Special to STARTREK.COM by Deborah Fisher
Everyone who watches Star Trek knows that Makeup Designer Michael Westmore is the genius behind all the fantastic alien faces we've been watching since Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not everyone knows, however, that the Westmore name is synonymous with makeup in Hollywood. At one time, there was a Westmore running the makeup departments at each and every major studio in Hollywood (with the exception of MGM). Michael's family has been responsible for the look of such stars as Mary Pickford, Rudolph Valentino, Vivien Leigh, Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, Shirley MacLaine, James Stewart and Elizabeth Taylor. Just to name a few.
The story starts with Michael's grandfather, George, born in England in 1879. Serving as a baker-barber in the Boer War in 1900, George found himself one day cutting the hair of a dashing, young war correspondent named Winston Churchill. Churchill had sought George out for his already legendary hair-cutting skill.
George married Ada Savage and opened his own hair salon once he left the military and as a succession of sons were born, the two traveled and worked until the family settled in Cleveland in 1913. George expanded his trade from hair and wig making to women's makeup. Eventually, Mont, Perc and Ern (twins), Wally and Frank would all learn and enter the business as well as having their own families that beget still more Westmore trainees.
If you want to get totally immersed in some terrific stories and a whole bunch of juicy industry gossip from the golden days of Hollywood, get hold of a little book written by Frank Westmore and Murial Davidson called "The Westmores of Hollywood." Frank tells all including: How George invented false eyelashes when he clipped some wig hair to remake silent screen star Billie Burke's look and went on to become Douglas Fairbanks' personal makeup artist. How Mont became Rudolph Valentino's closest friend and mentor by maneuvering himself into exercising Valentino's horses and later designing the trademark Valentino look with a bit of Vaseline. How Perc got his start as a boy by fixing Adolphe Menjou's mangled moustache. How Ern changed the shape of Hollywood lips by re-doing Bette Davis's. How Frank started working in the famous House of Westmore makeup salon in Los Angeles at age 17 on Bugsy Siegel's mistress, Virginia Hill.
Westmores also worked on such notable movies as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Gone With the Wind," "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," and "Mutiny on the Bounty." At one time, the various Westmores seemed to be doing makeup for all of the town's biggest stars. By the time Michael (one of Mont's sons) reached the age at which he, too, could enter the family's famous profession, he had been steadfastly trying to do something else. "I was studying archaeology and art history and was about to graduate," recalls Michael. "My Uncle Frank called me and said they had an apprenticeship opening up at Universal. I had no interest really but I was really tired from school. I thought it would be fun and a good way to earn some money. That was in 1961. I loved it."
As a child, Michael used to go to work with his mom on Saturdays, but never picked up a makeup brush until his uncle made him his own little kit. What intrigued him about makeup was its artistry. "I had been studying painting and sculpture," says Michael. "To me, makeup was just like taking it off a canvas and putting it on a face."
Michael not only learned from his family, he deliberately sought work with well knowns such as John Chambers who innovated appliance makeup. (Chambers won an Oscar for "Planet of the Apes.") "I learned how to make molds, how to sculpt, how to apply it all, how to paint the rubber, and how to put it on people's faces." Obviously this stuff was going to come in handy.
When Chambers left Universal, Michael moved up. Over the next few years, he sought out all types of experience to expand his knowledge. Michael worked on kid's shows with Sid and Marty Crofft and eventually did what he humorously calls "a little teeny movie" called "Rocky." He also worked for Martin Scorsese for a number of years before becoming Elizabeth Taylor's personal makeup artist. In 1986, Michael won the Academy Award? for "Mask." Today, Michael's Emmy nominations number in the forties, with many of his awards coming from Star Trek specifically.
Michael came to Star Trek: The Next Generation in a bit of a roundabout way. As Roddenberry geared up for his show, many makeup artists were interviewed. Whenever they were asked who they would get to do appliances if they were hired, all the interviewees said "Michael Westmore." Roddenberry decided just to skip the middlemen and outright hire Westmore.
Over the years, Michael has built up an experienced and devoted crew that you can probably guess includes a few Westmores (brother, sister-in-law, son). When doing Star Trek films, or a particularly big Star Trek television production, they'll pump up the crew compliment to handle 200 faces. Michael has also done a lot of work in conjunction with plastic surgeons on cosmetic makeup for people who have been injured or scarred by illness and accidents. He teaches, he writes, and participates in special exhibits that require his expertise.
Aside from his name and experience, Michael believes that he was originally hired by Star Trek because of his style. "I have almost a light touch, a soft touch whether it's alien, good or bad. My touch is more Disney than Rick Baker. Even my bad aliens don't telegraph and give things away too soon."
Michael Westmore is the one of the most relaxed and generous people you could talk to. Even after all these years in the business, you can find yourself standing just out of the rain at Paramount Studios talking about how an exploding makeup appliance worked on one take, and he is full of enthusiasm. "There is a creativity to it," he says. "I have to read the scripts, but they don't give me any description, so I actually do design things. Over the years, the producers and I have learned to almost mentally communicate. I know what they want. They know what's coming in the door before I get there."
Michael was recently present when his older brother, Monty, received the first George Westmore Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild. Monty has worked on or overseen makeup for over a hundred films over 60 years, including, coincidentally, his work on "Star Trek: First Contact."
