Cinefantastique magazine once claimed that William Shatner did not wear his frontal hairpiece while made-up as a Romulan in the Star Trek episode "The Enterprise Incident" (we don't have the Cinefantastique quotes unfortunately - if you do, please send). Similar claims have been made for the episodes "The Tholain Web" and "The Deadly Years." But are these claims true? Let's focus on "The Enterprise Incident."
It is difficult to ascertain. The best we can say conclusively is that there is a strong possibility, at least in one or two scenes. The below photo shows Shatner's Nixon-esque receding hairline in a way that was not normally visible. Plus, Kirk's characteristic frontal hair swoosh is missing. So it is possible that that main rear toup is carrying the load of concealing Shatner's baldness, while the front of the forehead is indeed Shatner's real thinning hair combed back over the rear toup. It is tough to say - we would say there is a small possibility of the claim being true.
It's still a toupee. They just combed it a bit differently when he was made-up as the Romulan.
ReplyDeleteI think the bigger question would be "WHY NO TOUP" as a Romulan?
ReplyDeleteAt least in the aging sequence, it would make sense not to wear it. Even this was probably debated, since he has more hair on top in the final part of the aging sequence...probably because he protested being totally exposed.
But why would he go without the piece just because he is supposed to be portraying a Romulan. I think, since there is no logic to this scenario, he was more likely than not wearing his usual toupee or pair of toups. As Mr. Spock what he thinks more likely?