"Seriously, Leonard. It's this amazing glue - I can actually swim underwater!"A while back, we examined Bill Shatner's underwater swimming scenes in Star Trek IV - a toupee tour de force, we called them. However, The Voyage Home wasn't the only time that Shats allowed himself to be filmed splashing around in the water, liberated from the fear of being separated from his toup.
In his autobiography Up Till Now, Bill Shatner recalls an environmental film in which an Orca Killer Whale jumped over his head as he swam in the water. We're still trying to determine when this was, but judging from the pictures, it would appear to be not long after 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Thus, after years of toupees that threatened to unpeel at the front (the lace) or dislodge in public (the weave) this new underwater glue liberated Bill Shatner much like Tim Robbins' character in The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
Free to swim in public!In 2001, now with totally water-resistant plugs, Bill Shatner again hit the oceans in the documentary Whale Shark Hunters of the Philippines.
And as far back as a 1983 TV special called Battle of the Network Stars we see Bill Shatner getting his hair wet in public, but it is unclear if he was actually able to truly take the plunge at that time.
Any other pictures/examples of Bill Shatner getting his hair wet? Please let us know.Note: Though we try to bring you all stories related to Shats' toup, we have decided out of respect to Bill Shatner not to publish or link to one particular water-related accusation that was once spread by an in-law. We believe that this claim is totally without merit and deeply hurtful to Bill Shatner. Many of you will know what we are referring to and we will just leave it at that. Now, back to toupology...
Ooh! Is the mystery story the famous one about the merkin and the jar of peanut butter?
ReplyDeleteI remember watching that Battle of the Network Stars in the early 1980's. Shat didn't do any swimming, but tried to paddle a raft and stay above the water..
ReplyDeleteHe did swim in an episode of TJ Hooker, but I think this was after he had gone from the partial toupee to the nearly full skullcap wig.
Oh, no! Bill's legs.. I could live without that! Back to the toupee..
ReplyDeleteIn Battle of the Network Stars, Shatner rowed a kayak that capsized. Shather was dunked, quickly righted the Kayak, and emerged with hairpiece securely in place.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment "anonymous". We've been trying to ask commenters to sign themselves with a username, just so everyone has an idea of who is saying what. In the "comment as" tab below, you can select "Name/URL" and write in a username - anything you want. Thanks so much! -ST
ReplyDeleteMr Shatner dived in and saved me from what can only be described as a crazed porpoise in 1992 at Surrey World's very poorly named Porpoise Heaven. I can assure you his hair looked magnificent.
ReplyDelete"Baby Leroy" - that sounds like an amazing story that our toupologists may wish to study further. Could you possibly contact us at ShatToupBlog@gmail.com ?
ReplyDeleteThanks -ST
Claudia Christian didn't care much for BillShat but at least she didn't insult his toupee. I like that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.retrocrush.com/archive2007/claudia
Just google Nerine brother book Shatner and you will learn more
ReplyDeleteAnd more of Shatner in speedos
ReplyDeletehttp://shop.rexfeatures.com/image/various-1979_628269.jpg
And even more!
ReplyDeletehttp://shop.rexfeatures.com/image/william-shatner-circa-1991_628260.jpg
that second pic of shat linked to by Al was definitely not from 1991. Probably from 1983 or thereabouts. That toup looks totally outrageous. This may be an example of one of the full skullcap wigs he started wearing around that time.
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