Jack Pierce (make-up artist)
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Jack Pierce (May 5, 1889 in Greece – July 19, 1968), born Janus Piccoulas, was a Hollywood make-up artist most famous for creating the iconic make-up worn by Boris Karloff in Universal Studios' 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
After immigrating to the United States from Greece as a teenager, Pierce tried his hand at several careers, including a stint as an amateur baseball player. In his twenties, he embarked on a series of jobs in cinema - cinema manager, stuntman, actor - which would eventually lead, in 1930, to him being offered the opportunity to design make-up for the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula. A gap in the market was created by the death of Lon Chaney, who throughout the 1920s had made a name for himself by creating grotesque and often painful horror make-ups. After his death, the studios, and Universal in particular, rose to the challenge of providing audiences with the deformed gargoyles they so clearly enjoyed, and experienced make-up artists became valuable commodities.
Although Pierce didn't make-up Lugosi himself, his work on the rest of the cast of Dracula was sufficient to earn him a series of assignments with Universal, the most significant of which was to be Frankenstein. For this, Pierce rejected several prototype designs, including one designed by Lugosi in the period when he was expected to play the part of the monster, and based on the central character from Paul Wegener 1920 German film of The Golem. Instead, he went back to the script, and tried to come up with a design which, as well as being horrific, would also make sense in the context of the story. So, where Henry Frankenstein has accessed the brain cavity, there is a scar and a seal, and the now famous bolts on the neck make sense as a carrier for the electricity used to vivify the monster. How much input director James Whale had into the initial concept remains controversial.
Pierce's reputation is as someone who was frequently bad-tempered, but his relationship with Karloff was a good one. They co-operated somewhat on the design of the make-up, with Karloff removing a dental plate to create an indentation on one side of the Monster's face. He also endured four hours of make-up under Pierce's hand each day, during which time his head was built up with cotton collodion and gum, and toxic green paint (designed to look pale on black and white film) was applied to his face and hands. The finished product was universally acclaimed, and has since become by far the most commonly accepted visual representation of Mary Shelley's creation.
The Mummy, produced the following year, combines the plot of Dracula with the make-up tricks of Frankenstein, to turn Karloff into an incredibly aged and wrinkled Egyptian prince. Again, Pierce and Karloff's collaboration was critically acclaimed, as well as impressing audiences.
Pierce went on to create make-up for several "Frankenstein" sequels (The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Henry Hull's subtly terrifying visage in Werewolf of London (1935), and Lon Chaney Jr. in The Wolf Man (1941). This last make-up was extremely elaborate, and pioneered a technique whereby pieces of moulded rubber (now known as "applications") covered in yak fur were glued to the actor's face. As new methods emerged during this period, however, Pierce's slow painstaking approach drew criticism from the studio and actors. Newer techniques could create equivalent effects in less time, and without causing as much pain to actors.
Pierce's last original make-up was for Claude Rains 1943 version of The Phantom of the Opera. Thereafter, other artists took over at Universal, often recreating Pierce's original designs for sequels made cheaply and with less care.
He worked in television for some of the 1950s and 60s, but died in obscurity in 1968. Since then, his reputation has grown, with a generation of make-up artists like Rick Baker and Tom Savini citing him as a pioneer, and magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland publishing articles on his work. Recent DVD releases of the classic Universal horror movies have also included footage of Pierce at work, and discussion of his techniques and importance.
In 2003, he was recognised with a lifetime achievement award from the Hollywood Make-up Artist and Hair Stylist Guild.
