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Hair's to you!

Shatner's hair is now a transplant. It looks like he colors his hair still, looking at pics from public appearances.

His denial of wearing a rug? At first, I'm sure it was out of vanity, but later became sort of a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" thing. Surely he knew that the post-Jim Lace and the early version of the TJ Curly were obviously not his real hair. We who like The Shat just snickered along with him.

Robin Curtis tells a story about the scene in TSFS on Vulcan from her point of view standing behind Shatner, about the hair person combing and blending the back of the toupee into his own hair. And trying to be quiet.

Someone has suggested that DeForest Kelley wore a rug. I don't see it. I've read a story where he explained that when he was cast, GR sent him to Jay Sebring for a new ($35, in 1966 dollars!) hairstyle, and what I see in pics seems to be consistent with that. In his later years, Kelley's hair looked as natural as any I've ever seen. If that was a toupee, it was a good one.

But back to Shatner.

During the run of Star Trek, his hair was thinning, but he wasn't anywhere near bald. He likely wore a "cap" to cover the bald spot on the back of his head with his real hair combed back over to hide the line, much like Ted Danson did in the Cheers years.. Some pics look like there might have been a front piece with the lace glued down and covered by makeup, but the pics aren't conclusive as far as I'm concerned.

The legend of Shatner's Toupee will live on, likely for many generations after the man is gone. :)
 
Someone has suggested that DeForest Kelley wore a rug. I don't see it. I've read a story where he explained that when he was cast, GR sent him to Jay Sebring for a new ($35, in 1966 dollars!) hairstyle, and what I see in pics seems to be consistent with that. In his later years, Kelley's hair looked as natural as any I've ever seen. If that was a toupee, it was a good one.

De Kelley was wearing a wig since well before his Trek days ever started. I, too, was surprised. He never made any bones about it (sorry). And I agree, his hairpieces were excellent, though his real hair was quit different. It was a bit curly, and rather fine.

I was surprised to learn that Jack Klugman was wearing a toupee long before the Odd Couple.

A lot of people don't realize that Kelley was a huge matinee idol for about 5 years. His stardom just sort of dried up by the early '50s, and he started taking on character roles. Catch a viewing of Fear in the Night (1947) and you'll never look at him the same way again.
 
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Shatner's hair is now a transplant. It looks like he colors his hair still, looking at pics from public appearances.

His denial of wearing a rug? At first, I'm sure it was out of vanity, but later became sort of a "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" thing. Surely he knew that the post-Jim Lace and the early version of the TJ Curly were obviously not his real hair. We who like The Shat just snickered along with him.

Robin Curtis tells a story about the scene in TSFS on Vulcan from her point of view standing behind Shatner, about the hair person combing and blending the back of the toupee into his own hair. And trying to be quiet.

Someone has suggested that DeForest Kelley wore a rug. I don't see it. I've read a story where he explained that when he was cast, GR sent him to Jay Sebring for a new ($35, in 1966 dollars!) hairstyle, and what I see in pics seems to be consistent with that. In his later years, Kelley's hair looked as natural as any I've ever seen. If that was a toupee, it was a good one.

But back to Shatner.

During the run of Star Trek, his hair was thinning, but he wasn't anywhere near bald. He likely wore a "cap" to cover the bald spot on the back of his head with his real hair combed back over to hide the line, much like Ted Danson did in the Cheers years.. Some pics look like there might have been a front piece with the lace glued down and covered by makeup, but the pics aren't conclusive as far as I'm concerned.

The legend of Shatner's Toupee will live on, likely for many generations after the man is gone. :)

Most definitely :techman: :).

Some of the wigs looked more real than others imo, when it came down to the movie years. Recently though, it looks pretty real.


Someone has suggested that DeForest Kelley wore a rug. I don't see it. I've read a story where he explained that when he was cast, GR sent him to Jay Sebring for a new ($35, in 1966 dollars!) hairstyle, and what I see in pics seems to be consistent with that. In his later years, Kelley's hair looked as natural as any I've ever seen. If that was a toupee, it was a good one.

De Kelley was wearing a wig since well before his Trek days ever started. I, too, was surprised. He never made any bones about it (sorry). And I agree, his hairpieces were excellent, though his real hair was quit different. It was a bit curly, and rather fine.

A lot of people don't realize that Kelley was a huge matinee idol for about 5 years. His stardom just sort of dried up by the early '50s, and he started taking on character roles.

:eek: Never knew that. It looked really, really real.
 
Might explain his aged appearance in TNG! You could have blown me down with a feather! Would never have guessed that Deforest wore a piece or that no one had ever mentioned it before!
JB
 
Thought it was clever how Shatner's hair seperated under water in The Voyage Home just like a normal fifties man's would! Only the hard core trekkers would have known it was a syrup!
JB
 
I'm still amazed that there weren't tentacles of glue streaming out from Shatner's toupée as he was putting it through its paces, underwater. When he was pulling down on the escape lever to release the whales, his rug looked patently fake, as it floated and waved - unnaturally so. When he swam away and towards the camera afterwards, it looked great! The way it parted and bunched together ... hell, I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for an Oscar ...
 
