the Westmore family

reference // youtube.com/ westmoremonster trailer

Book Ref: 'The Westmores of Hollywod', Frank Westmore & Muriel Davidson, Lippincott, 1st Edition edition (March 1976)

Internet Ref: 'Z-A Westmore', Westmore Museum Research Library 

http://iwanttobeamakeupartist.com/frank-courtney-westmore.html

Trailer to the upcoming video tribute to the monsters of the Westmore family of special makeup artists in Hollywood by Scott Essman and Visionary Cinema, starring and written by Mark Arnott.

The Westmore family is a very famous family in Hollywood makeup. The family has had 4 generation of service in Hollywood, led by their patriarch George Westmore.

George Westmore started his career as a wig maker in England. He later moved his family to the U.S seeking a better opportunity. Well there he maintained a wig making and beauty salon business which floated amongst various cities and finally settled in Cleveland in 1914. George moved to California three years later. On his arrival in Las angelus in 1917, George Westmore worked at the swank Maison Cesare a hairdressing salon making wigs and hairpieces. Noticing a gap in the market George started the fast makeup department in movie history at the selig studio. Eventually became Billie Burke’s personal makeup artist; All the while maintaining his chores at Maison Cesare.

George Westmore had nine children, two of whom died. His children were Monte, Perc, Ern, Willy, Dorothy, Bud and frank.

Monte Westmore

Monte was born in Newport, Isle of Wight. Monte was the first of Westmore children to leave home, and in 1920 he began to work first in a lumber mill and then as a busboy at the Famous Players-Lasky studio. He worked on The Sheik (1921) and convinced actor Rudolph Valentino to allow him to do his makeup creating the clean Latin look in the process. He continued to be Valentino's makeup artist until the actor's death in 1926, and afterwards did freelance work with Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow and Sonia Henie. His work on Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) which led to him being hired as the head of the makeup department at Selznick International Pictures  He also worked at the Oddie Beauty Salon, where he coached Constance Nichols who went on to become the personal hairstylist for several Hollywood actors and actresses, resting in him being the head of the makeup department for Gone with the Wind (1939), Intermezzo (1939) and Rebecca (1940). He personally did the makeup for Scarlett O'Hara in the screen-tests for Gone with the Wind and also oversaw the makeup on the extras seen in the film. The amount of work on Gone with the Wind has been credited with leading to his death. In 1940, he underwent a tonsillectomy, and following the operation he had a fatal heart attack on March 30, a few months after the release of the film.

Perc Westmore

Perc was born in 1904 in in conedory Kent and has a twin Ern Westmore. Perc become the head of department at the Warner Bro's makeup department taking charge of several changes within the companies running, such as names for shades of hair colour to determine the appropriate makeup, producing a chart consisting of 35 shades of Blonde alone. Previously actors and actresses were merely referred to as blonde or Brunette regardless of skin tones. Within the House of Westmore, Perc was known for his beauty skills and produced his own range of makeup under the family name. Perc also became the sole makeup artist for actress Bettie Davis in the film 'The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex' (1939) where she became the first actress to appear bald onscreen, this was done through the use of a bald cap and also the shaving of roughly 3 inches from the front of her hairline. Davis had chosen this to represent a historically accurate interpretation of Queen Elizabeth I. 

Ern Westmore

Ern Westmore was born in1904 and was a Hollywood make-up artist and sometimes actor, the third child in George Westmore's famed Westmore family tree. Perc Westmore's twin, the two were born in 1904 in Canterbury, England, later moving to the United States.

Considered the most talented of the Westmore brothers, Ern found work at Warner Bros. studio, RKO Studios, and Eagle-Lion Studios. He was the director of make-up on over 50 films during his career, and was also featured as himself in a number of B-movie-style features for Kroger Babb, including One Too Many, and Secrets of Beauty, also known as Why Men Leave Home, an instructional primer for women regarding how to keep their husbands faithful. Ern was also involved in the creation of the House of Westmore with three of his brothers. In 1955, Babb set Westmore up with his own television series. Originally called Hollywood Today, but also called Hollywood Backstage and The Ern Westmore Show, The Ern Westmore Hollywood Glamour Show was a program featuring make-up tips and beauty suggestions. Ern struggled with alcoholism throughout his life, drinking as early as 1921. He also struggled in his personal life due to his vices, having been married four times during his life, fathering two children. Ern died in New York City in 1967 of an apparent heart attack.

Bud Westmore

Bud Westmore was born in 1918. Bud has been credited on over 450 movies and television shows, including To Kill a Mockingbird, Man of a Thousand Faces, The Andromeda Strain and Creature from the Black Lagoon. For his involvement in Creature from the Black Lagoon he assisted the designer of the Gill-man, Disney animator Millicent Patrick, though her role was deliberately downplayed and for half a century, Westmore would receive sole credit for the creature's conception. Westmore was also famous for the make-up for TV show The Munster’s. Bud was married to Martha Raye for five years and died in 1973

Frank Westmore

Frank Westmore was born in 1927. He was the youngest of the brother. He was the second Westmore son to be born in America (he was born in Maywood, California) after his parents and siblings had immigrated to the United States from England. Frank worked at Paramount Pictures as an apprentice to his older brother, Wally. Frank also worked on many films, including Farewell, My Lovely, The Ten Commandments, Houseboat, Two for the Seesaw and The Towering Inferno. he also did a lot of TV work, including The Munster’s, Planet of the Apes, Bonanza, Hart to Hart and Kung Fu.

 In 1972, he won the Emmy for 'Outstanding Achievement in Makeup' for the TV Series, Kung Fu. He was nominated twice more, in 1973 and in 1978 for work that he did with his nephew, Michael, for The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story.

Today the Westmore’s still stand, Monte's third child Michael Westmore is continuing a family tradition of teaching the art of make-up. He is best known for his work in various Star Trek productions, winning nine Emmy Awards. He won the Academy Award for Make-up in 1985 for his work on the film Mask. 
His career began at Universal Studios in 1961, and spanned four decades, including working for the CIA creating make-up kits for spies overseas. Michael also appears with his daughter, actress McKenzie Westmore, on the SyFy network’s “Face Off.” a competition series for special effects make-up artists. Michael advises contestants while they work.