12/06/2023
What are some shocking facts about celebrities?
When Patrick Stewart was first cast as Captain Picard on Star Trek, the show’s inventor, Gene Roddenberry, didn’t like Stewart for the role. At all. As Roddenberry saw it, “a leading man ought to have hair and cannot have a head bald and shiny as a billiard ball.”
Well, this was a bit of an issue. Because Stewart had gone bald early in life, and by the time he did his screentest, didn’t have the faintest hint of hair left on his gloriously rounded skull. He had the captain-to-be fitted with a wig immediately. A rather ridiculous wig that sort of took the gravitas away from the character, and did the actor loathed to wear.
Roddenberry was very insisting. “I don’t want a bald, middle-aged Englishman to play a dashing French adventurer. With hair!”
Well, the screentest happened. Everyone was thrilled. Even Gene Roddenberry had to admit it was a pretty solid fit. They had found their man! He later even came to defend his famous showrunner — when someone asked Stewart: “By the 24th century, wouldn’t they have invented a cure for baldness already?”
And Roddenberry cut in, and said: “By the 24th century, no one would care if you’re bald!”
Begrudgingly, the father of Star Trek agreed to cast Patrick Stewart. A fateful decision for both the actor and the entire franchise. And he even allowed the poor man to lose the wig… which, arguably, did even more good for the series because frankly, Picard in a bad wig looks terrible.
Read more>>> https://tinyurl.com/2weem3mf