But back to Shatner.

During the run of Star Trek, his hair was thinning, but he wasn't anywhere near bald.

I remember a Bob Justman anecdote about this issue. Shatner stopped to talk with Justman about some production matter. While they were chatting, Justman noticed that the front of Shatner's toupee was separating from his scalp. Justman made a mental note to ask the hairstylist to fix the problem before shooting resumed.
 
Shatner's hair is now a transplant. It looks like he colors his hair still, looking at pics from public appearances.

I saw him up close for a photo op at the Vegas con in August, then he was in Sydney a month later and I saw him again, up close. "Hairstyle" was totally different. Toupee I am 99.9% sure.

Someone has suggested that DeForest Kelley wore a rug. I don't see it. I've read a story where he explained that when he was cast, GR sent him to Jay Sebring for a new ($35, in 1966 dollars!) hairstyle, and what I see in pics seems to be consistent with that. In his later years, Kelley's hair looked as natural as any I've ever seen. If that was a toupee, it was a good one.

De Kelley was wearing a wig since well before his Trek days ever started. I, too, was surprised. He never made any bones about it (sorry). And I agree, his hairpieces were excellent, though his real hair was quit different. It was a bit curly, and rather fine.

30 years of watching him (and loving every minute of his performances). 10 plus years posting here. Never knew this. Wow. It was a good one.

Then again, I thought Shatner's hair in TOS was real till I read "Inside Star Trek". So what would I know :lol:
 
I'm still amazed that there weren't tentacles of glue streaming out from Shatner's toupée as he was putting it through its paces, underwater. When he was pulling down on the escape lever to release the whales, his rug looked patently fake, as it floated and waved - unnaturally so. When he swam away and towards the camera afterwards, it looked great! The way it parted and bunched together ... hell, I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for an Oscar ...

While The Voyage Home swimming scene truly was a marvellous example of special effects technology and certainly worthy of an award in that category, for me the real test was the wind machine scene in "Spectre of the Gun". The damn thing looks like it's gonna lift off his head at any moment, and yet it stays attached..... barely. :guffaw: He must've had it stuck on with tacks or something. ;)
 
I'm still amazed that there weren't tentacles of glue streaming out from Shatner's toupée as he was putting it through its paces, underwater. When he was pulling down on the escape lever to release the whales, his rug looked patently fake, as it floated and waved - unnaturally so. When he swam away and towards the camera afterwards, it looked great! The way it parted and bunched together ... hell, I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for an Oscar ...

While The Voyage Home swimming scene truly was a marvellous example of special effects technology and certainly worthy of an award in that category, for me the real test was the wind machine scene in "Spectre of the Gun". The damn thing looks like it's gonna lift off his head at any moment, and yet it stays attached..... barely. :guffaw: He must've had it stuck on with tacks or something. ;)

Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! No! It's Shatner's hairpiece!
 
I've never heard until the past few days anything about Kelley's hair being a rug. I just don't buy it.

From the "Shatner's Toupee" blog:

De Kelley was almost eleven years older than Bill Shatner, yet his hair was his own.

http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/2012/02/de-dont-die-but-if-you-die-give-me-your.html

Hardly authoritative.
It's much more evident when he wears a Shatner-esque toupee, as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PKFV-n5Os
Watch him around 2:45. You'll note his hair doesn't move with his forehead.
Funnily enough, that's from an era in which I had thought he actually had his own hair.
 
Wow, so even De Kelley had a wig. I would never have guessed. Ever! :wtf:

But I found it hard to believe about Shatner at first, and then I remembered his "wig trouble" from the bloopers. Haha!
 
I believe that Shatner took his wig off for The Deadly Years.

And I find this... out there!

Always made me laugh how as Shatner ages to near death his hair got much thicker! But this happened in many shows of the era, even in the factually absurd Lost in Space when Dr.Smith aged because he travelled in an alien spaceship, his thinning hair blossomed into a Father Christmas event!
JB
 
Thought it was clever how Shatner's hair seperated under water in The Voyage Home just like a normal fifties man's would! Only the hard core trekkers would have known it was a syrup!
JB


I just cracked the code as to why you call toupees syrups:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang

"It nearly knocked me off me plates—he was wearing a syrup! So I ran up the apples, got straight on the dog to me trouble and said I couldn't believe me mincers."
 
I've never heard until the past few days anything about Kelley's hair being a rug. I just don't buy it.

From the "Shatner's Toupee" blog:

De Kelley was almost eleven years older than Bill Shatner, yet his hair was his own.

http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/2012/02/de-dont-die-but-if-you-die-give-me-your.html

Hardly authoritative.
It's much more evident when he wears a Shatner-esque toupee, as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PKFV-n5Os
Watch him around 2:45. You'll note his hair doesn't move with his forehead.
Funnily enough, that's from an era in which I had thought he actually had his own hair.

Nope, sorry. That's real hair.
 
Wow, so even De Kelley had a wig. I would never have guessed. Ever! :wtf:

But I found it hard to believe about Shatner at first, and then I remembered his "wig trouble" from the bloopers. Haha!

Yeah...I don't believe the Kelley thing until someone produces an acutal source.
 
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