Toupee or not toupee?

Apologies for the Hamlet-inspired headline - it had to happen sooner or later! Following on from our previous post, we have another interesting image from which our toupologists are unable to draw a firm conclusion.

The above image shows Bill Shatner on the set of a 1959 series called Tactic - with co-star Alfred Hitchcock standing behind the actor. We know almost nothing about this episode or series.


We all know the basic contours of the "Jim Kirk lace" - the frontal swoosh and the thick moon-crest-like cap over the rear. Yet, this image lacks these unmistakable characteristics:


Further, the image reveals far more real short hair above the neck than we usually see; the bulk provided by the toup absent.

Until this (if that's what is is), we had no image of Bill Shatner toup-less beyond 1957 or early '58, so we can only guess at his level of baldness. But it's pretty certain that he still had hair at this point (except for a growing bald patch at the back), and that it was just too thin to be convincingly photographed as thick and plentiful anymore - the major balding likely kicked in during the mid-1960s.

The above image would appear to correspond to the progression of thinning that we have been able to chart: thin hair - a frontal hairline still in place - grown longer in this case and combed back (or squashed down from on-screen toupee wearing). In other words, the style visible in the image, seems to be what we might expect to see an early 1960 toup-less Bill Shatner looking like.

Bill Shatner toup-less in 1957 - more here.

Bill Shatner toup-less in December 1957 - also a rare example of his naturally curly hair being visible.

So could it really be a toup-less picture - a rehearsal in progress before any costumes, makeup or toupees were applied? Our toupologists have told us they aren't prepared to make that call yet - not without further study and some major touposcopic work.

A touposcope housed at the William Shatner School of Toupologcal Studies

Or could it just be a squashed toup, after all? Perhaps. But unlike our previous post, where, as readers noted, the confusion could all just be a stray shadow or a part of the cap, here, there is far more to observe and draw conclusions from. "We think that there might be something to this image," one source at the WSSTS, who declined to be identified as they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the institute, told us "It could indeed be Bill Shatner without his toupee, which would be a remarkable find for this era - but we can't be sure at this point."

Let us know your thoughts!



CORRECTION: Thanks to eagle-eyed readers, we have corrected this article to confirm that the behind-the-scenes image is not from 1960's "Mother, May I Go Out To Swim?", as we originally and incorrectly wrote, but rather from an episode of a 1959 series called Tactic - the episode in question guest-starred William Shatner, Alfred Hitchcock and actress Diana Van der Vlis. More here.