Tom Burman
Starting in the 1960s, Tom Burman has been at the forefront of makeup artistry. In 1966, he was working at 20th Century Fox Studios when he overheard producers wanting to get the person responsible for the makeup in “The List of Adrian Messenger”to do a new movie at the studio called “Planet of the Apes.” Burman told them that the main artist behind “Messenger” was John Chambers, and the two paired up in January 1967 to work on the landmark project. With Chambers and Burman doing everything from the initial sculptural concepts to the meticulous laboratory work, nearly nine months was spent on the project. When the film debuted in the spring of 1968, the makeups received universal praise, earning Chambers a special honorary Oscar.

Burman and Chambers worked closely together through the mid-1970s, co-creating projects including “Island of Dr. Moreau” in which they created numerous Humanimals. Of course, the time came for Burman to create projects on his own, and several of them were wholly unique in their conception and execution. In 1976, he created David Bowie’s alien character in “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” and in 1977, Burman provided Steven Spielberg with a group of small aliens characters for the climactic ending of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The next year, Burman got the task of creating pod people and makeup effects for an update of the classic sci-fi horror film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

In the 1980s, Burman continued his string of makeup successes. He created numerous demonic effects for 1981’s “The Beast Within” and the amazing transformations and effects for the following year’s “Cat People,” one of the early-1980s landmark films for special makeup. Among the many special surprises in the film is a scene where Natassia Kinski transforms into a black panther!

With his wife, Bari Drieband-Burman, Tom’s Burman Studio has been responsible for some of the best makeup and effects work of the 1980s and 1990s. The Burman Studio also created the extensive transformation makeups for the second remake, “Body Snatchers.” Tom and Bari continue to work actively, as well as Tom’s two sons, Robert and Barney, who are both talented makeup artists in their own rights.

Todd Tucker
As the creative force behind Wonderworld Entertainment, and as one of the key special effects
makeup artists and creature creators at Greg Cannom's studio, Todd Tucker creates prosthetic makeups, creature suits, and puppets that are used for both film and television. "Originally, I was going to be a cartoonist," Tucker said. "All through high school I worked on my illustration
portfolio. I was always interested in horror and fantasy movies, so in 1985, I looked into schools that taught special effects makeup. Luckily, I met up with a couple of excellent special effects artists, Matt Rose and Steve Wang. They showed me sculpting and painting techniques and taught me what I needed to know." For the next five years, Tucker practiced in his garage, building his portfolio before moving to Los Angeles to try his hand at the movie business.

He followed the nascent Rose and Wang who collaborated on the creature for Predator among many others coming to Hollywood from San Jose. "I showed Greg Cannom my portfolio and he liked my work," Tucker stated, "so he hired me that day and I started the following week." Tucker found himself working as a sculptor, painter, moldmaker and fabricator over the next five years on projects including Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Mask. "Cannom hires people who are multi-talented: people who can sculpt, paint, mold, fabricate," observed Tucker. "They need to know everything. I jumped around quite a bit, which is fortunate because often times, people who work in a shop can get pigeonholed into one department like moldmaking, seaming, or running foam. I was able to work in all different aspects of the shop then work on set with the puppets and the makeups."

Due to his versatility, most of Tucker's assignments became steadily more interesting and challenging. "As the years went on, I became more involved in sculpting and designing the characters," he recalled, "and within four years, I became one of the shop supervisors and was heading up my own shows through Cannom Creations, including Jingle All the Way, Steel, A Simple Wish, and Kull the Conqueror." During this time, though he was successful, Tucker never lost sight of his boyhood dream. "I always knew that my final goal was to write and create my own stories," he said. "That was my wish since I was a little kid to follow in the footsteps of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Jim Henson and create worlds of characters."

Laboring at night and on weekends while he worked for Cannom Creations, Tucker formed Wonderworld Entertainment, then wrote scripts, created original character makeups and creature suits, and filmed three-minute "teasers" for two of his projects: the first one, Wolvy, is the tale of a wacky werewolf character, his buddy, Gus, a fourarmed abominable snow monster, his nemesis, Willy Weasel, and Willys pair of crusher bodyguards, called the Thug Brothers. For Wolvy, Tucker designed and built all of the character elements, produced and directed the action, and performed as the title character in a head-to-toe werewolf suit with a mechanical head. His second such endeavor, The Underworld, features a ghostly-white demon named Luth, his menacing sidekick,
Scythe, and their plans to imprison the world above.

For young people, who, like himself a decade ago, want to break into makeup and creature design professionally, Tucker recommends a path with equal parts persistence and self-education. "The best thing to do is get as many books, instructional materials, and videos that you could get your hands on, and practice, practice, practice," he instructed. "Sculpt, paint, learn how to run foam, apply makeup, everything you can. Start building a portfolio of your best work. Once you feel confident that you have enough knowledge and talent, start presenting your work. Never think that you're at a point when you can't learn any more. Always remember, if you really want something, its up to you to make it happen."

Chris Walas
When Chris Walas was painting Halloween masks at Don Post Studios in the mid-1970s, he probably had no idea of the wonders that awaited him. With a string of successes second only to Rick Baker and Rob Bottin, Walas was to become one of the kings of movie monsters in the 1980s. Though he has retired from his trade to work as a film director, Walas created a legacy that
will stand for all time.

In the late 1970s, both Walas and Robert Short were recruited by “Star Wars” effects alumni Jon Berg and Phil Tippett who were looking for budding creature people to work on a low budget film, “Piranha.” Although Short and Tippett liked their tenure at Don Post’s, “Piranha” represented the chance to work on a feature film. With undersea creatures by the effects team and special makeup by a teenaged Rob Bottin, Joe Dante’s “Piranha” was a cult hit and set Walas’ career in motion.

He soon left to work at Industrial Light and Magic where Tippett and Berg had both gone, creating many effects for the creature department, such as the melting faces in the climactic opening of the Ark at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Separately from ILM, Walas also took his share of makeup and effects projects, such as creating the notorious exploding head in David Cronenberg’s “Scanners.”

In 1983, Joe Dante brought Walas back to his team to create the numerous and expressive creatures for “Gremlins.” With a short pre-production period, Walas created prototypes for the cuddly Mogwai and evil Gremlins, then worked out of a “creature trailer” on the set, providing Dante’s comic film with all types of puppeted characters good and bad. The project was enormous by any standards, and Walas worked furiously, even breaking his foot while stepping out of the trailer on a particularly hectic day in the shoot!

Another Walas’ project was no less ambitious than either of his two previous projects. Cronenberg’s “The Fly” involved the deterioration of Jeff Goldblum’s Seth Brundle character into a 6’4” fly-man. Conceived as an internal illness rather than a quick transformation, the film provided Walas with numerous stages of makeup. Several additional effects rounded out the project, which garnered Walas an Academy Award for makeup.

Needless to say, Chris Walas celluloid resume has provided films with some of the most imaginative rubber monsters in cinema history.

About the Author
Scott Essman has been writing about makeup and movie craftsmanship since 1995. As part of his company, Visionary Cinema, Essman has also created memorable tributes to makeup history, including special events to honor Dick Smith, John Chambers, and Jack Pierce. In 1998, his tribute to the makeup for “The Wizard of Oz” was celebrated on Hollywood Boulevard at the historic Mann’s Chinese Theater. In 2000, Essman published his first book, “Freelance Writing for Hollywood,” and that same year, he published a 48-page special magazine about the work of Universal Studios’ makeup legend, Jack Pierce. In 2001, he was joined with Universal to nominate Pierce for a star on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame.

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