Dick Smith (make-up artist)

Smith was born in Larchmont, New York, the son of Coral (née Brown) and Richard Roy Smith. He attended the Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut and Yale University, where he studied pre-med, with the intention of entering dentistry, although he majored in zoology. After reading a book on theatrical make-up techniques titled Paint, powder and make-up ; the art of theater make-up from the amateur and class room viewpoint (Strauss, Ivard), ==Early career in television==

Smith entered the field full-time after the war, and was entirely self-taught. He sent photographs of his work to the film industry, but his work was rejected until his father suggested he might try the emerging new medium of television. He was appointed as the first make-up director of WNBC (NBC's station in New York City), working there for fourteen years, often under producer David Susskind. Despite initial criticism from many professional make-up artists at the time, Smith's make-up techniques proved to be superior. The now standard methods of applying prosthetics to faces are those that Smith invented, according to Smith's protégé Rick Baker in a 2007 interview. ==Film work (late 1960s–1975)==

In the film Little Big Man (1970), the 30-something Dustin Hoffman played a man in extreme old age at several points in the film — similar, and with a very similar makeup design, to Smith's work making the 40-something actor Jonathan Frid look 175 years old in the film House of Dark Shadows (MGM, also 1970). "In the original book of Little Big Man, Dustin's character is 110," Smith observed, "but the director Arthur Penn just said out of the blue one day: 'Let's make him 121 instead'. I worked six weeks on the old age make-up, using photographic references for every wrinkle." Smith had to use other methods, as an alternative to prosthetics, to create an aged Don Corleone in The Godfather (1972) because Marlon Brando was unwilling to have such appliances applied because of time considerations. Instead, Smith used stipple effects moving across the face from the actor's eyes. A dental device called a "plumper" caused Brando's jowls to droop. Smith's expertise gained prominence and acclaim through the variety and ingenuity of his many effects for The Exorcist. "The Exorcist was really a turning point for make-up special effects," Rick Baker told The Washington Post in 2007. "Dick showed that makeup wasn't just about making people look scary or old, but had many applications. He figured out a way to make the welts swell up on Linda [Blair]'s stomach, to make her head spin around, and he created the vomit scenes." ==Film work (1975–1989)==

Smith also created the make-up for Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle character in Taxi Driver (1976), as well as creating the effects for the blood-drenched finale. Smith and Paul LeBlanc won the Academy Award for Best Makeup for their work on Amadeus (1984). Once again, he had to age a leading actor in the film. "Once I looked into a mirror, at my face, I felt like it was completely convincing," Abraham once commented. "Actors have to feel like they are the person they are portraying. I think my work has helped many to achieve that," Smith once said. Smith received a second Academy Award nomination for his work on Dad (1989), for which he was required to age Jack Lemmon, then in his mid-60s, into an octogenarian. ==Later life (1990–2014)==

He later worked on films such as Death Becomes Her (1992), Forever Young (1992) and House on Haunted Hill (1999), his last credit. In later life, Smith concentrated on teaching his methods to up-and-coming make-up artists. == Partial filmography ==

• House of Dark Shadows (1970), directed by Dan Curtis • Little Big Man (1970), directed by Arthur Penn • Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), directed by Ulu Grosbard • The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola • The Exorcist (1973), directed by William Friedkin • The Godfather Part II (1974), directed by Francis Ford Coppola • The Sunshine Boys (1975), directed by Herbert Ross • Taxi Driver (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese • Marathon Man (1976), directed by John Schlesinger • The Sentinel (1977), directed by Michael Winner • Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), directed by John Boorman • The Deer Hunter (1978), directed by Michael Cimino • Scanners (1981), directed by David Cronenberg • The Fan (1981), directed by Edward Bianchi • Nighthawks (1981), directed by Bruce Malmuth • Ghost Story (1981), directed by John Irvin • The Hunger (1983), directed by Tony Scott • Spasms (1983), directed by William Fruet • Starman (1984), directed by John Carpenter • Amadeus (1984), directed by Miloš Forman • Poltergeist III (1988), directed by Gary Sherman • Sweet Home (1989), directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), directed by John Harrison • Death Becomes Her (1992), directed by Robert Zemeckis • House on Haunted Hill (1999), directed by William Malone == References ==