Toupees

[charliechaplinfan]

A strange subject I grant you but as so many of my favorites did don toupees for their screen appearances and some wore them when they were out and about. They can't have been comfortable, it's pasted on with gum and stuck in place, I can understand the need for them in the movies but what about in their private lives, is a toupee something one can apply themselves or does it take someone else to set it in the proper place? Does anyone know? Not that I expect anyone has first hand experience.

How can you tell which stars wore them, they're such a good match on the stars who had no vanity about being seen without them. Is it possible to tell?

These are the kind of things I ponder when I'm trying to get to sleep at night.

[knitwit45]

Alison, I got this list from Imdb:

Wearers of toupées take pains to keep their use secret, but all too often, its presence is obvious, or at least evident enough to engender suspicion. Film and television stars of both past and present often wear toupées for professional reasons, particularly as they begin to age and need to maintain the image their fans have become accustomed to. However, many of these same celebrities go "uncovered" when not working or making public appearances.

This list is presented for illustrative purposes, to show the prevalence of toupée use throughout history: it is not intended to mock the wearers. Due to sensitivities regarding the living, only deceased, publicly known (and often, self-admitted) toupée wearers, are listed here. These include:

* Bud Abbott (wore a front toupee in early films)[30]
* Fred Astaire (he appeared sans toupee while entertaining the troops overseas)
* Raymond Bailey
* Edgar Bergen
* Humphrey Bogart[31]
* George Burns[32]
* Julius Caesar[4]
* Gary Cooper (he was not totally bald but used a "thickening" toupee in later years, which was on display at the Max Factor Museum in Hollywood)
* Howard Cosell[33]
* Bing Crosby (chose not to wear a toupée during WWII USO Tours) [34]
* Peter Cushing often wore a toupee in films in later years, but equally often appeared without it, letting the character he was playing dictate the hair style.
* Bobby Darin[35]
* Charles O. Finley, former owner of the Oakland Athletics
* Ted Healy (Original owner of the Three Stooges)
* Charlton Heston
* Gene Kelly (when not on camera, he wore caps or trilby hats)
* Frankie Laine
* Bela Lugosi (he was not bald, but in Dracula he wore a front toupee to give him a widow's peak)
* Fred MacMurray[36]
* Miles Malleson
* James C. Morton
* Charles Nelson Reilly - it was a long-standing joke on Match Game; in the 1970s. During the airing of one broadcast, he actually took off his toupée and loaned it to a bald guest.
* John D. Rockefeller[37]
* William Roth, Senator from Delaware
* Frank Sinatra[38]
* James Stewart [39]
* Billy Vaughn
* John Wayne[40]
* Hank Williams
* Ray Milland

[movieman1957]

I read somewhere that Ray Milland's hair was ruined back when he was making "Reap The Wild Wind." He had the waves put in with a hot iron and it caused it to fall out. (Sounds as good as any reason.)

[charliechaplinfan]

Is the number in the brackets the age at which they started wearing toupees (Julius Caesar 4?) or the amount of toupees they owned?

I have so much respect for the stars of stage and screen who went without in their private life.

I remember reading the foreword to a book on Gene Kelly written by Leslie Caron who said that David Niven named his wig Aubusson.

I remember when I was little my mother had a wig that I never saw her wear but I used to take it out of the cupboard and try it on, it was synthetic and was metal inside, I wonder why on earth she ever bought it as she had lovely hair. I must ask her. I mentioned it to my husband who has the same recollection as me about his Mum. Perhaps it was a fad in the sixties.

[knitwit45]

Yes, it was a fad. I had a blonde Sassoon swing cut wig, and a long brunette "fall" that you wore with a headband.

The numbers beside the names are references to footnotes on the list.

well silly me. I Googled famous toupee wearers, and it wasn't Imdb, it was Wikipedia, and here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toup%C3%A9e

[klondike]

Not that I want to contribute to the slightest non-suspension of disbelief in the Mighty Mythology of Television's Western Frontier, but I fear the rumors are true: the elder three of "Bonanza" 's original 4 Cartwrights all wore toupee's - with Pernell needing the most coverage, and Dan needing the least.
I'm just glad I didn't know this as a kid!

[knitwit45]

here's someone who is a good sport:

[youtube][/youtube]

[charliechaplinfan]

Nancy, that's hilarious. I don't know Pat Boone, I've heard the name but he looks like a good sport. However if you are going to swing things around your head, perhaps it should have been glued on.

[Professional Tourist]

Charles Boyer belongs on the list. He wore his toupees professionally, went without them privately.

And this might be a bit off-topic, but Judy Garland wore eyebrow toupees from the 1950s onward.

[Uncle Stevie]

I remember taking my Mother to a helicopter landing pad and as the copter landed her large wig went flying across the field. The copter pilot and all abord were laughing so much I thought they would crash land. But all was ok except my Mother who was embarrassed beyond belief.

[Lzcutter]

Here's some:

John Wayne
Gene Kelly (especially in the That's Entertainment films
Bing Crosby
Errol Flynn
Charles Heston in Earthquake and other films of his
Jimmy Stewart in his later years.

[mrsl]

.
CCFan:

Pat Boone was an early contender to Elvis, but Elvis did mainly Country rock, and Pat did slow love ballads. Did you ever hear the song April Love? That was one of his best, as well as starring in the movie named April Love. The secret got out very early in his career that he was married with four daughters, so that kind of ruined any chance of his being anyones' dreamboat, but he managed pretty well.
.

[charliechaplinfan]

Charles Boyer belongs on the list. He wore his toupees professionally, went without them privately.

And this might be a bit off-topic, but Judy Garland wore eyebrow toupees from the 1950s onward.

I'd never even heard of eyebrow toupees, they can defintely be included here.

There are plenty of pictures of Boyer without his toupee and he looks just as handsome. Humphrey Bogart was similar, he wore them onscreen but don't think he bothered off screen.

I'd never have thought Errol Flynn wore a wig, is this is in his later years or did he need it from early on? He always looked the perfect package in the first half of his movie career.

Thanks for the information on Pat Boone, I had a feeling he was a singer, I don't think he ever made it big over here.