I don’t know what on Earth (or Ceti Alpha Two) caused this to drop into my brain, but I suddenly find myself wondering if William Shatner really had no chest hair or whether '60s TV did not allow it. Can anyone advise?
I do not know if he shaved but there was no ban against chest hair in the 60’s, just look at Spock’s glorious fur coat.
I know he struggled to keep his weight down. He always started each season pretty fit and by seasons end the weight started showing.
No, they had makeup people to do that for him,
If it was shaved, there would be stubble. Probably waxed.
You can ask him right here:
I seem to recall from some interviews that aired on the Sci-Fi channel right after they picked up the original series that there was hair removal; someone involved with the show thought that Captain Kirk shouldn’t be hairy.
My recollection from a book about Star Trek that I read long ago (well before TNG was even thought of) is that yes, they made Shatner shave his chest so that (more or less) he wouldn’t be too sexy for TV.
Since Spock was an alien and therefore couldn’t be considered sexy (or so the network censors thought), Nimoy wasn’t required to do so.
Which resulted in that bizarre scene with a bald-and-shiny-chested Kirk and a furry Vulcan. I always thought that was so weird looking, which is why the story stuck in my mind.