Is Ted Danson Bald? Actor Acknowledged His Hair Loss on ‘Cheers’

Ted has worn a hairpiece on and off screen over the years, as the Los Angeles Daily News reported in 1990.

According to the newspaper, Ted surprised audience members at that year’s Primetime Emmy Awards — when he finally won an Emmy for his performance as Sam Malone on Cheers — by showing off his bald spot for the first time and revealing that he wears his hairpiece.

“The way you saw him at the Emmys is the way he looks,” Ted’s publicist told the Daily News at the time. “I think Ted probably will be doing roles with and without the hairpiece.”

Mert Rich, a co-producer and writer on Cheers, told the newspaper that he had only heard positive things about Ted’s reveal — and that the actor had joined him in the hair loss club.

“He came up to me — because I am without hair — and he said, ‘See, I’ve joined you,’” Mert said.

At the time, both Mert and Ted’s publicist denied the rumors that Cheers would make Sam balding, too. But as the hit sitcom wrapped up its run in 1993, Sam took off his hairpiece — which he called a “hair replacement system” — in Cheers’ fourth-to-last episode, “It’s Lonely on the Top.”

“It blew my mind the first time I saw that episode,” one fan recently wrote on Reddit. “M. Night Shyamalan can’t write twists that unexpected.”