This Throwback of Chris Meloni with Flowing Long '70s Hair Is Absolutely Incredible
We just can't stop staring at this.
We can't look away!
Law & Order: Organized Crime star Chris Meloni stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2016, and Fallon revealed a picture of a young Meloni looking nearly unrecognizable, from the top of his head down to his boots. And it's so far from the actor we know and love today.
Christopher Meloni had long, luxurious hair in the 1970s
Meloni was born in 1961, so when he grew his hair out "from age 18 to about age 20," it was the latter half of the 1970s into the 1980s, when girls and boys alike sported Farah Fawcett-esque blow-outs. And Meloni was no exception.
Though he's rocking his signature bald look these days, at the time, Meloni's hair reached past his shoulders, and he wore it parted in the middle like a member of the Bee Gees. When Fallon asked him if he was, in fact, in a band, Meloni responded, "I thought I was. In my head, obviously." Completing the look was a scruffy beard and mustache.
It's not just his hair situation that's so eye-catching. Meloni is wearing, in his own words, a "Coors belt buckle circa 1974," and his blue jeans are tucked into lace-up moccasin boots. In the picture, he leans against his mother's "powder blue [Buick] Electra deuce-and-a-quarter with crushed velour seating," one arm on the roof, the other posed in what Fallon nicknamed "the thumb tuck."
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For Meloni today, bald is beautiful
These days, the actor has basically the polar opposite hairstyle: none. As Det. Elliot Stabler, he keeps a no-nonsense cropped beard and mustache, and a completely bald head. Which only makes him look more like Dean Norris, the actor who plays Stabler's brother on Law & Order: OC. Their blue eyes and tough-guy attitudes totally sell the idea that they're related.
Norris opened up to NBC Insider about becoming a Stabler, revealing,"[OC showrunner] John Shiban...who was a writer on Breaking Bad, called me and talked to me and told me what was going to happen for the season. I definitely texted Meloni and said, 'Hey, I might be your brother. We’ll see how things work out.' I’m glad it did work out, and it’s been a blast." he said.
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Norris added that one scene with Meloni at the end of the emotional episode "The Last Supper" (Season 4, Episode 4) was particularly fun to work on. "There’s some great stuff with the end-of-the-episode kind of chitchat with me and Chris. I always enjoy those, and there are several more of those that kind of come up. I always really just enjoy those scenes. They’re just kind of getting to know my brother better, and I think our relationship starts to thaw out. I enjoy every one of those. There’s a lot of good stuff coming up."
