Michael Westmore
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Michael George Westmore I (born March 22, 1938) is an American
make-up artist A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and Prosthetic makeup, prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other simil ...
best known for his work in various ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
'' productions, winning nine
Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
, and is a member of the Westmore family. He won the Academy Award for Make-up in 1985 for his work on the film ''
Mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
''. His career began at
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...
in 1961, and spanned four decades, including working for the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
creating make-up kits for spies overseas.


Biography

Born in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, Westmore is the son of
Monte Westmore Montague "Monte" Westmore (22 July 1902 – 30 March 1940) was a Hollywood make-up artist, the eldest of six sons of George Westmore. He worked for both the Famous Players–Lasky studio and Selznick International Pictures. He was the head of t ...
, husband of model Marion Bergeson Westmore, father of McKenzie Westmore, Michele Westmore Meeks, and Michael Westmore II, and brother of Marvin Westmore, and Monty Westmore, who are also make-up artists. His family is heavily involved in the Hollywood make-up business. In 1917 his grandfather George Westmore had created the first studio make-up department. Michael's father was a make-up artist for ''Gone with the Wind'' and his uncles were Bud Westmore, famous for co-creating the creature in ''
Creature from the Black Lagoon ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold, from a screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur Ross and a story by Maurice Zimm. It stars ...
'', Perc (main make-up artist at the
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
studio),
Wally Wally may refer to: People and fictional characters * Wally (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Wally the Green Monster, mascot of the Boston Red Sox * Water Wally, mascot of the Singapore's Public Utilities Board * Wall ...
(
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...
), Ern, and Frank, all make-up artists working regularly in major Hollywood productions for decades. He is a 1961 graduate of the
University of California-Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
and a member of
Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly referred to as Lambda Chi, is a fraternities and sororities, collegiate fraternity in North America. With over 300,000 initiates as of 2024, it is the third-largest social fraternity in the world by number of initia ...
fraternity. He began working for
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...
in 1961 as a make-up artist, and was promoted after three years to Assistant Department Head of Make-Up. He apprenticed to John Chambers on the 1963 film '' The List of Adrian Messenger''. Some of Westmore's earliest roles at Universal included ''
The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom about the home life of a family of benign monsters that aired from 1964 to 1966 on CBS. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster (Frankenstein's monster),Episodes referring to the fact that Herman is ...
'' and ''Land of the Lost''. He became a freelance make-up artist during the 1970s and 80s, working on films such as ''
Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...
'' and ''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto (in his final film role). The film ...
''. For ''Raging Bull'', Westmore designed the prosthetic noses which
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...
wore throughout the film, and the make up which simulated bleeding through tubes placed under fake skin. One of the more unusual effects used on the boxing film was a special effect which showed a nose breaking from a punch on screen. He worked with Tom Burman on make-up sets for the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
for operatives overseas to change identities. A set created by the pair sold for $20,000 in 2011. In 1985 he appeared in a video released on VHS called ''Looking Your Best with Michael Westmore''. He was hired in 1986 to work on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', and would go on to work on ''Deep Space Nine'', ''Voyager'' and ''Enterprise''. He was initially apprehensive about working on a television show as his previous experience had been only with feature films, but after discussing it with his wife he thought that the idea of a year-long project was positive. During his time on the shows he developed the make-up for several alien races, including the
Ferengi The Ferengi () are a fictional extraterrestrial species in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They were devised in 1987 for the series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', played a prominent role in the following series '' Star ...
, Cardassians, Jem'Hadar, and further developed the make-up used on
Klingon The Klingons ( ; Klingon language, Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a humanoid species of aliens in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star T ...
characters. One of his first roles was the development of the make-up used on
Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (19871994), four subsequent films (19942002), and '' Star Trek: Picard'' ( ...
to create the character
Data Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...
. He left the Star Trek franchise in 2005, following the cancellation of ''Enterprise''. Following ''Star Trek'', he went into semi-retirement and worked on the musical version of ''Mask'', having previously worked on the movie version. He was responsible for
Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
's make up in the Shankar directed Indian Tamil film called ' Indian'. He also did an elderly women makeup for Kamal Hassan in a Tamil film '' Avvai Shanmugi''. He also spent eighteen months on the Indian film ''
Dasavathaaram ''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language epic science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar, written by Kamal Haasan and produced by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd. It stars Kamal Haasan in ten distinct rol ...
'', where actor
Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
played ten different roles which each required prosthetics. He has begun work as a producer and aims to write a two-volume autobiography. He also made a guest appearance on the
third series Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...
finale of reality TV make-up show ''Face Off'', alongside his daughter McKenzie Westmore who is the presenter of the show. After that, he has appeared in subsequent seasons as a mentor to the contestants of the show.


Awards

Westmore won an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for Makeup for the 1985
Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
film ''
Mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
'', and has been nominated three other times, for '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (1984), ''
The Clan of the Cave Bear ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' is a 1980 work of prehistoric fiction by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times. It is the first novel in the '' Earth's Children'' book series, which speculates on the possibilities of interactions between Neande ...
'' (1986) and '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996). He has won nine
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
s, and was nominated for at least one Emmy every year from 1984 to 2005 (as well as from 1976 to 1978). He has also suggested that he may be indirectly responsible for the addition of a make-up award at the Oscars as he was put forward for a special Oscar in 1980 for his work on ''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto (in his final film role). The film ...
'', and after it was turned down there was such a reaction that a proper award was instituted during the following year. Westmore won a
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Governmen ...
for Makeup for the 2008
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
-language film ''
Dasavathaaram ''Dasavathaaram'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language epic science fiction action film directed by K. S. Ravikumar, written by Kamal Haasan and produced by V. Ravichandran under Aascar Film Pvt. Ltd. It stars Kamal Haasan in ten distinct rol ...
''.


Published works

* * *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westmore, Michael 1938 births American make-up artists Best Makeup Academy Award winners Primetime Emmy Award winners Artists from Los Angeles Living people University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...