What went through Bill Shatner's mind the day he learned that the new captain of the USS Enterprise was to be a bald man? "Why did I bother?" "I never thought an audience would accept a bald starship captain."- I guess we'll never know... And then the next guy, Avery Brooks from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had a full head of hair but chose to shave it off! 1. Bald but covered it up 2. Openly bald. 3. Shaved his head to look bald. Maybe the hair factor is crucial to Star Trek!
I read in either George's book or Walter's that when the Next Generation was announced in 1986, G & W were on the phone and joked "Well, he's hardly the first bald captain of the Enterprise."
ReplyDeleteThis, of course, raises the important question of whether, by Picard's era, (or Kirk's, for that matter) a truly effective remedy for hair loss is readily available, and Picard's tonsure is a freely-chosen style statement rather than an affliction.
ReplyDeleteBaldness is a disease. Toupees are the cure.
ReplyDeleteBalding is the affliction, but shaven bald is a statement.
ReplyDeleteIt's all irrelevant, this toupee business (or Spock's ears, or Data's eyes, for that matter). To make a long story short: I believe that 50 years from now, people will agree that the Star Trek TV series was the most important television series of the second half of the 20th Century.
ReplyDeleteLast night at Sydney Harmon Hall, Patrick Stewart said that someone had asked Gene Roddenberry, "You would think they would have a cure for male baldness by the 24th century?"
ReplyDeleteTo which Roddenberry replied, "By then it won't matter." He brought the house down.
the above photo of patrick steward, was taken in 1963, and shows just how young he was, when he was bald. his just 23 here, and has almost no hair too speak of! he started going bald at just 19! at both 19 and 23, bill had his own real thick locks, that at that time did not need a combover, but waiting in the wings, was early baldness.
ReplyDeletePatrick Stewart never did a nude scene with a smoking hot Angie Dickinson. Shat did.
ReplyDeleteCase closed.
Read about what went on behind the scenes from director Steve Carver. The gaffer's tape, brawling with Tom Skerritt, and Angie Dickinson hating on The Shat.
DeleteIn 1966 having a bald lead on a TV show was risky. By 1989 you could get away with it. And as far as Shatner's toupee goes, wigs are part and parcel of the theater. The vanity of wearing one offstage is what make's Shatner's toupee fun to laugh at.
ReplyDeleteThe 1960s wasn't a problem. The 1970s and 80s were a rollercoaster ride with the monstrous-looking models he wore often making him look bizarre & laughable.
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