Careers
English wigmaker George Westmore, for whom the Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild's George Westmore Lifetime Achievement Award is named, founded the first film makeup department at Selig Polyscope Company in 1917. He also worked at Triangle, but soon began freelancing across the major studios. He understood that cosmetic and hair needs were personal and made up stars such as Mary Pickford (whom he relieved of having to curl her famous hair daily by making false ringlets) and the Talmadge sisters (Norma and Constance) in their homes before they left for work in the morning.
He fathered three generations of movie makeup artists, beginning with his six sons—Perc (pronounced "perss" not "perk"), Ern, Monte, Wally, Bud, and Frank. By 1926, Monte, Perc, Ern, and Bud had become the chief makeup artists at four major studios and all continued to break ground in new beauty and horror illusions throughout their careers. In 1921, after dishwashing at Famous Players-Lasky, Monte became Rudolph Valentino's sole makeup artist. When Valentino died in 1926, Monte went to Selznick International. Thirteen years later, he worked himself to death with the enormous makeup demands for Gone with the Wind (1939).
In 1923, Perc began a career at First National-Warner Bros. Over twenty-seven years, he worked on the makeup in many films, including the faces of Charles Laughton's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. In the early 1920s, he blended Stein Pink greasepaint with eye shadow, preceding Max Factor's Panchromatic. Ern, at RKO from 1929 to 1931 and then at 20th Century Fox from 1935, was adept at finding the right look for stars of the 1930s. Wally headed Paramount makeup in 1926, where he created Fredric March's gruesome transformation in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Frank followed him there. Bud led Universal's makeup department for 23 years, specializing in rubber prosthetics.
Together, they built the House of Westmore Salon, which served stars and the public alike. Later generations have continued the name, including brothers Michael and Marvin, who have excelled in special makeup effects, such as in Blade Runner (1982), Mask (1985), and Raging Bull (1980).