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U.S.HOT TAKE OR NOT

Patrick Stewart Embraced His Baldness and Became an Icon

Stewart, who was knighted in 2010, was already balding by nineteen from hereditary alopecia, a trait that became one of his most recognized features; the wig never got billing.

On air: Hank Ledger, Vera Bullock and Dale Bearman on BBN Tonight
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Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0
▶ As it aired · U.S.

Watch it as it aired: Hank Ledger, Vera Bullock and Dale Bearman on this story, from BBN Tonight at 6:03 PM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are The New York Times's, the jokes are ours.

Photo: Patrick Stewart
Photo: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 3.0

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What BBN said about it

  1. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorPatrick Stewart wore a wig to auditions but not to social occasions, according to the Belgravia Centre, and his memoir describes the road from that insecurity to self-acceptance.

  2. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorMy take: the wig was a brilliant bit of pre-launch positioning.

  3. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorIt tested the market, the market said no, and we are calling that a soft launch of the scalp.

  4. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNOT. Nobody tests a market with a wig.

  5. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMy take: he took a bricklayer job at seventeen, AOL says, to stop the hair loss. So the wall's still standing and the hair isn't.

  6. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorPoor return on bricks.

  7. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorHOT. Bricks were a bold choice.

  8. Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorNot? Hank, the wig tried. It went to every audition and took the rejection so the head didn't have to.

  9. Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorIt was the body double, Vera. For a hat.

  10. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorFine, split it. Vera's is NOT, Dale's is HOT, and I'm giving my own take now.

  11. Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorThe wig got to every audition and never got a single credit. Some of us know how that feels.

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Photo: Starsxxx · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · altered by BBN, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0
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