MARK FLEMING
  • Home
  • About me
  • BrainBomb
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Music Therapy
  • My bands
    • 4 Minute Warning
    • Desperation A.M.
    • Little Big Dig
    • Axidents
    • Noniconic
  • Contact

Dick smith: THE TRANSFORMER

14/8/2014

0 Comments

 
This week Hollywood bid emotional farewells to tortured comic Robin Williams, and smoldering film noir star Lauren Bacall. Another recent loss to the film industry was pioneering make-up and special-effects artist Dick Smith.
Picture
Today we take movie special-effects for granted. Everything from Biblical battles to alien planets can be created at the click of a few software commands. But when it comes to transforming actors, one name stands alone. Dick Smith.

Born in New York in 1922, Smith passed away on July 30 this year, aged 92. During his working life he was responsible for some of cinema's most enduring and iconic images.

Although dentistry was his original career choice, after army service in World War 2 he began experimenting with theatrical make-up. Initially rejected by the film industry, he set to work designing prosthetics to apply to faces. In The Moon and Sixpence (1955) his lurid foam masks transformed Laurence Olivier into a leper. Olivier remarked "Dick, it does the acting for me".

Some of his memorable creations included make-up for a man who loses 50% of his face after a chemical accident - from Way Out (1961). In Little Big Man (1970) he turned Dustin Hoffman into a 121-year-old. In seminal gangster flick The Godfather (1972), although Marlon Brando refused prosthetics due to the time required to apply them, Smith employed a dental device to cause Don Corleone's trademark drooping jowls. He also pioneered bladders containing fake blood that would explode during shoot-outs, paving the way for the bloodbaths we recognise in all today's crime films.

Another landmark creation of Smith's was for Linda Blair's demonic possession in The Exorcist (1973). The projectile vomiting and 360-degree head revolution still have the ability to shock audiences forty years on.  More blood-drenched action followed in Taxi Driver (1976). As well as the mohawked Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, he set-up the murderous finale.

Smith and Paul LeBlanc won the Oscar for Best Make-up for Amadeus (1984), when 44-year old F Murray Abraham was transformed into a bitter old man. Smith continued to create brilliantly realistic masks for the likes of Forever Young (1992) and the horror movie House on Haunted Hill (1999). Now in his late 70s, he decided to pack away the latex layers and enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Fittingly, Dick Smith received an Academy Honourary Award in 2012 for his lifetime's devotion to transforming his subjects. He passed away in L.A. in July 2014. 

0 Comments
    Picture
    MARK FLEMING
    ​EDINBURGH | SCOTLAND


    ​Categories

    All
    9/11
    Alan Brazil
    Amanda Prowse
    Amy Winehouse
    Andrew Mitchell
    Apples: Short Story
    Ari Up
    Armistice
    Arts Festival
    Ashdown
    Balconing
    Bankers
    Barack Obama
    Berlin Wall
    Bill Clinton
    Blackshirts
    Bobby Smith
    Book Censorship
    BrainBomb: Word Cloud
    Britains Got Talent
    Caroline Flack
    Chav: Sneering At The Underclass
    Child Cage Fight
    Citizens Advice
    Crash
    David Walliams
    Denise Johnson RIP
    Depression Awareness
    Desperation A.M.
    Dick Smith
    Disability
    DOK Exhibitions
    Domestic Violence
    Edinburgh Festival
    Faisal Shahzad
    Falklands War
    Finances
    Fortitude
    Frankie Abbbott
    Gary Speed
    Gerry Anderson
    Gettysburg
    Goodwin
    Gore Vidal
    Graham Crowden
    Ground Zero
    Guatemalan Stds
    Hacking Scandal
    Helga Etsby
    Hillary Clinton
    Hillsborough Justice
    Hiroshima 75th
    Homelessness
    Horrorshow
    Ian Curtis: 40 Years On
    Ibiza
    Ibrox Disaster
    Iraq
    It's A Kind Of A Funny Story
    Ivor Tiefenbrun
    Jake Bugg
    Jeremy Clarkson
    Jeremy Clarkson On PQ17
    Joe Strummer
    John Cormack
    John Hume RIP
    John Peel
    John Terry
    Keira Knightley
    Kelvin MacKenzie: Wants Police Apology
    Kristallnacht
    Leither Magazine
    Lemmy
    Llyr George
    Lying About Mental Health
    Malvinas V Falklands
    Marie Antoinettes
    Mental Health And Fat-shaming
    Mental Health Awareness Week 2018
    Mental Health During COVID-19
    Mental Health Prejudice
    Michael Portillo: Death Of A School Friend
    Middle East Peace Process
    Mosley
    National Rifle Association
    Neo Fascism
    News International
    Newtown Killings
    Nicolas Winding Refn
    Noel Edmunds
    One Love
    Organ Donation
    Ozark: Bipolar Disorder
    Paddy
    Penumbra
    Pete Shelley
    Picture House
    Poly Styrene
    Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
    Predator Drones
    Primal Scream
    Private Ellison
    Protestant Action 1930s
    Public Service Broadcasting: Lit Up
    Punishment Of Luxury
    Racism In Football
    Revenant
    Richard Ashcroft
    Rick Perry
    Robbie Hance
    Rupert Murdoch
    Samaritans
    Sarrazin
    Saughton Prison Visit
    Scars
    Scottish Tories
    Selfharm
    Sepp Blatter
    Sex And Violence
    Sex Pistols
    Shane Meadows
    Shaw Trust
    Silver Jubilee
    Simon Cowell
    Simon Weston
    Slaughter And The Dogs
    Smit
    Soldiers Suffering Breakdowns
    Stigma
    Stranglers Live Review
    Suicide
    Susan Boyle
    Syria - Crossing The Red Line
    Terry Jones
    The Clash
    The Damned
    The Slits
    The Sun - One-finger Salute To Lord Leveson
    The Wolf Warriors And Werewolves
    This Is England
    This Is England 86 Review
    Time To Change
    Tombstoning
    Tony Scott
    Tories
    Troy Davis
    Urban Noir Photo Exhibition
    U.S. Slavery Ends 1865
    Vic And Bob's Shooting Stars
    Wags
    Wayne Bridge
    Web Trolls
    World Alzheimer's Day
    World Suicide Prevention Day 2020
    X Factor
    X Ray Spex

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About me
  • BrainBomb
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Articles
  • Music Therapy
  • My bands
    • 4 Minute Warning
    • Desperation A.M.
    • Little Big Dig
    • Axidents
    • Noniconic
  • Contact