The "Jim" just for Jim?

Here's a question: From the day in May 1966 that Bill Shatner reported for work on Star Trek's first production episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", until the very final day of shooting on the series on January 9th 1969, what other dramatic film or television appearances did Bill Shatner make?

Not many it turns out; the rigors of working on Star Trek evidently didn't leave too much room for other projects (Bill Shatner did however make numerous appearances on quiz, interview shows and other public events during this period). Indeed, thus far we've only found two dramatic projects: the 1968 movie White Comanche (or Comanche Blanco)...


...and the TV movie Perilous Voyage, also filmed in 1968 (but not actually broadcast until 1976). Comanche was filmed during the hiatus between Star Trek's first and second seasons, while Perilous Voyage was filmed between Star Trek's second and third seasons.

William Shatner in Perilous Voyage (1968/1976).

By the time that Bill Shatner was cast in Star Trek, the "Jim Kirk lace" had become the standard hair for almost all of the actor's appearances on film and television. Just one example, here's Bill Shatner in 1961's The Explosive Generation:

So why when Star Trek began did Bill Shatner suddenly decide to use different toupees for his other projects? Both in White Comanche and Perilous Voyage, the actor wears hairpieces lacking the famous "you can comb it back!" feature of the standard "Jim Kirk lace" - a significant shift.

There are a number of possible reasons: Perhaps Bill Shatner felt that in the character of James T. Kirk, both he and his toupee had finally found an understanding partner; thus, it was a question of fidelity - an exclusive toupee for just this role - a very noble sentiment indeed. A somewhat weaker version of this notion would have had Bill Shatner believing that audiences now strongly identified the "Jim Kirk lace" with the character that he portrayed in Star Trek - thus, the new toupees would have been a way to prevent typecasting.


Or perhaps Bill Shatner, knowing that he had, shall we say "lifted" (also see here) a few of the toupees provided to him by Star Trek, didn't want to irritate the producers by wearing them (or the same style) on other projects.

Or was it something to do with Bill Shatner's by-this-point deteriorating marriage to wife Gloria Rand? Were the new toupees a signal that the relationship was over?

Or was it legal? Did Star Trek's producers, knowing that the toupee was developing its own ever-growing fan-base, contractually stipulate that during the show's run, the "Jim Kirk lace" must not appear in any other projects?

An interesting mystery...


Note: Perilous Voyage is a movie that our toupologists have, despite our best efforts, been entirely unable to locate - it neither exists on DVD, VHS, YouTube nor any of the other Internet resources within which one can often find rare Bill Shatner appearances. So, we've decided to offer a highly prestigious honorary degree from the WSSTS to any of our valued readers that can help us track down a copy!

Update: YouTube user "Rubypearl" has posted a brief clip from this movie - watch below:

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.

William Shatner makes another oblique toupee inference.

The 2008 autobiography Up Till Now - written by William Shatner with David Fisher.

There was an incident during the run of the original Star Trek that caused some friction between William Shatner and co-star Leonard Nimoy. The pair quickly made up and have since become very close friends, but back in 1967, William Shatner took exception to a makeup room photoshoot in which the application of the Spock makeup would be made public. The incident has been dealt with in several Trek-related books and Bill Shatner has previously conceded that his own jealousy of Nimoy's popularity (who is the star of this show?) was at the root of his angry reaction. It is something, he says, that he had to struggle to come to terms with in the early days of Star Trek.

But was the anger not just about popularity but also about Shatner's toupee?

The photoshoot that caused friction between Shatner and Nimoy. Sourced from www.mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com

In his brilliantly entertaining 2008 autobiography Up Till Now William Shatner tells the story with an additional twist he has never alluded to before. There is a secret at play. What might that secret be?:

"Leonard felt that Freddy [Phillips, Star Trek's makeup artist] had prevented Spock from becoming some kind of visual joke. So when a magazine wanted to do a photo story about his makeup process, featuring Freddy, he agreed. But nobody told me about it.

"We began filming every morning at 8 a.m. Leonard reported to makeup at about 6:30, but I got there about forty-five minutes later. One morning I came to work and found the photographer in the makeup room snapping away. I didn't like that at all; I was concerned all of my little makeup secrets were going to be revealed. And no, I can't tell you what they are. That's why they are secrets. So I asked someone, justifiably, I thought, 'What's the photographer doing in the makeup room?' (emphasis ours)

"The photographer quietly left the room. Leonard and Freddy waited for him to return but he never came back. Eventually Leonard was told that at my insistence an assistant director had forced the photographer to leave. Leonard was furious. He immediately came to my trailer to confront me. 'Did you order the photographer out?' he demanded.

'Yes,' I admitted, explaining, 'I didn't want him there.'"


Now what were those secrets? It it very likely that Bill Shatner is referring to the fact that he would come into work bald, sit down next to Leonard Nimoy in the makeup room, and then have his hairpiece applied. He understandably didn't want those secrets (Captain Kirk is bald!) appearing in some magazine.

If we do the simple maths: Bill Shatner arrived at makeup a full forty-five minutes before he was due on set and forty-five minutes after Nimoy arrived to have his latex ears arduously applied. If he just had basic makeup applied, then he could have come in later. But during that forty-five minutes, the intricate process of laying on the rug was also undertaken.

In the book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story Desilu head of production Herb Solow recalls the same incident:

"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)

So in summary: Again we see that Bill Shatner is slowly thawing from the days of outright toup denial - instead peppering his recollections with inferences, albeit still oblique ones, to his hairpiece. Perhaps he had read Herb Solow's account of the Nimoy incident and didn't want to lie about or ignore the toupee factor.

Who knows, maybe in a few years he will openly discuss his baldness in an interview without the subject hitting Shatner's raw nerve.

By the way, we haven't read any of the biographies by the "gang of four" (Doohan, Takei, Koenig and Nichols). If anyone out there has and spots a toup reference, please let us know.

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.

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)