10 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Widely regarded as the ‘godfather’ of modern makeup effects, Dick Smith’s extensive career covers such cinematic classics as Little Big Man, The Exorcist, Altered States, Taxi Driver, The Godfather, Midnight Cowboy, Starman, Scanners and Ghost Story. As well as an Emmy, a BAFTA and two Saturn Awards, Smith earned an Oscar in 1985 for his stunning aging makeup on F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus, and an Honorary Oscar in 2011.
Aside from his own long career, Smith devoted a huge part of his life to mentoring and advising young makeup artists. Contrary to the often-secretive nature of his trade, Smith shared information willingly, first with his 1965 Dick Smith’s Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook, and later, his Basic and Advanced Professional Makeup Course, the recipients of which include numerous Oscar nominees and winners.
Dick Smith: The Godfather of Makeup examines Smith’s life and career, from his early student makeups created as a prankster at Yale, to his tenure as NBC’s first makeup department head during the era of live television, and finally his decades-long freelance career. In addition to extensive first-hand conversations with Smith himself, the book interviews dozens of friends, family, and co-workers, and is accompanied by hundreds of rare images, many from Smith’s own archives. Over a decade in the making, it’s the most comprehensive look at the iconic makeup legend ever published.
Front cover illustration by Paul Garner, © Paul Garner Monster Art.
RARE IMAGES
The book features a wonderful collection of images including many from Dick’s own childhood, as well as family life with his wife Lyn and young sons David and Douglas, who kindly supplied a lot of information and photos. The mid-section shows original script pages from The Exorcist (1973) with Polaroids of the makeups on the relevant pages, alongside Smith’s application continuity notes, as was common practice at the time.
Images from The Exorcist (1973) courtesy of David Smith.
AUTHOR
Entertainment journalist Joe Nazzaro has been covering film and television makeup for nearly four decades. In addition to a 20-year stint on Makeup Artist, he also helped launch the critically-acclaimed Prosthetics Magazine in 2015. He’s written countless magazine articles on the subject, as well as several makeup-related books, including Star Trek and Farscape.
Available from Amazon December 1st
Paperback and hardback will be on sale on December 1st. Look our for the page on all Amazon marketplaces from 12:00am GMT!
