J
Jack Dawn
Costume & Make-Up
Born February 10, 1892 in 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.
Filmography
Right Cross
Devil's Doorway
Duchess of Idaho
Three Little Words
Mystery Street
The Big Hangover
Shadow on the Wall
Father of the Bride
Annie Get Your Gun
The Asphalt Jungle
Please Believe Me
Stars in My Crown
The Reformer and the Redhead
Side Street
Black Hand
Nancy Goes to Rio
The Outriders
Ambush
On the Town
Tension
Intruder in the Dust
Adam's Rib
Battleground
That Forsyte Woman
Challenge to Lassie
Border Incident
The Red Danube
Madame Bovary
In the Good Old Summertime
The Great Sinner
Neptune's Daughter
The Stratton Story
The Barkleys of Broadway
Little Women
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Act of Violence
Hills of Home
The Kissing Bandit
The Three Musketeers
Julia Misbehaves
A Date with Judy
Easter Parade
The Pirate
Summer Holiday
Big City
Good News
Desire Me
The Unfinished Dance
Cynthia
Song of the Thin Man
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
The Hucksters
Dark Delusion
The Sea of Grass
Undercover Maisie
The Arnelo Affair
Green Dolphin Street
Lady in the Lake
The Yearling
Till the Clouds Roll By
Undercurrent
Easy to Wed
Two Sisters from Boston
Two Smart People
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Hoodlum Saint
The Harvey Girls
They Were Expendable
Yolanda and the Thief
She Went to the Races
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
Ziegfeld Follies
Anchors Aweigh
Thrill of a Romance
The Valley of Decision
Son of Lassie
The Picture of Dorian Gray
National Velvet
Meet Me in St. Louis
Mrs. Parkington
Kismet
The Canterville Ghost
Bathing Beauty
The White Cliffs of Dover
Gaslight
Lassie Come Home
Thousands Cheer
The Man from Down Under
Bataan
Above Suspicion
Keeper of the Flame
The Human Comedy
White Cargo
For Me and My Gal
Tortilla Flat
Nazi Agent
The Vanishing Virginian
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Ziegfeld Girl
Comrade X
The Philadelphia Story
Little Nellie Kelly
Escape
Pride and Prejudice
20 Mule Team
Strange Cargo
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
Ninotchka
The Wizard of Oz
Miracles for Sale
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
On Borrowed Time
Broadway Serenade
Stand Up and Fight
Boys Town
Marie Antoinette
Conquest
The Romance of Celluloid
Self
Way Out West
Trouble for Two
Mark of the Vampire
The Big Trail