Making a Monster: The Creation of Screen Characters by the Great Makeup Artists [Over 400 illustrations]

by Al Taylor, Sue Roy

A behind-the-scenes look into the careers and creations of Hollywood's most talented makeup artists reveals how they have created, through gimmickry and artistry, movie monsters from Frankenstein to Star Wars

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been looking for this book (published in 1980) for years and finally stumbled across it in a 2nd hand bookshop in Leicester for £4 (much cheaper than I ever saw quoted on ebay!). Back in the 80s, I imagined it would be full of instructions on how to create monsters (as the title would suggest) but it’s so much more than, a roll-call of make-up greats from the start of the film industry up to Rick Baker (but published just prior to his American Werewolf breathrough). Twenty-five artists are interviewed, some more interesting than others, but because of the timing there’s only a few who didn’t get to contribute some thoughts or anecdotes. It was particularly heartening to read of the likes of Jack Dawn (who built prosthetic appliances for injured soldiers returning from World War 2), Gordon Bau (who created prosthetics for amputees after the war) and Howard Smit (who made up a team of undercover policemen trying to track down criminals mugging old ladies). The John Chambers segment is fascinating - as well as his credited make-up work in films, it appears he did a lot for other films without credit (including the head in the boat sequence from “Jaws”) in addition to a lot of work with wounded soldiers and people who suffered life-altering injuries. He also became the first make-up artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. The book finishes with Stan Winston and Rick Baker, two men just starting out at the time (most of Baker’s section covers “King Kong” and goes into details of his stressful time on the film), who would go on to do great things - as the book was published, Baker was a year off creating the American Werewolf make-up effects that would win him an Oscar.
Competently written and well laid out, it’s clear Sue Roy (who apparently did most of the work) interviewed her subjects thoroughly and it’s nice to see the changes in the film over the span of the twentieth century, with the newcomers building on the work of those who came before - and being reverential about it. The book does have some glitches - the aforementioned Dawn is given full credit for the Creature From The Black Lagoon make-up, completely ignoring Milicent Patrick while Jacqueline Pearce who is mentioned as being the reptile in the Hammer film is shown, in a photograph, with the actress being menaced given her name - but these kind of add to its charm in a strange way.
I found this completely fascinating, explaining difficult processes in a clear and easy way and really giving these technicians a chance to shine. I’m glad I finally managed to track down a copy and if, like me, you’re interested in movie make-up, I’d very much recommend it.