# How (un)common were men with beards in 1940s-1950s America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881 "2010-05-18T14:18:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/41 "2010-05-19T15:45:08Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I would have thought “bearded actors of the 1950’s” might have had at least one webpage devoted to the topic, but if it exists I haven’t found it as such. > > So these images come from all around and are just the guys I could remember from the era. > > [Errol Flynn](http://themave.com/bijou/30/galry/flynngalry.jpg) > [William Powell](http://crazy4cinema.com/Actor/imgs/powell.jpg) > [Orson Welles](http://www.flickr.com/photos/38934532@N04/3719671370/) > [Zachary Scott](http://www.flickr.com/photos/35255697@N03/3289225859/) > [David Niven](http://www.mielofon.com/actor/david_niven/david-niven-008.jpg) > [Vincent Price](http://www.nightmares.ru/wp_test/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/vincent_price.jpg) > [Sebastian Cabot](http://www.bearotic.com/img/2008/05/french001.jpg) > > I wager there are others. It’s really, really important to remember that while today beads and mustaches are pretty much equivalent, that was absolutely not the case earlier. Most of those actors had mustaches rather than beards. That was a huge distinction. And they all grew them as their style before the 50s. Styles change every decade, and while you can carry over a style you already have, that’s not the same as starting that style in the new era. The only two beards are on Orson Welles, which was a very short-lived period from what appears to be the late 30’s, and on Sebastian Cabot. He’s really the only example that might qualify. But to say this yet again, he’s a character actor and therefore by definition an eccentric in the media. The fact that a search yields only a handful of character actors (what, no [Monty Woolley](http://www.nndb.com/people/605/000092329/monty-woolley-1.jpg)?) just makes the startling lack of beards that much more prominent. I don’t think there was even one single leading man starting out his style in the 50s who grew a mustache as part of his look. Absolute statements like that are usually wrong, so I’m prepared for a counterexample, but I can’t think of any. None. That says everything. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/42 "2010-05-19T16:13:04Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > And Jon Gnagy! > > [http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wvartist.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/jon-gnagy-2-464\_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wvartist.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/a-jon-gnagy-christmas/&h=1054&w=960&sz=604&tbnid=EacxdHQwF8BCIM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djon%2Bgnagy%2Bphoto&hl=en&usg=\_\_u0smotFGtNLqfwb\_OZtRiZzHrV4=&ei=-fzzS53uK4GglAeUsuyeDQ&sa=X&oi=image\_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CCEQ9QEwAw](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wvartist.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/jon-gnagy-2-464_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wvartist.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/a-jon-gnagy-christmas/&h=1054&w=960&sz=604&tbnid=EacxdHQwF8BCIM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djon%2Bgnagy%2Bphoto&hl=en&usg=__u0smotFGtNLqfwb_OZtRiZzHrV4=&ei=-fzzS53uK4GglAeUsuyeDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CCEQ9QEwAw) Wow! I didn’t know anyone else knew about him. I actually owned his “official Jon Gnagy” learn-to-draw kit. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/43 "2010-05-19T16:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow! I didn’t know anyone else knew about him. I actually owned his “official Jon Gnagy” learn-to-draw kit. So did I. And I used to watch his show on TV. But he could get away with it, too – he was an _artist_, after all. Lots o’them nonconformist types had moustaches and beards. It’s part of the uniform. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/44 "2010-05-19T16:42:51Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think there was even one single leading man starting out his style in the 50s who grew a mustache as part of his look. Absolute statements like that are usually wrong, so I’m prepared for a counterexample, but I can’t think of any. None. That says everything. He may not have started in the 1950s, but the aforementioned Vincent Price definitely picked up his steam there. And he didn’t drop his trademark moustache, despite having the occasional role where he did without it\* – he always grew it back. Walter Pidgeon and Clark Gable mostly kept theirs, too, but they were definitely firmly established by the 1950s. \*Like playing Joseph Smith in _Brigham Young_, or Roderick Usher in _Fall of the House of Usher_, or, late in life, Oscar Wilde in his one-man show. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/45 "2010-05-19T17:24:53Z")
Hmmm – how about **William Conrad**? He had a few roles pre-1950, but he got big (so to speak) in the 1950s, even playing the lead, Matt Dillon in the radio version of _Gunsmoke_ for nine years, from 1952 to 1961. You couldn’t see him on the radio, of course, but they took publicity pictures, and his mustache is pretty unmistakeable. It ain’t his fault James Arness didn’t sport one. I can’t think of a Conrad role where he _didn’t_ have a mustache. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/46 "2010-05-19T18:28:00Z")
