FAMOUS HAIR AUCTIONED
One of the most iconic images in the history of cinema was auctioned at Sotheby’s last Friday.
The Mohican hairpiece worn by Robert DeNiro in Martin Scorsese’s classic alienation film Taxi Driver fetched over £50,000 and was sold to an anonymous Japanese bidder.
The original hair for the wig was shaved from the head of then Froghill College student Graham 'Goldie' Lox.
“I was one of the first people in the world to have a Mohican,” Mr Lox told the Observer.
“I actually suffer from an rare form of alopecia in which the hair on either side of my head drops out while growth in the middle remains strong and vigorous.”
Mr Lox, now 48 and still a Froghill resident, was contacted by Martin Scorsese late in 1975. The New York director offered him $10,000 to shave off what remained of his hair.
This went on to form the striking toupé worn by DeNiro for the film.
“The strip of hair had to be kept intact,” recalled Mr Lox, “so my head was shaved with a sharpened paint scraper, from front to back in one go.
"It hurt a bit, I can tell you!”
The resulting pelt was then oiled and placed in a refrigerated container before being rushed to Heathrow to catch a Concorde flight across the Atlantic.
It was to become one of the most famous hairstyles ever to have appeared on the big screen.
The hairpiece was returned to Mr Lox at the end of filming in 1976, along with an autographed photograph of DeNiro wearing it.
Mr Lox, completely bald these days following an accident with a rotary lawnmower, is a devout churchgoer. He plans to donate the money from the sale to the Save St Mark’s Steeple Fund.
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