Sir David Jason has confessed he wore a wig and dyed his hair to play Granville in Open All Hours – even though he was only in his mid-30s.
The Only Fools and Horses star said he had already begun losing his hair and had to rely on make-up artists to cover his balding bonce when he played the shop assistant opposite Ronnie Barker in 1973.
Sir David, 80, said: “One day, all was thick and lustrous back there, the next I noticed my crown was privately auditioning for a role in a drama about monks.
"I’d been acting younger than my years when I played Granville in the first place. He was meant to be about 30, and I was 35.
“Thank heavens for the magic of showbusiness, where you are only ever really as old as the make-up department makes you look.
"There was nothing that couldn’t be lastingly remedied by the application of a small hairpiece and some dye.”
Writing in his book A Del Of A Life, Sir David admitted: “Three further series ensued, and nobody was any the wiser.”
But Sir David said he continued to noticeably lose more hair into his 40s.
He added: “Not unlike my life insurance policy, my hair started to offer diminishing coverage as I reached my forties. ‘Typical male-pattern baldness’ was the term for it – or, as I preferred to express it at the time: ‘Typical! Male-pattern baldness!’
The Del Boy star said he puts his long life down to a mix of “moderation” and “fluke”.
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