What did William Shatner hair look like 1970-1971?

This thread is a speculative experient in how fast season three styling would have lead to the eventual TMP look.

Would a later Kirk have had sideburns and what would the ratio of blond to brunette be?

This is not a joke thread I want honest speculation. When did the 1960's become the 1970's?

 

Well, whatever the theoretical progression might be, I hated his 70s dark hair and TJ Hooker perm, ugh.

 

Actually, there is sigificant evidence that points to the fact that Bill's natural hair is in fact curly, and that as he stopped using the "Jim Kirk lace" (that he had been wearing as early as 1958), and transitioned into the "TJ Curly", he was actually returning to something closer to what his actual hair was really like. Look at the later episodes in season three. As he was letting his hair grow longer at the back and sides, you can spot curly hair. If you look at Bill now, at the close cropped "Denny Crain", there's a curl to it, close to his head though it may be, but look there's curl. As for the color growing darker in middle age, it's hard to say if he was coloring it or not. Most people's hair changes color naturally up to three times throuout their life. Most toup wearers don't color their hair as it tends to bring even more attention to their hair. So with all of that in mind, I would bet that during the late '70's and early '80's, we're seeing as close to Shats natural hair as ever.

More intresting than even all of that is the mental image most TOS fans have of Bill, as he was back durring the best episodes of the series. I never quite understood how connected most of us are to the image of young Captain Kirk untill I saw this image posted at the blog called "Shatner's Toupee" http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/



That's Bill today wearing the old "Jim Kirk Lace". Wild isn't it? He look's somehow right again doesn't he? It even takes years off of him. And I wish that's how he would have looked durring the TOS films. Suddenly Captain Kirk just leaps out of 80 year old Bill Shatner. You know if I were Bill, I'd call my toup guy and have a "Jim Kirk Lace" made in the same silver his hair is now. He'd look awesome!

 

Bill does not wear a toup any more. He had hair transplant procedures years ago. That's his own hair now. After all, wouldn't you do it if you had his money and you hated being bald?

 

Nice speculations. There are already many threads and a BLOG(gosh) dedicated to Mr. Shatner's hair and there have been many hilarious speculations. LOL

I don't believe he was ever bald. Maybe thin hair but not bald.

Well, I am not going to speculate anymore. I will wait until his hair finishes writing its autobiography to find out the truth.

 

Okay, to be fair, we'll say he was balding. Best guess is that his natural hairline was comparable to Malachi Throne's.

As for the blonde, I think that's more of a case of the toupee growing more blonde from simple aging of the hair, especially with exposure to sunlight and stage lights. There's a great publicity shot from "The Paradise Syndrome" where there's a marked difference between the hairpiece (pretty blonde at this point) and his own darker hair.

As far as hair changing color as one ages, hell, I used to have blonde hair that would've made Gwen Stephani jealous, just from all the playing outside, and now it's so dark it's ridiculous (not counting the grey, that is).

 

Well, I be damned if I didn't find a picture of Bill Shatner dressed up for his 1st Halloween! I can't tell if he's wearing a toupee yet.

 

Like a thirsty lawn.

 

Perhaps a little closer to Jude Law's?

What about eyebrows? Do they change color with age too (other than turning gray and getting longer)?

Mr. Shatner's eyebrows have always been really light-colored, even when he had darker hair. This unfortunately has generated some speculations that he was wearing wigs. People can naturally have dark hair and lighter eyebrows though.

BTW I just saw Trials and Tribble-ations. I wonder why the producers for TNG and DS9 decided to cast two men sans hair as captains. Were they trying to make some ANTI-Hair statement?

 

With Patrick Stewart, they did consider a hair piece at one point, but the one he brought with him didn't fare too well on the trip from England. In the end, they decided that while yes, mankind would've developed a cure for baldness by the 24th Century, by that point nobody would care anymore.

As for Avery Brooks, he normally shaves his head. For the first couple of seasons, they had him grow his hair out to play Sisko, then he'd shave it all off again during hiatus. Later, as he started to assert a bit more control over his character, he got them to let him first grow his goatee back, then keep his head shaved. You will note how much more dynamic and assertive Sisko became once he started looking like Hawk (oh, if only they could've arranged for that Robert Urich guest spot...).

 

You mean like "Just say no to rugs"?

Horse puckey. Male vanity will still be around a hundred or a thousand years from now. Fortunately for Patrick Stewart, he has a well-shaped cranium and looks good bald.

 

1970


1970


1972


1974


1975


1977


1979 before movie

 

^^ Those are really nice pics.

Mmmh... I was thinking either they were making a fashion statement or they were trying to start some ground-breaking society-changing movement like "Occupy Bridge/Captain's Chair with Shiny Heads."

 

ItsGreen, your photo links have gone bad.

Given how young Shatner was at the time (35), you'd figure most of his hair loss would be the receding hair line. But I guess he was having a bit of a spot problem in the rear. Just look at these shots taken from "Where No Man Has Gone Before":




Look at his hair length in the back, from the top of his head... definitely has the toupee look to it, or he just grew whatever he had on top long to cover the back.

 

It was the mid-1980s, not the 1970s, but ...

There was an article on the Shat in Parade Magazine's "In Step With James Brady" that appeared in the mid-1980s. I don't recall when, but I think it was post-ST2 and during TJ Hooker. I was absolutely flabbergasted because it had a half-page picture of the Shat -- without his rug. Or at least a significantly less aggressive rug.

The picture clearly showed Shatner with a receding hairline and very bald at the temples. To my knowledge, its the only pic sans-rug I've ever seen of Shatner. I've never been able to find it online and I don't recall when it appeared.

From anecdotes, it seems like Shatner's hairline had significantly receded by his 30s. He was wearing a good rug in TOS; crappy rugs thereafter. His hairline had receded by the early 1970s to the point where all of his rugs hid the fact that he didn't have a hairline per se. All the rugs are combed forward or curled in front to hide the lack of hairline. This would be pretty consistent with the "In Step" article in the 1980s.

I keep hoping that some day the pic will turn up. If I had a lot of time to spend searching a decade's worth of microfiche, I might be able to find it -- but I don't have that kind of time to spare any more.

Dakota Smith

 

Is it just another instance of "soundstage rumor" that Shatner did NOT wear his hairpiece for "The Deadly Years" episode when Kirk was suffering the advanced stages of the "illness" (a form of radiation poisoning that created the seeming effect of rapid aging)?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

Well, thanks to HD screencaps ...

I would have to say that judging by the weaving at the front, Shatner was wearing his rug, but combed differently. Ordinarily they'd part it slightly and comb it forward. This time it's combed back with a lot of white thrown in.

Close examination of the HD screencaps may yield different opinions, but based just on this picture, I think he was wearing the rug.

Dakota Smith

 

Which brings up the question, why do we care? He had a toupee, so what's the big deal? Geez, this constant yammering about a guys hairpiece. Good lord.

 

This constant yammering might ultimately serve a great purpose. Since Mr. Shatner's hair is writing a book at the moment, it might be doing research by coming to places like this board. It might find a great deal of amusement, enlightenment which would make its book a better read. And perhaps it might even get inspiration from discussions like this to boldly grow longer and younger. You never know.

 

The majority of male and female actors in Hollywood wear some kind of hairpiece. Not everyone has thick, luxurious hair. No big deal. If I were an actor, I'd have to wear a piece, as my hair is thinning (but not balding) at 51. Who cares? He is The Shat and we love him!