# Actors/Actresses Who Wear Wigs/Toupees in TV Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110 "2008-09-05T02:28:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/21 "2008-09-05T14:16:51Z")
Nobody has mentioned Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/22 "2008-09-05T14:43:04Z")
If playing a different age doesn’t count, playing a different sex probably doesn’t either. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/23 "2008-09-05T15:14:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Carl Reiner in **The Dick Van Dyck Show**. Reiner used his toupee as a prop in a lot of shows of the 60s (and probably back in the 50s) – he’d wear it or take it off depending on the situation, but in **Dick Van Dyck** he generally wore it. Reiner used several of his toupees **as** props in one particularly hilarious episode, the name of which and season escape me now. Oh, and my wife can’t look at Nicolas Cage without mentioning his (usually poor, in her opinion) selection of toupees. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/24 "2008-09-05T15:41:26Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Reiner used several of his toupees **as** props in one particularly hilarious episode, the name of which and season escape me now. That would be “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” the opening episode of the final season. And who can forget when [Muhammed Ali let viewers know Howard Casell wore a toupee.](http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/blog/cosell%20and%20Ali.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/25 "2008-09-05T15:46:18Z")
You can even see it fly off his head [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBlNgTBvhiA), although, at a distance. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/26 "2008-09-05T16:06:16Z")
BIlly Crystal wore a rug when he was on SNL to look like he had a full head of hair. For one of his characters, he used to slide it back on his head to the character had a receding hairline. And I remember once someone was supposed to pretend to slap him but accidentally hit his hair piece, shiffting it on his head which caused them all to have to fight off laughter as he adjusted it. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/27 "2008-09-05T16:14:34Z")
I’m very surprised no one has mentioned Steven Van Zant ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven\_Van\_Zandt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Van_Zandt)) as Silvio Dante ([Silvio Dante - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Dante) ) in the Sopranos. That hairpiece is infamous And why is the “Insert Link” function not letting me imbed the link in the name? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/28 "2008-09-05T17:12:07Z")
Actually, performers wearing wigs is pretty routine. As mentioned above (in the posts re: Beverly Crusher) it’s not at all about vanity, it’s about having to do reshoots and restaging scenes. When a movie/TV scene is shot, something is deemed wrong with it and it has to be reshot, it must be made to match as close as possilble to scenes shot around it - sometimes shot several days earlier. If you have / ever had long hair, you’d know it is impossible to make it look the same way day after day without change. That said, I shared an apartment with a drag queen about 10 years ago, and we watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” faithfully (no pun intended). My room-mate would often guffaw and groan at the wigs used to disguise the stunt-doubles who did the fight scenes. On the flip side of the coin, in the movie **Taxi Driver** , Robert De Niro wore a skullcap to simulate his mohawk. (De Niro said he’d be willing to actually cut his hair into a mohawk, but Scorsese insisted he wear a ‘piece’, for exactly the reason above - if they had to reshoot anything, his star’s 'do would look exactly right.) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/29 "2008-09-05T19:12:04Z")
As “Ugly Betty,” America Ferrera wears a wig. Fake bushy eyebrows, too. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/30 "2008-09-05T19:12:34Z")
Tricia Helfer, as Number 6 in the new BSG, has worn a platinum blonde wig for every season except the first. The bleaching required to get her natural hair colour that light completely destroyed her hair, so they switched over to the wigs. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/31 "2008-09-05T20:29:18Z")
Mr. Carlin in the Bob Newhart show? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/32 "2008-09-05T21:48:31Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > That would be “Coast to Coast Big Mouth,” the opening episode of the final season. Thanks! Unfortunately, Hulu only has the first two seasons… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/33 "2008-09-05T21:50:24Z")
Joe Pantoliano wore a wig as “Ralph” on The Sopranos. He is bald in real life. It was a rather odd hairstyle, parted in the center, the kind you usually see on 16 year old boys and guys in New Wave bands, not on middle aged mobsters. But then again, everything about Ralph’s character is fairly quirky. [Here’s](http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/img/cast/character/ralph_cifaretto.jpg) a picture of it. He is eventually killed and when they move his body, the wig falls off. But it is not known to the audience that the character, as opposed to just the actor, is wearing one until this point, so it’s a humorous surprise. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/34 "2008-09-05T23:08:21Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > And why is the “Insert Link” function not letting me imbed the link in the name? New board software works differently–type the text you want to have as the link, highlight it, then hit the link button and paste the URL into the popup box. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/35 "2008-09-05T23:29:01Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > How about people like Mollie Sugden, who wore wigs to make the running gag concerning her hair colors easier? She actually dyed her own hair in the early episodes, but switched to wigs because all the dye was damaging her hair. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/36 "2008-09-06T11:15:24Z")
Lisa Kudro, from Friends, wore a wig for the last couple of years. They talked about this in some of the extras on the DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/37 "2008-09-06T12:42:05Z")
Over here, Terry Wogan’s syrup is legendary. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110/38 "2008-09-06T14:36:30Z")
I saw Pata Sajack take off his wig to reveal he was completely bald underneath. But this was done on April 1st, so maybe it was a joke. It was a really good bald cap if it was fake. It is just enough to make you wonder, and I’m sure that is what they were trying to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-who-wear-wigs-toupees-in-tv-series/462110.md?page=1)