Spock's ears and William Shatner's hairpiece.

[Cheapjack]

If William Shatner was wearing a wig in the sixties, howcome you can see the join on Spock's ears, but you can't see the join on Shatner's wig?

Nimoy spent longer in make-up, howcome his is worse.

I don't believe that Shatner was wearing a wig at all. Howcome he took it off regularly in the sixties, according to rumour, but has been so defensive in the eighties?

I've read Stephen Whitfield's book and no-where does it say he was wearing a wig. I've paused my DVDs and I can't see it. His hair was thinning, that's all.

 

[Outpost4]

You're right. His hair was thinning and he never wore a full toupee on Star Trek.

He only wore a small hairpiece that covered his thinning front. You could detect it on screen once or twice but the easiest way to see it is when he wasn't wearing it for the old age scenes in The Deadly Years. After watching that episode again this weekend, you can really tell that his hairpiece is missing.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Cheapjack said:
If William Shatner was wearing a wig in the sixties, howcome you can see the join on Spock's ears, but you can't see the join on Shatner's wig?

Well, you can see the join in many scenes, and you don't need HD. People who saw "The Menagerie" in HD in cinemas this week are reporting one particularly noticeable closeup of Shatner's usually well-hidden join.

Nimoy spent longer in make-up, howcome his is worse.

The join between latex and flesh? Keep in mind that, in those days, modern no-bake slip rubber hadn't been available. Fred Phillips had to bake new Spock ears every day, and getting the edges thin enough to be invisible was almost impossible. He usually did a great job, but DVDs and HD technology have made the joins much easier to see.

I don't believe that Shatner was wearing a wig at all. Howcome he took it off regularly in the sixties, according to rumour, but has been so defensive in the eighties?

He definitely wore a hair piece in the 60s, a more complete wig for the early ST movies, and had undergone some kind of hair-weaving or hair replacement procedure by ST IV, which is why he insisted on doing the dangerous underwater stunt - to show off the new work.

I've read Stephen Whitfield's book and no-where does it say he was wearing a wig.

Somewhere out there is a step-by-step description of Fred Phillips coping with the old age stages of makeup in "The Deadly Years", including the anecdote of Shatner making life easier by removing the hairpiece for the final stage. It would have been very uncomfortable for Shatner had Fred applied a phony high forehead over Shatner's normal hairpece, with another (grey) hairpiece on top of that!

Yvonne Craig (Marta) also tells some funny Shatner hairpiece stories at conventions.

 

[Elder Knight]

William Campbell said that once, between TOS and TMP, Shatner came to his house to discuss some potential project. Campbell figured that the neighborhood kids would *flip* to see Captain Kirk walk up to his door.

But, he says, Shat chose to baldly go, and the kids took no notice. Sic transit gloria.

 

[Cheapjack]

i still don't get it.

When you look at his hair in TOS, it was thinning at the front. Who would wear a thinning hairpiece? And howcome no-one has ever dared ask him about it in the 80's,90's and 00's, if he regularly took it of in the 60's? It's a forbidden subject with him.

 

[Outpost4]

Cheapjack, what should he have worn? He wore a hairpiece that as naturally as it could, blended into his already thinning hair. Only later did he wear a whole wig to cover up more of nature's deteriorating ways.

As for asking him, give a man his dignity, will ya? You might as well ask him why he's let himself get so fat.

I wouldn't dare ask him about either.

 

[Captain Dago]

Outpost4 said:
As for asking him, give a man his dignity, will ya? You might as well ask him why he's let himself get so fat.

He's been around too many fat people. It's contagious, you know.

 

[MadBaggins]

I don't think we should be talking about such personal matters.

 

[Cheapjack]

OK, howcome he had his hair brushed up in the sixties, which makes it really easy to see the line, and you can't, but down in the present? You can tell he's wearing one now, and it's just about the best you can get - I bet it cost thousands of dollars.

If he was wearing a wig in TOS, he must have been the six million dollar man and he must have spent at least as long as Nimoy in make up.

 

[DumbDumb2007]

Both Shatner and Kirk never , ever wore a hairpiece. The man has much hair on his head as when he was in his 20s.

 

[propita]

Captain Dago said:

Outpost4 said:
As for asking him, give a man his dignity, will ya? You might as well ask him why he's let himself get so fat.

He's been around too many fat people. It's contagious, you know.

"Denny Crane"

 

[Captain Dago]

propita said:

Captain Dago said:

Outpost4 said:
As for asking him, give a man his dignity, will ya? You might as well ask him why he's let himself get so fat.

He's been around too many fat people. It's contagious, you know.

"Denny Crane"

Hey, somebody finally got it!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Shatner wore a hairpiece during TOS - this has been documented and discussed in print by Robert Justman, among others.

According to a Justman memo, the hairpieces used on TOS - which were the property of the studio - had a habit of disappearing with him at the end of the season.

Justman noted that the toupees would have to be replaced at the beginning of each season because Shatner would return them in unusable condition.

 

[Dar70]

Cheapjack said:
OK, howcome he had his hair brushed up in the sixties, which makes it really easy to see the line, and you can't, but down in the present? You can tell he's wearing one now, and it's just about the best you can get - I bet it cost thousands of dollars.

If he was wearing a wig in TOS, he must have been the six million dollar man and he must have spent at least as long as Nimoy in make up.

I dont think it was a piece that stuck to his hairline/forehead, but just one that went within his front hair to thicken it up a bit so he could comb it to the side a little easier. If you look at pics of the old age makeup his forehead looks no bigger that when he had his hair combed back as a romulan. Of course he had a couple of old age makeups. The one when he was in middleage seems to be his real hair. The one when he is completely white on top seems like another hair piece.

Someone should really post some comparison pics. This topic seems to come up every month. I dont even know why I contribute to it.

 

[ClayinCA]

Dar70 said:
This topic seems to come up every month. I dont even know why I contribute to it.

There is something to be said for tradition.

 

[Mallory]

We didn't even start a new thread this month, just revived an old one.

 

[Dar70]

Didnt Deforect Kelly also wear a piece? Wyy does Shatner get all the attention. I think they both had really well done hair styles that blended in seamlessly based on their ages and hair types.

 

[Garibaldi O'brien]

Yes, DeForest Kelly wore a hairpiece. Chekov wore a freakin' Davy Jones wig. Nimoy, Sulu, and god-bless 'em Scotty, seemed to have the right hair genes. (I will ignore the TNG hair issues). I think Scotty just kept the Delta radiation away from his hair with fine single-malt scotch.

 

[DumbDumb2007]

Shatner wore no hairpiece !

 

[Amaris]

Garibaldi O'brien said:
Yes, DeForest Kelly wore a hairpiece. Chekov wore a freakin' Davy Jones wig. Nimoy, Sulu, and god-bless 'em Scotty, seemed to have the right hair genes. (I will ignore the TNG hair issues). I think Scotty just kept the Delta radiation away from his hair with fine single-malt scotch.

That's the anti-dote for radiation sickness, you know.


J.