Hollywood makeup artist Monty Westmore died 13 November 2007 of prostate cancer. Born Montague George Westmore on 12 June 1923, in Los Angeles, California, he was the third generation in his family in the makeup business. He was Joan Crawford’s personal makeup artist during the end of her career, and was Paul Newman’s favored makeup artist, working with him on more than a dozen movies. “I think once it was announced I was doing a film, it was just automatic that Monty would be doing the makeup,” Newman told The Los Angeles Times. “When working on a film, there is a lot of pressure, and he was so low-key and kind of slipped underneath all that aggravation and everything. It was very comforting to have him around. He will be sorely missed.”
His genre credits include his last screen credit, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), as well as other genre productions such as: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Outbreak (1995), The Hudsucker Proxy (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), Hook (1991), Alien Nation (1988), Real Men (1987), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), Endangered Species (1982), Blood Beach (1981), Quintet (1979), Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
In 2000, Westmore won the George Westmore Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards. The award is named for his grandfather, who opened the first small makeup department at a motion picture studio—Selig Studios in Los Angeles—in 1917. He later became head of the makeup department at MGM.
The Times says “It was only natural that Westmore would get into the family business. All six of George Westmore’s sons became acclaimed makeup artists. Monte—Monty Westmore’s father—was Rudolph Valentino’s makeup artist and later worked on Gone with the Wind. In June, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that the Westmore family would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year.
“‘The legacy is they are the ones that modernized and professionalized makeup departments at the movie studios,’ said film historian Marc Wanamaker.
“There are now fourth- and fifth-generation Westmores working in makeup and production in Hollywood.”
Westmore is survived by his second wife, June; his children from a previous marriage, Wendy, Missy, Terri-Anne, and Monty; his brothers, Marvin and Michael; and five grandchildren.