Jack Dawn
Known For: Costume & Make-Up
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: February 10, 1892
Day of Death: June 20, 1961 (69 years old)
Place of Birth: Fleming, Kentucky, USA
Jack Dawn (February 10, 1892 - June 20, 1961) was an American make-up artist whose career spanned thirty-seven years. He worked on more than two hundred films, many of them regarded as classics by historians and moviegoers alike. As a boy living on a Kentucky farm, Dawn chopped faces in sandstone he found on the banks of a nearby creek, using a chisel, a hammer, and a spoon. He eventually gravitated to Hollywood, where he found work as an extra, portraying an Indian brave for $3 a day. He served with the British during World War I, then returned to the American film capital to work as a make-up assistant and part-time actor at Universal Pictures. One of his first creations was a stiff, uncomfortable mask he wore in the role of an ape in 1925. In order to make masks that were more elastic and lifelike, he began to experiment with a variety of materials. After nine years of research while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he developed a synthetic plastic he called vinylite resin for which he received a patent. Its first application was used to create the Chinese faces for the mostly white cast of The Good Earth in 1937. Two years later, Dawn was assigned the task of giving life to three non-human characters - a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion - in MGM's now-classic musical film The Wizard of Oz, based on L. Frank Baum's novel. He also created the green makeup for Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton and multiple looks for Frank Morgan, who portrayed five different characters in the film, as well as for the Munchkins. His work resulted in some of the most recognizable makeup designs ever created for a Hollywood production. In 1943, Dawn approached the San Diego Naval Hospital with an offer to help World War II soldiers whose faces and hands had been disfigured in battle. He created inlays that helped patients appear normal between multiple plastic surgery operations. Dawn worked with many of Hollywood's legendary performers, including Laurel and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Greer Garson, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Fred Astaire, and Betty Hutton. Dawn died in Glendale, California, five years after retiring from films. He was buried with an unmarked grave in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
1950
Makeup Artist
Duchess of Idaho
Makeup Artist
Ambush
Makeup Artist
Nancy Goes to Rio
Makeup Designer
The Reformer and the Redhead
Makeup Artist
Annie Get Your Gun
Makeup Designer
The Asphalt Jungle
Makeup Designer
Mystery Street
Makeup Artist
Stars in My Crown
Makeup Supervisor
Side Street
Makeup Artist
Black Hand
Makeup Artist
Shadow on the Wall
Makeup Artist
The Big Hangover
Makeup Artist
Please Believe Me
Makeup Designer
Right Cross
Makeup Designer
Father of the Bride
Makeup Artist
Three Little Words
Makeup Designer
The Outriders
1949
Makeup Designer
The Stratton Story
Makeup Designer
That Forsyte Woman
Makeup Artist
The Red Danube
Makeup Artist
Battleground
Makeup Designer
Challenge to Lassie
Makeup Artist
Neptune's Daughter
Makeup Designer
In the Good Old Summertime
Makeup Designer
The Great Sinner
Makeup Designer
Adam's Rib
Makeup Designer
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Makeup Artist
On the Town
Makeup Artist
Tension
Makeup Artist
Madame Bovary
1948
1947
Makeup Designer
Good News
Makeup Artist
The Arnelo Affair
Makeup Artist
The Sea of Grass
Makeup Designer
The Unfinished Dance
Makeup Designer
Desire Me
Makeup Designer
The Hucksters
Makeup Designer
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Makeup Designer
Dark Delusion
Makeup Artist
Cynthia
Makeup Designer
Song of the Thin Man
Makeup Designer
Green Dolphin Street
Makeup Artist
Undercover Maisie
1946
Makeup Designer
The Harvey Girls
Makeup Artist
The Hoodlum Saint
Makeup Artist
Two Smart People
Makeup Artist
Easy to Wed
Makeup Designer
Undercurrent
Makeup Artist
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Makeup Designer
Two Sisters from Boston
Makeup Artist
Lady in the Lake
Makeup Designer
The Yearling
Makeup Designer
Till the Clouds Roll By
1945
Makeup Artist
Yolanda and the Thief
Makeup Designer
Son of Lassie
Makeup Designer
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
Makeup Artist
She Went to the Races
Makeup Designer
The Valley of Decision
Makeup Designer
Ziegfeld Follies
Makeup Designer
Thrill of a Romance
Makeup Artist
National Velvet
Makeup & Hair
They Were Expendable
Makeup Designer
Anchors Aweigh
Makeup Designer
The Picture of Dorian Gray
