuates vacationers from a bus that is teetering on the side of a bridge.

After he ushers the last passenger to safety, the Negotiator, still on the bus, reminds the group to book hotel rooms on Priceline.

He says that if there’s no time to use the company’s name-yourown-price auction, they can still find published discounts through the travel agency. “Save yourself — some money,” he says.

And with those final words, the Negotiator and the bus tip over the bridge’s guard rail, and the man who claims to have saved so many people so much money plummets to his death.

Brett Keller, Priceline.com’s chief marketing officer, acknowledged the character’s violent death may be jarring to fans and viewers. But he said the Negotiator was so closely associated with Priceline’s auctions he had to die to remind users they can book on Priceline without bidding.

Since 1998, Shatner has been the celebrity spokesman for Priceline, which made its mark with the name-your-own-price auction. In 2006, he created the role of the Negotiator.

Shatner said the character’s defining quality was “controlled insanity.”

When asked why the Negotiator didn’t just jump out of the bus with the other travellers, Shatner said: “Because that would have left the people on the ground without a hotel room . . . (he) could not abide that someone wouldn’t get a decent room at a good price, even though it cost him his life.”

The 80-year-old actor is rehearsing for his one-man stage show Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It. Reuters