New toup-less pictures of Bill Shatner are quite rare finds indeed. In some cases, we've found pictures where we weren't entirely sure, but in this case we are pretty certain. This is a picture we've dug up (and slightly enhanced) circa 1957 of Bill Shatner with his first wife Gloria Rand.
If we compare Shats in this photo with his on-screen visage at around the same time (see below), we can see a distinct difference between the two. The on-screen Shatner wears a toup to thicken up the front and cover baldness at the top of the head. The off-screen Shatner is balding at the top and rapidly thinning at the front.
The Twighlight Zone - "Nick of Time" (1960).UPDATE: The photo at the top of the page may have been taken on the same day as the photo below (unless the couple wore the same clothes on another day, which can't be ruled out either).
UPDATE II: A reader has made a convincing case that the above picture was taken in 1957. More on that in our next post.
UPDATE II: A reader has made a convincing case that the above picture was taken in 1957. More on that in our next post. 
It would've been interesting if Shat had forgone the toupees and grew his hair very long and done a Trump-style combover.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the top picture was taken the same day as the one below. You can see there is a wind blowing in both pictures (you can see his wife's hair being blown up in the first one.
ReplyDeleteIn fact the better lighting in this picture (and the last one) confirms that it IS a toupee. I don't see much if any real difference in his hairline between this and the Twilight Zone picture, except that this hair appears thicker in the latter. I would expect it to, after all it is a snapshot taken from a professionally filmed TV show.
As I maintained before when seeing that last picture, I think he's wearing a toupee in all pictures. The ones taken with his wife are his own personal toupee.
If this was taken the same day as the Lee J. Cobb picture, it would place it in 1957 instead of 1960. This seems more reasonable. The Shatner of 1960 was so bald he wouldn't consent to be photographed without the toup. I'm in agreement that both top and bottom pics are toupless.
ReplyDeleteBaldybeans def. Baldybeans the whole lot of them
ReplyDelete