The Westmore Family

The Westmore family have had four generations of Hollywood make up artists. The first of these family members was George Henry Westmore from Newport, Isle of Wight. He was a not only a make up artist and a wigmaker but also a saloon manager and served in the Britiish Army during Boer War. His career began in 1901 by opening a hair dressing salon in Newport. By 1913 he began learning make up through trading hair services for lessons from the ladies of the evening. When Ern and Perc were nine he began teaching the art of wigmaking. He worked in places such as Triangle Film Corporation, Selig Polyscope Studio ad Maison Cesare. All of his six sons became makeup designers. This included Monte, Ern, Perc, Wally, Frank and Bud.

As well as being very creative, George and his sons were handy with carpentry and plumbing so they built their own shops. They did this during a time where actors and actresses did their own make up so this changed Hollywood. They were known for creating Hollywood beauty for faces such as Sandra Dee, Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor and Farrah Fawcett. They were also known for creating beasts such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

In the late 30’s they created the House of Westmore which was a huge beauty salon on Sunset Boulevard. There are diagrams of various make up techniques on the wall at the Guild’s Burbank headquarters. They follow the same techniques even now although they are evolved as well as the materials. They even used airbrush to apply foundation as far back as the film Gone With The Wind.

The Westmore family will always be known in the make up world and will forever inspire future artists.

Reference: Wikipedia. (). Westmore Family. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westmore_family. Last accessed 5/12/14.

Brian Watt. (2013). Oscar 2013: Westmore Family Continues to Make Up Hollywood, One Generation at A Time. Available: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/02/21/30608/oscars-2013-westmore-family-continues-to-make-up-h/. Last accessed 5/12/14.