Gene Roddenberry: "I don't want a bald man."

A revealing comment made by Gene Roddenberry in an interview shortly before his death. In the December 1991 issue of Cinefantastique magazine (which also provided us with this) the Star Trek creator recalled how in 1986 producer Robert Justman had found a British actor called Patrick Stewart whom he believed could be the new captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation:

Gene Roddenberry with Robert Justman

"[Bob Justman] had gone to UCLA and had seen this man he wanted as Picard. He presented him to me, and my first reaction was 'Jesus Christ, Bob. I don't want bald man. In his wisdom, Justman kept his mouth shut and let me grow accustomed to him."

In fact, Roddenberry asked Patrick Stewart to wear a toupee in his audition for Star Trek: The Next Generation. He did, but in the end, balder heads prevailed.

Yet, Roddenberry's comments reveal how at odds Hollywood realities pertaining to image were with the utopian world of Star Trek he had created. In 1986, the problem may have been overcome eventually, but in 1965, there was no way that a bald Bill Shatner would have been considered acceptable as the star of a major television series. Had Shatner said he wanted to appear bald (there is no evidence at all that he even considered this) then the producers would simply have hired someone else.

No toup, no Shatner.

Bill Shatner has often credited much of his future career and personal wealth to the opportunities afforded him by Star Trek. Since he wouldn't have secured his most famous role without the hair (wrong though that may be), is it fair to say that he really owes everything to his toupee? We think so!

Bill Shatner with Gene Roddenberry, circa 1979 (see here), but possibly earlier.

Star Trek caricaturist takes on Shatner's toupee.

In the book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Robert Justman and Herb Solow, the authors mention a Star Trek sound technician by the name of Frank Oakden, who also turned out to also be a talented caricaturist of the cast and crew of the show. In the above example, Oakden pokes fun at the effect of a strong gust of wind on the good captain's hair.

More from Bob Justman on the missing Shatner toupees...

An extended extract from the book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by (Trek producer) Bob Justman and (Desilu executive) Herb Solow - from pages 341-342:

"My gaze shifted to his (Shatner's) hairline. Examining balding actors' hairlines was a habit I'd picked up over the years. The 'lace' that anchored the front of his toupee glistened. I made a mental note of it to tell the makeup man about it before we filmed again.

I was tempted to ask Bill if he had ever found the so-called missing hairpiece. But no, discretion was the better part of valor.

We had begun the first season with two new toupees for Bill because his own 'personal' ones were too ratty-looking. He would wear one toupee while the other piece was being cleaned in the makeup department. But somehow, one of them disappeared during the hiatus between seasons. Each hairpiece cost $200, a pricely sum in those days. So we expected to get our money's worth for them.

We had always planned to have two Shatner pieces at the start of each season, and we expected to have the same two when the season ended. Somehow, there was only one left when Fred Phillips, our makeup man, took inventory after the last episode [of the first season] was filmed.

The hairpieces were made for Bill; he was the only one they fit. The missing toupee had been left in the makeup room. It didn't just get up and walk out by itself. I was sure the cleaning lady wasn't guilty; she already had a wig. Who could have taken it? And why?

I couldn't resist: 'Ever find that missing toup, Bill?'

'Who, me? Nope. It was in the makeup room when I left that night. I told you, ask Fred. Surely you don't think that I...?' He was the very soul of innocence. But I had made my point. He knew that I knew.

So we had to have a new hairpiece built for him. And later, by the time that Star Trek was cancelled after three seasons, Bill ended up with an expanded personal collection of toupees.

Actually, this didn't surprise me. Actors historically tended to treat wardrobe and other items created for them as their own, taking things home with them at the end of their employment. And since no one else could use the goods, producers usually looked the other way. Bill couldn't very well wear his Star Trek uniform outside of the studio. Actors are weird, but not that weird. But hairpieces were another thing; they were expensive."


Buy your copy from Amazon.com here.

More on the missing hairpieces.

February 5, 1968

From: Bob Justman

To: Gene Roddenberry

Gene: If you haven't already heard about it, we are missing some wigs and hair pieces. Bill Shatner borrowed all four of his hair pieces when we finished shooting. There are two new ones and two old ones. The new ones are worth approximately $200 apiece and the two old ones are worth approximately $100 a piece. Should Star Trek go again next season, this no doubt means that we will have to construct new hair pieces again for Bill because he will have used both the old ones and the new ones to such an extent that they will not be photographable. This I guarantee, since it has happened to us before.

From a memo reprinted in Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry by David Alexander, 1994. (Sourced here from the internet)

Shatner's hairpiece - extracts from Inside Star Trek book.

Herb Solow: "Jimmy Doohan was there too. He recalls that 'Bill's hairpiece was being applied. The top of his head was a lot of skin and a few little odd tufts of hair. The mirrors in the makeup room walls were arranged so that we could all see the laying on of his rug.'" (page 236)

Bob Justman: "My gaze shifted to his (Shatner's) hairline. Examining balding actors' hairlines was a habit I'd picked up over the years. The 'lace' that anchored the front of his toupee glistened. I made a mental note of it to tell the makeup man about it before we filmed again. I was tempted to ask Bill if he had ever found the so-called missing hairpiece. But no, discretion was the better part of valor." (page 341)