I guess the attitudes on beards back then helps explain this horrible movie I saw on TV years ago. In it, Dick Van Dyke decides to grow a beard and everybody flicks him shit for it. That’s pretty much the premise for the whole movie. I didn’t realize that there was a time where growing beards was considered such a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/47 "2010-05-19T19:07:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So did I. And I used to watch his show on TV. Excuse the hijack, but I thought you might appreciate [this link](http://tseymour.com/gnagy.html) found on the (shockingly barren) Wikipedia article on him. Might bring back a memory or two. Back to the main thrust of the thread, in his autobiography ([Prime Green](http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Green-Remembering-Sixties-P-S/dp/0060957778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274296240&sr=1-1)), [Robert Stone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stone) describes being beaten up ca. 1960 simply because he had a beard and must have been a commie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/48 "2010-05-19T19:18:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Excuse the hijack, but I thought you might appreciate this link found on the (shockingly barren) Wikipedia article on him. Might bring back a memory or two. Oh, God. I remember Lesson Three in complete clarity. And I still doodle those Four Basic Shapes (with all the Tone and Shading) during dull meetings. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/49 "2010-05-19T19:35:31Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Excuse the hijack, but I thought you might appreciate [this link](http://tseymour.com/gnagy.html) found on the (shockingly barren) Wikipedia article on him. Might bring back a memory or two. > > Back to the main thrust of the thread, in his autobiography ([Prime Green](http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Green-Remembering-Sixties-P-S/dp/0060957778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274296240&sr=1-1)), [Robert Stone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stone) describes being beaten up ca. 1960 simply because he had a beard and must have been a commie. Well, they were wrong. Everyone knows that the _real_ dangerous beardos are [Republican lawyers.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Guiteau) ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/50 "2010-05-19T19:37:51Z")
As a bearded boomer, the only beards I recall were for sesquicentennial celebrations. My father was clean shaven because of WWII, my grandfather because he was rebelling against his father, who was bearded. When I grew a beard in the 60’s I was warned to expect derogatory comments from grandad. However when I visited, the first thing out of my grandmother’s mouth was “Oh, with that beard you remind me of my father!”. That effectively silenced my grandad 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/51 "2010-05-19T19:37:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Don’t forget **James Robertson Justice** , who had several prominent film roles. > > [James Robertson Justice - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Robertson_Justice)… Hey, it’s Lord Scrumptious from _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_! I’ll be damned - haven’t thought of him in a long time. His best line: “Had your chance; muffed it. Good morning!” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/52 "2010-05-19T20:08:00Z")
I find the biography page on [Steve Reeves](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0716302/bio) rather interesting in terms of the beard scene of the era. His acting credentials aside, his image was quite in evidence even if it was of a period from the past and therefore not mainstream man-on-the-street fashion. When I grew my first beard in the early 60’s I had it pretty much the way Reeves’s beard looked. If it matters, I’ve had a beard off-and-on since then. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/53 "2010-05-19T20:24:02Z")
See the section “4.2 Olds’ mustache” here: [Robin Olds - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Olds) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/54 "2010-05-19T21:40:53Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I guess the attitudes on beards back then helps explain this horrible movie I saw on TV years ago. In it, Dick Van Dyke decides to grow a beard and everybody flicks him shit for it. That’s pretty much the premise for the whole movie. I didn’t realize that there was a time where growing beards was considered such a big deal. Was it a Van Dyke? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881/55 "2010-05-19T22:35:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Was it a Van Dyke? 😃 Pretty clever, but no. Looking it up on IMDB it was called “Some Kind of Nut” and came out in '69. He grows a beard to cover up a bee sting and gets fired from his job as a banker. [IMDB Listing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065010/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-un-common-were-men-with-beards-in-1940s-1950s-america/539881.md?page=2)