ORDER here: Close Encounters with Captain Kirk, the Making of The Wrath of Khan and the Rest of It
“Laura Banks delightful and cheeky new memoir, Close Encounters with Captain Kirk, the Making of The Wrath of Khan the Rest of It, is a humorous, self-deprecating and emotionally honest story of her brush with fame while piloting the Reliant in Star Trek II, almost getting blown up in the jungles of the Philippines for Roger Corman, striking out with Warren Beatty and failing to fall under the hypnotic, Svengali-like spell of Jack Nicholson among others, including a short-lived, but torrid romance with the Enterprise’s charismatic skipper himself. Banks’s Forest Gump-like Hollywood story as she navigates the pinnacles and pitfalls of showbiz regales her readers in this fun, breezy read with the stories of A-list actors and C-list movies while dispensing choice nuggets of wisdom gleaned along the way." – Mark A. Altman (writer/producer, Free Enterprise; showrunner, Pandora; host, Inglorious Treksperts)
Close Encounters with Captain Kirk, the Making of the Wrath of Khan is a romantic comedy, the story of a girl who moves from Kansas to California in search of fame, fortune and frolic. There are inspiring stories of surviving a dysfunctional childhood and the suicide of her brother only to later find success as an author, comedian and actress. You learn when Whoopi Goldberg showed up in Laura's life to tell her amazing story of getting off food stamps and then how Laura got a small part in a film that changed her life forever, with on set stories on the making of Star Trek II and dating William Shatner. While pursuing her wildest imaginings of profound, all-encompassing love found only the silver screen, Banks falls in love with the world of comedy and meets Robin Williams. Does she find that celluloid kiss, that perfect moment she dreamed of as a child or is it more about the realization that a woman can be shamelessly sexy, free and self-expressed because girls just want to have fun?
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan, USA Today Bestselling author, Laura Banks launches the release of her memoir, Close Encounters with Captain Kirk, the Making of Star Trek II and the Rest of It. The humorous tell-all recounts her experiences dating William Shatner, filming at Paramount and her years as a stand up comic, working with Whoopi Goldberg. Laura started out as an extra and ended up dating Captain Kirk and rising to her own stardom along the way. It's about Laura's fascination with romance and collisions with celebrities in Hollywood. Her stories are both hysterical and inspiring as she describes leaving Kansas to move to California - navigating the man’s world of comedy clubs and filming dangerous action pictures overseas. While In Los Angeles, she hung out with Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman and David Letterman at the Comedy Store and dated a Playgirl Centerfold. It is a laugh out loud, inspirational read, tempting all of us to follow our wildest dreams.
Listen to her one-on-one interview with William Shatner on her podcast, (LINK HERE—>)Your Hidden Power - #182 - Will Co-Host Laura Banks Be Going On Tour With William Shatner? | Listen Notes
Banks is also an astrologer at www.StarGalNetwork.com.
Banks tracks her move as a naïve girl from Kansas to California, where she immediately met Whoopi Goldberg in San Diego and performed in her improv comedy troupe, Spontaneous Combustion. She then moved up the coast to Los Angeles and hung out with Robin Williams at the Sunset Comedy Store, dated a Playgirl Centerfold, and was pursued by Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty while working in a lipstick lesbian bar. She is then cast in Star Trek II, replacing the now deceased Lana Clarkson, killed at the hands of Phil Spector. She was definitely not in Kansas anymore.
But escaping Kansas was not easy. There was an alcoholic mother and the suicide of a brother suffering from schizophrenia. Laura Banks knew she had to escape the Midwest, so she ran off to California, where she knew no one, and with only $500 in the bank. She was discovered by Roger Corman and starred in Wheels of Fire and Demon of Paradise where she was eaten by a monster and literally almost killed making non-union movies in Southeast Asia. Laura seems to have lived a dozen lives with her tales of posing nude in a magazine for money, cocktail waitressing on Sunset Boulevard, sharing her full bent personality as a mad, passionate lover, lover of adventure, risk and...men.
