Tuesday, June 1, 2010

The newest member of the family.


Bill Shatner's three daughters look on as their mother attends to their dad's toupee.

In Bill Shatner's subsequent three marriages, one key principle had to be understood by his wives: "My three daughters and my toupee are an inseparable part of the package."


However, the actor's first marriage was different in that respect, as wife Gloria Rand and the couple's three daughters were all there to witness the arrival of a newest family member. Imagine the tension and the anticipation as Gloria, Melanie, Lisabeth and Leslie Carol (a newborn baby at the time) waited anxiously outside the toupee-fitting center. Finally, the toupee-fitter let the four in, with a smiling, proud and somewhat sweaty Bill Shatner inside wearing his very first toupee: "The newest member of our family!" he says, proudly "It's a boy!".


At this point, it seems like the right time to tell you a little about the Red-billed Oxpecker. These African birds form a symbiotic relationship with several mammals upon which they happily spend their lives perching: they comb through their fur eating their ticks, which the mammals are perfectly happy to have eaten from them.


Does the picture at the top of this page show a similar relationship? Did Gloria take it upon herself, in a maternal role, to take care of Bill Shatner's toupee at all times, making sure that it remained presentable to the general public? Perhaps this is why after the pair divorced in 1969, Bill Shatner almost immediately stopped using his "Jim Kirk lace". It seems that the first toupee and the first wife were inexorably linked...


Our thanks to regular reader Margaret for sending us the image, sourced, she tells us, via the folks at More Shat, Less Shame.

12 comments:

  1. Bill's expression is priceless!

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  2. The Oxpecker tie-in is genius!

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  3. So who do we blame for the TJ Curly and Dark Ages/Lost Years rugs? Marcy? She simply neglected her wifely Shatnerly duties.

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  4. The Shats looks embarassed on that first pic

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  5. But Bill was still looking great. Yiou can't beat the lace!

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  6. Who coined the term "Jim Kirk lace?"

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  7. Ops, nice blog, this one. So Shatner took his time to put a toupee and make these "spontaneous family publicity photos"? I've seen a lot of "off hours" pics of celebrities without their rug, but Shatner is really obssessive about his hair (or lack of it).

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  8. Shatner does not wear a toupee.

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  9. The ToupWhispererJune 4, 2010 at 4:16 AM

    Shatner and his toupee can coexist peacefully

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  10. Ratty Lost Years PieceJune 4, 2010 at 5:43 AM

    Nice try, "Anonymous,"...or should I say, BILL SHATNER!!!

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  11. Thanks for mentioning More Shat, Less Shame. I think most of its members are avid readers of your blog. Shatner's toupee is one of the funniest things I've encountered on the internet. Love your movie reviews ^_^

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  12. Are you sure he wears a wig? I've worn one for years and no-one has ever said anything to me about it.Maybe some of the Shats will come up on ebay...

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