Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Poll result.



Thanks for voting - again, a somewhat surprising result. 60% of votes were cast by those who believe that Bill Shatner would rather dodge the hair question, even with a loved one. Since Bill Shatner's three daughters obviously know he's bald (and likely always did), let's look instead at Bill Shatner's four wives:

Gloria Rand (married 1956-1969). Toupee style - "Jim Kirk lace":


Gloria was married to Bill Shatner as his hair started to thin. Shats started wearing toupees, at first only on-screen, but by the end of their marriage, off-screen too. She knew everything, so Bill Shatner never had to have a revelation moment with her.

Marcy Lafferty (married 1973-1994). Toupee style - "Lost Years" and "TJ Curly":


Interestingly, Bill Shatner met Marcy Lafferty in the midst of his mid-1970s doldrums when his toupees were at their very worst. Marcy seems like a very nice person and she likely made Shats feel comfortable enough with himself that in private he could remove the toupee and feel that he would be loved no less. Yet, Bill Shatner seems to have been the dominant one in this marriage, and he likely set the boundaries about how much the toup could or could not be discussed.

Nerine Kidd (married 1997-1999). Toupee style - "TJ Curly":


Bill Shatner's relationship with Nerine Kidd was a complicated one. One the one hand, he was cast in the ultimately futile position of trying to cure a person's alcohol addiction with his love. He tragically learned that such a dynamic is impossible - that the addict must decide that the pain caused to loved ones and to oneself is motivation enough to seek help. Yet, on the other hand, this was a relationship, from how Bill Shatner has described it, that was also full of great highs; full of playfulness and craziness. In this context, Nerine might have been the kind of person to hide Bill Shatner's toupee in the morning, just to tease him. Or she may have even persuaded him to go out incognito without the toup just for the thrill of it.

Elizabeth (married 2001-). Toupee style "Denny Crane plugs (possibly still a toupee)":


The two became friends after Bill Shatner's third wife Nerine drowned tragically in 1999. Elizabeth had also recently lost her spouse, with her husband succumbing to cancer in 1997. That friendship soon turned to love. It is difficult to know where the toupee fits in here. By this point, Bill Shatner's baldness/toupee was being lampooned by comics, and even Bill Shatner was making subtle references to it. Thus, the dynamic here is one of greater honesty; of healing and openness. Yet, with the semi-perma-toup or plugs that Bill Shatner now has, the hair doesn't come off at night. Does that mean that Elizabeth rarely sees her husband bald? Has the issue even been discussed? Was she the one to tell him to get rid of the "TJ Curly" look? We really don't know.

20 comments:

  1. Elizabeth convinced Bill to go under the knife and get a hair transplant.

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  2. When Bill went to the transplant/toupee doctor, he had only one request. He said "make me look like Ringo."

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  3. Married with a toupee..?

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  4. I don't understand. Is it a toupee or hair transplant or both?

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  5. Like who shot JFK, you just have to accept that there are some things we will never know.

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  6. This blog seems to have done a 90 degree turn from declaring confidently that Shat had hair plugs installed in 2000 to saying maybe he did or maybe he didn't. Investigative toupologists are called on to solve this cosmic conundrum. This IS the final frontier.

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  7. He had an implant, but on occasions, a toupee is at hand. This is my guess

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  8. We've put the links to our plugs versus toup debate at the bottom of all the stuff you see to your right - just scroll down and you'll find it. -ST

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  9. My guess is that Shatner had plugs done about 10 years or so ago, but he keeps a toupee around for TV shows, movies, appearances, etc.

    Recent pictures of Shatner would seem to indicate some hair on the top and front has fallen out (though his frontal hairline appears in-tact).

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  10. With thousand of toupologists at work 24x7 how is this the plugs vs toup debate even being discussed? Shattoup, we implore you, solve this final conundrum for us. From the 60's though the late 90's I could rest easy. I knew there was a rats nest on top of Shat's head and all was right in the world. Whatever happened, Watergate, oil crisis, recession, I knew the Shat's toup was always there for me. To provide some of balance in times of trouble. Now you're telling me I may not have that anymore. If this is a world where Shatner has a full head of growing hair, its one I don't want to live in.

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  11. "Anonymous" (we'd be delighted and honored if you'd consider using a username in the Comment as - Name/Url tab) you can indeed rest easy that Bill Shatner does still wear a toupee. The question is really whether he wears one all the time, or if he has a basic plug thing going on, which he often reinforces with a toup. But yes, he definitely still draws from the power of the toupee - and therefore, so can all of humanity. -ST

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  12. I'd rather this blog just told me what to think on this subject, rather than trying to come to a conclusion myself, since I don't have a staff of toupologists or research equipment to help me form an opinion.

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  13. photo of Shat from the 1966 Worldcon convention. Looks as if he's wearing one of his own toups.
    http://www.lasfsinc.info/upimages/moffattphotos/1/views/wor66/wor6608.jpg

    http://www.lasfsinc.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=304&Itemid=514

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  14. Do you think that could be Shatner's real hair in that pic and he is not wearing a rug?

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  15. I reckon he tried plugs but wasn't successfull(probably has too little real hair left) and so has continued to wear the toup...

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  16. This shows how thick Shatner's hair was on the sides and back in the 1980's. Could be why the transplant worked: there was so much donor hair available.
    http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/93408360/Disney-ABC-Television-Group

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  17. No, that the full helmet style from the 1980s.

    That 66 picture is a revelation. Almost the holy grail shot.

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  18. @ACELP:

    wow that picture is so interesting... If he is wearing a toup, how did it work? Was it just covering the back of his head? Because obviously that part on the side is his scalp...

    Hmmm does this mean the Shat's hairline in startrek was real?

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  19. It is interesting. Those people who had seen Shatner without the toup back then said he had very thin reddish-brown hair. I don't recall seeing him wearing any toupees of his own from that time that were so sparse.

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  20. Re: Implants:

    The top picture of Shat girdleless brings to mind the JFK pictures pre-cortisone implants: Shat flat bellied, JFK thinned face. As cortisone "fleshed" JFK out, giving him a rounder face we associate with him as president, success "fleshed" Shats out, necessitating corsets.

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