# Longhaired 1970s actors refusing to cut their hair for military roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132 "2003-12-26T16:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 31, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/21 "2003-12-31T00:01:18Z")
Back to the OP: the character Bob Falfa in American Graffiti was supposed to sport a crewcut in order for him to stand out from the rest of the cast. Harrison Ford refused and adopted the cowboy hat instead. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/22 "2003-12-31T00:09:07Z")
Also, one of the many reasons watching _Happy Days_ made me gag was seeing Potsie with hair over his ears. Wasn’t that supposed to be set in the late '50’s or early '60’s? I gather most people don’t remember what a stir the Beatles caused because their hair made them “look like girls,” even though it barely touched their ears. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/23 "2003-12-31T01:37:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*Simple, she had been cozying up to Frank. After he went off the deep end and her marriage went kaput, she had no reason to be so gung-ho. \*\* Plus after Frank, Trapper, and the Col. left the show completly changed as to who the ‘bad’ guys were. All the characters chaged over the decade the show was on, even Klinger stopped wearing dresses. I think the OP is refering to someone who has a case of HollywoodisUnAmericanitis. There are lots of reasons why the person may not have the absoulte ‘proper’ haircut for a role. Maybe it’s a bad hairdresser. Maybe the director does not care that the hair isn’t perfectly historically correct. Maybe the producers want the stars to good and maybe they realize that when all the males are wearing the same clothes and have the same haircut that it’s hard to tell them apart. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/24 "2003-12-31T19:12:32Z")
Well, in the case of Harrison Ford, he didn’t want to cut his hair for such a small role. I believe his reasoning was that it would limit his movie prospects until it grew out again. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/25 "2003-12-31T22:54:08Z")
Heh. That makes it pretty ironic that when Tommy Lee Jones accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar (for a Harrison Ford film, natch), his head was shaved partially bald for a part (_Cobb_, which should have nabbed him a Best Actor Oscar, IMHO). Do people not realize that hair (on average) grows at a rate of almost 1/2 inch per month? For an average guy, it might only take a month or two to grow out a close cut. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/26 "2003-12-31T22:59:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PoorYorick \* > \*\*Also, one of the many reasons watching _Happy Days_ made me gag was seeing Potsie with hair over his ears. Wasn’t that supposed to be set in the late '50’s or early '60’s? I gather most people don’t remember what a stir the Beatles caused because their hair made them “look like girls,” even though it barely touched their ears. \*\* On a similar note, Fonzie wore flared Levis in the later seasons. That too was completely inaccurate with respect to the era. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132/27 "2004-01-01T00:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EJsGirl \* > \*\*Heh. That makes it pretty ironic that when Tommy Lee Jones accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar (for a Harrison Ford film, natch), his head was shaved partially bald for a part (_Cobb_, which should have nabbed him a Best Actor Oscar, IMHO). > > Do people not realize that hair (on average) grows at a rate of almost 1/2 inch per month? For an average guy, it might only take a month or two to grow out a close cut. \*\* Harrison was still a bit player in '73. According to the IMDb, American Graffiti was his first role in three years. He probably just wanted to keep his options open for anything that came along. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longhaired-1970s-actors-refusing-to-cut-their-hair-for-military-roles/221132.md?page=1)