Which life cast of Shatner was used?
Everyone agrees the 1975 Kirk mask was built on a cast of Shatner's head that Don Post Studios owned. Nobody with first-hand knowledge has said, on the record, which production that cast came from.
The Devil's Rain (1974)
The cast was taken during the melting-face film, then reused for the Kirk mask.
- SECONDARYMichael Seth Starr's 2019 biography Shatner (p. 104, as cited by Wikipedia) says a mold of Shatner's face taken during production was obtained by Don Post Studios. The page itself could not be checked. 1
- FAN RESEARCHThe most-cited fan history states Don Post Studios made life casts of the actors for the film's melting scenes and reused Shatner's. It sources this to forum research, not to Don Post or Malone. 2
- CIRCUMSTANTIALThe film's makeup was by Tom Burman; his father Ellis Burman Sr. ran the lab at Don Post Studios and his sons also worked there. A route, not a proof. 3
- CONCESSIONShatner, 2019: "the lifecast that created the mask may have been from that movie but the Star Trek mask was created & sold in 1975." 4
Star Trek (1960s)
A cast made during the series for prosthetic work.
- FIRST-HANDShatner, 2021: "They made a mask of my face on Star Trek so that I wouldn't have to be available for the prosthetics that they'd put on my face to look old or evil." 5
- FIRST-HANDShatner, 2018: "I don't believe it was Devil's Rain as the mask was a licensed product that came out the same year so it was probably an earlier mask." 6
- FAN RESEARCHCollectors describe the cast Malone worked from as "a young Shatner life cast" with substantial sculpting on top; they do not name a production. 7
No statement from Bill Malone or Don Post Studios naming the source production was found. The 2000 court opinion says only "a foam master owned by Don Post Studios of Shatner's head." Lee Lambert's history of Don Post Studios, which drew on interviews with Malone, is the one source most likely to settle it and was not accessible to this research.
a life cast of Shatner owned by Don Post Studios; accounts differ on whether it was taken for Star Trek or for The Devil's Rain.