“Close Encounters” follows Banks success with her previous works, Embracing Your Big Fat Ass, an Owner’s Manual (Simon and Schuster) and Breaking the Rules, Last Ditch Tactics for Landing the Man of Your Dreams (Career Press) which landed on the USA Today Bestseller list, selling over a quarter of a million copies. Banks is available for television, radio and podcast interviews, with extensive experience as an entertaining guest and comic.
Other books by Laura Banks available on Amazon.
Embracing Your Big Fat Ass, an Owner's Manual (ATRIA Books, a Division of Simon and Schuster) #13 out of 6,000 Books at Publisher's Weekly.
Life is short—too short to spend most of it worrying about what you look like from behind. That fact hasn’t stopped women everywhere from obsessing about their weight, specifically that portion of it resting in their ass. In this gleefully frank new book, Janette Barber and Laura Banks lampoon society’s obsession with the gluteus maximus, while offering solidarity, support, and inspiring advice.
USA Today Bestseller with over
250,000 copies in print
Breaking the Rules:
Last-ditch tactics for landing the man of your dreams, A Parody
Buy this book and start breaking the rules. We'll show you how to: Be needy, clingy and whiny with Mr. Right Now. Ransom his power tools to get his attention. Repair used blenders for fun and profit. And, there's more. Recommendations include: Move your stuff into his apartment as quickly as possible. Married men take you to nicer restaurants. Carry an answering machine in your purse. If he has a pulse, you have a date. Spill your guts before you spill your wine, and gab until his ears bleed!
Click here to Buy
Love Online
Singles, there actually is a way to meet that special person in a comfortable, relaxed environment where you can have honest, forthright conversations. And you don't even have to leave your home. The alternative to pickup bars, and rude come-ons is Love Online.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Laura is shown here with Ricardo Montalban in a Paramount promotional photo for the hit film. In the film, she was Khan's Navigator.
Want more Star Trek? Click here!
Click here to check out Laura on Memory Alpha - the Star Trek Wiki
Wheels of Fire (1984)
The Future is now. There are no rules and no place to hide from the deadly Highway Warriors who ravage the roads in machines of destruction. Laura had a starring role in this film as the ravishing she-warrior Stinger.
Demon of Paradise (1987) Hunters become the hunted when illegal dynamite disturbs the age old slumber of a carnivorous lizardman. Resort owner Angela Cahill, joins forces with Sheriff Keefer to save tourists from the beast's path of death. Laura stars as Angela in this horror/thriller.
Retreads (1988)
Laura stars as a nuclear scientist that is being held by terrorists. And her only chance for survival is the Retreads.
Full Biography
Television
Comedy Central
The Movie Channel
VH-1 (Host)
CNBC (Author/Expert)
MSNBC (Commentator)
GOOD DAY NY Fox (Author/Expert)
GOOD DAY LA Fox (Author/Expert)
Fox News Channel (Personality)
Bill O’Reilly (Author/Expert)
TYRA (Guest Author)
SHOWTIME - Star Rising (Special half hour show about career.)
Movie Channel (Special on film career.)
Bravo TV (Clips and interview about Manhattan Dating Project, produced and starring Laura Banks)
ABC News World Report (Author/Expert)
USA Network USA Live (Host/Comedic)
25 City TV Satellite Tour with bestselling book, "Breaking the Rules"
Books featured on Good Morning America
Film
Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan Paramount
Retreads - Warner Bros.
Hexed, Columbia Pictures (reporter)
Wheels of Fire (lead role) Roger Corman picture New Horizons/Concorde Pictures
Demon of Paradise (lead role) Roger Corman picture New Horizons/Concorde Pictures
Comedy Clubs/Stand Up
Improvisation NY
Comedy Cellar
Caroline’s NY
Comedy Store L.A.
Beckett Theater (off Broadway) One woman show
New York Comedy Club (Greenwich Village)
Hosted multiple Star Trek conferences with entire cast. I was the Emcee.
Improvisational Comedy
Ridgefield Theater Barn Roll in the Hay Players
Marquis Public Theater with Whoopi Goldberg
Comedy Store San Diego, Ca.
Comedy Store, Los Angeles Sunset Strip
Caroline’s Comedy Club with The Groundlings East
The Groundling’s East
West Bank Café The Groundling’s East