Did Shatner wear a toup right from the start of Star Trek?

There has been some speculation as to whether William Shatner really wore a toup right from the very start - his appearance in the second Star Trek pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before"which was filmed in the summer of 1965. The answer is undoubtedly yes.


As we noted before, the toup is notorious for having to look almost too perfect in order not to look odd. This comes into play in the final fight scenes in "Where No Man Has Gone Before". What we see as a result of the fighting is Shatner's real hair at the sides become more bulky than the toup hair at the top - which makes the toup look a little like a skull cap.


What we see from this picture is that Shatner's main hairpiece covering his crown, though large, was indeed very light at this early stage. Indeed, it is partially transparent at the sides. The frontal lace hairpiece was also less "heavy" than in later years.

Note: The frontal lace hairpiece is made from a very thin base material, rather like the white net curtains one hangs on windows - except considerably thinner. Into this is woven human hair in small knots. This is then glued onto the head. In Shatner's case, the light frontal hairpiece was glued at the front of his head, meaning the makeup people had to be very careful that the lace line did not show up on film on his forehead. The rear hairpiece would have been anchored at the top with clips or tape rather than glued.