A few months back, I did a lengthy one-on-one interview with makeup artist Jeff Dawn for an article on "Terminator 3" (he's been Schwarzenegger's makeup artist since the first "Terminator") and I got to talking about his family, who have been doing makeup in Hollywood for much of the past century. No, it's not something I could necessarily put in a magazine article, but it's fucking fascinating to me, so I figured I'd share.
Question: So, how are you related to the many Dawn's that have done Hollywood makeup through the past century?
Jeff: Well, Jack Dawn was my grandfather. He unfortunately passed away before I was born, so I never knew him. My grandfather came out from Kentucky in the early 1900's and he was an artist. He started working as an extra in the film industry because he had his own horse. He brought it along and said, "Okay, myself and my horse" = three dollars a day. Hey, great! Then they realized he could turn himself into anybody. If they had a call for a bunch of miners or a bunch of Indians of a bunch of mountain men – whatever the characters were – he would show up in full makeup and wardrobe and be that character for the day. He ended up in some of the Keystone Kops movies and before long, he was helping the actors out with their makeup. Back in those days, most of the actors would do their own makeup. The producers and directors and actors realized that this man had a real talent for makeup and after a short while, he was a makeup artist.
Question: Where did that talent come from?
Jeff: It was a talent for sculpting, it was a talent for creating things out of nothing, whether it was clay...when he was a kid, he used to sculpt in the sandstone near his home in Kentucky various sculptures. He just had this desire and drive to create. He would do it on paper, he would do it on faces, he would do it with clay – he was a true artist. He had a very strong passion for art. So that's how he got started. Then he was head of the MGM makeup department from 1935 to 1950.
Question: That's quite a run.
Jeff: Yeah, I have the list of them and there's one hundred-something movies that his name is on. He was very responsible for overseeing everything and many of the looks in THE WIZARD OF OZ. All those movies of that time, his name was on. I pretty much try to collect all the movies that he actually had work on – movies he'd done the test makeups for or done the actual character makeups in the film.
Question: Have you been that successful? I'm sure some of them are lost.
Jeff: Yes, I'm always looking on eBay, I'm always running various internet data searches for different types of movies. My collection keeps growing. I do the same with my father, who was Bob Dawn, a makeup artist for thirty-five years. My uncle, Wes Dawn, who was a makeup artist for about thirty-five years. And myself, so I have quite the video and DVD library now of Dawn movies.
Question: And your dad is the guy who created Spock...
Jeff: Yeah, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was one of the first pilots of STAR TREK and my father was the makeup artist on that. It was quite different from the look of Spock as we know it now. The eyebrows were fuller, they were higher, it was a little more of a rough...a more barbarian Spock back then and it's been refined quite a bit. I was fortunate to work on three STAR TREK films and do Leonard Nimoy's makeup probably at least eighty times, kind of a closure to the whole family thing there and really enjoyed that. Leonard Nimoy was an absolute joy to work with and for me to be doing this type of film where my father had started it so many years earlier, was wonderful.
Question: Not many Hollywood dynasties can say they date back to the Keystone Kops. What kind of pressure do you get out having that kind of legacy?
Jeff: I love the pride of being third generation. In America, being third generation is very rare. Families don't follow in the footsteps of their fathers, their brothers, their mothers as much as they do in other countries. So, there's a great deal of pride there. I don't call it a pressure. I would look at it as pride more than pressure, because I've always done the most professional job I could and put 100% into the business. If they were alive, I think they'd be sitting right there going, 'right on.' It's mainly pride. That's the best way to put it. I don't wear that fact that I'm third generation and these people have come before me and that I have so much of a family history in the business, but people seem to find out and it always feels good when they come to me and go, "Really? No kidding? I've known you for ten years and I didn't know that." It's nice.
Question: So, how are you related to the many Dawn's that have done Hollywood makeup through the past century?
Jeff: Well, Jack Dawn was my grandfather. He unfortunately passed away before I was born, so I never knew him. My grandfather came out from Kentucky in the early 1900's and he was an artist. He started working as an extra in the film industry because he had his own horse. He brought it along and said, "Okay, myself and my horse" = three dollars a day. Hey, great! Then they realized he could turn himself into anybody. If they had a call for a bunch of miners or a bunch of Indians of a bunch of mountain men – whatever the characters were – he would show up in full makeup and wardrobe and be that character for the day. He ended up in some of the Keystone Kops movies and before long, he was helping the actors out with their makeup. Back in those days, most of the actors would do their own makeup. The producers and directors and actors realized that this man had a real talent for makeup and after a short while, he was a makeup artist.
Question: Where did that talent come from?
Jeff: It was a talent for sculpting, it was a talent for creating things out of nothing, whether it was clay...when he was a kid, he used to sculpt in the sandstone near his home in Kentucky various sculptures. He just had this desire and drive to create. He would do it on paper, he would do it on faces, he would do it with clay – he was a true artist. He had a very strong passion for art. So that's how he got started. Then he was head of the MGM makeup department from 1935 to 1950.
Question: That's quite a run.
Jeff: Yeah, I have the list of them and there's one hundred-something movies that his name is on. He was very responsible for overseeing everything and many of the looks in THE WIZARD OF OZ. All those movies of that time, his name was on. I pretty much try to collect all the movies that he actually had work on – movies he'd done the test makeups for or done the actual character makeups in the film.
Question: Have you been that successful? I'm sure some of them are lost.
Jeff: Yes, I'm always looking on eBay, I'm always running various internet data searches for different types of movies. My collection keeps growing. I do the same with my father, who was Bob Dawn, a makeup artist for thirty-five years. My uncle, Wes Dawn, who was a makeup artist for about thirty-five years. And myself, so I have quite the video and DVD library now of Dawn movies.
Question: And your dad is the guy who created Spock...
Jeff: Yeah, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was one of the first pilots of STAR TREK and my father was the makeup artist on that. It was quite different from the look of Spock as we know it now. The eyebrows were fuller, they were higher, it was a little more of a rough...a more barbarian Spock back then and it's been refined quite a bit. I was fortunate to work on three STAR TREK films and do Leonard Nimoy's makeup probably at least eighty times, kind of a closure to the whole family thing there and really enjoyed that. Leonard Nimoy was an absolute joy to work with and for me to be doing this type of film where my father had started it so many years earlier, was wonderful.
Question: Not many Hollywood dynasties can say they date back to the Keystone Kops. What kind of pressure do you get out having that kind of legacy?
Jeff: I love the pride of being third generation. In America, being third generation is very rare. Families don't follow in the footsteps of their fathers, their brothers, their mothers as much as they do in other countries. So, there's a great deal of pride there. I don't call it a pressure. I would look at it as pride more than pressure, because I've always done the most professional job I could and put 100% into the business. If they were alive, I think they'd be sitting right there going, 'right on.' It's mainly pride. That's the best way to put it. I don't wear that fact that I'm third generation and these people have come before me and that I have so much of a family history in the business, but people seem to find out and it always feels good when they come to me and go, "Really? No kidding? I've known you for ten years and I didn't know that." It's nice.
