Only Her Hairdresser Knows For Sure

If you watched TV at all during the 1970s you'll no doubt recognize Nancy Walker.

Among her more prominent roles, she was Rhoda's mom Ida Morgenstern on TV's Rhoda and Mildred the maid on McMillan and Wife. She also guest starred on numerous other TV shows including Happy Days, Newhart, Mary Tyler Moore, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls and of course The Love Boat.

She also inexplicably directed Can't Stop The Music, which of course was the pseudo-biographical story of the Village People. If you've not yet seen it, stop what you're doing and run, don't walk to the video store. You won't regret it.

She was probably best known as Rosie the Waitress, spokesperson for Bounty paper towels (the quicker picker upper!) for a good 30 years.

That's a pretty good resume for a woman who has the exact same hairstyle as Dr. Zira.

Seriously, look at that hair. The sleek, swept-back style, the razor sharp widow's peak, the curly locks at the bottom... it's all identical. The only difference is the color. Well, that and the fact that one is a human and the other a mutated ape with the power of speech.

I first noticed this when I was a kid, but back then I didn't have the means to take screenshots nor a place to display them to the world at large. But I do now. I do now.

You can't tell me that the hair stylist on Planet Of The Apes didn't later become Nancy Walker's personal groomer.

Lest you think I cherry-picked images of Nancy Walker to support my point, I assure you I did not. She was sporting this same 'do in every photo I found of her. She apparently wore this particular style her entire life.

One would think that at some point someone in her family or at the very least her agent would have noticed the similarity, pulled her discreetly aside and said, "Nancy, bubala, you know I think you're the tops, but what's with the hair? How about a nice beehive, maybe? Or bangs? Would it kill you once to try bangs?"

Kudos to friend and fellow blogger Ted Parsnips for reminding me that Nancy Walker existed.