Ray Wise Says It Took ‘8 Hours’ to Make His Hair White for ‘Twin Peaks’

Ray Wise is recounting the great lengths the Twin Peaks team went to bleach his hair “all white” for the show.

During a talk at Twin Peaks: A Conversation With The Stars at Sony Hall in New York City on Aug. 10, 2025, the 77-year-old actor said, “They used tremendous chemicals on my hair to bleach my hair all white.”

Later, when Wise filmed the 1993 thriller Rising Sun, he questioned why he didn’t just wear a wig.

“I later made a movie with Harvey Guy and Sean Connery called Rising Sun. And Harvey had the greatest wig. He had a great wig,” Wise said.

He continued: “I went through eight hours of chemicals, my hair, and then every eight or nine days I had to do my roots. So for like three or four months, I went through this horrible routine with my hair. And then until it started breaking off, you know, and it got shorter and shorter and shorter and I was gonna, I was gonna have a flat top … I could have had a wig!”

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The show, which premiered on April 8, 1990, ran for two seasons before it was canceled in 1991. Created by Mark Frost and the late David Lynch, the show followed FBI special agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) as he investigated the murder of local teen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in the fictional town of Twin Peaks.

While the original run of the series only consisted of 30 episodes, it has gained a cult following over the years. The concept was revived in 1992 with the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and again in 2017 with the Showtime limited series Twin Peaks: The Return, which acted as the third season of the show.

Wise portrayed Leland Palmer, Laura’s father, in Twin Peaks — making a return for the subsequent movie and 2017 reprisal.