Do You Remember When Steve Martin’s Hair Wasn’t Gray?

If you’re of the younger crowd, you might not even realize that comedian and actor Steve Martin ever had dark hair! He’s known for hilarious films such as Father of the Bride, The Jerk, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Little Shop of Horrors and many more. He currently stars in the successful series Only Murders in the Building alongside Martin Short, Selena Gomez and a rotating cast of famous stars.

Martin started out in Hollywood when he was pretty young and was already going gray. In fact, he found his first gray hair at 15 years old, much earlier than most. One of his first jobs in Hollywood was as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In his documentary Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces, Martin talks about how going gray at an early age actually helped him succeed.

He explained, “When I worked with [comedian and fellow writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour] Bob Einstein, he said, ‘You know what’s gonna help you? Age.’ And he was right. Because the act looked juvenile. That’s why it helped when my hair turned gray a little bit. You always have to think that a grown man is doing this.”

Paul W. Bailey/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images

Martin also made his first television appearance on the same show and caught the acting bug. He began doing stand-up comedy and added that his confidence helped him to do well in show business. Martin said, “I became a semi-professional, meaning I was working the local folk-music clubs, going around either working for free or for a week. And I quickly decided that … whatever it was, I was going to pretend like it was fantastic. And how great am I? How great is what you’re seeing? And I think that’s what, really, the audience tuned into because they couldn’t believe that someone actually was that confident.”

Tell us, what is your favorite Steve Martin role, and do you remember when he had dark hair?

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Classic Comedy Duos

March 2021

Chuckle at television & films funniest comic duos.

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