John Chambers | |
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| Born | September 12, 1922 |
| Died | August 25, 2001(2001-08-25) (aged 78) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Make-up artist,prosthetic makeup expert |
| Spouse | Joan Chambers |
John Chambers (September 12, 1922 – August 25, 2001) was an Americanmake-up artist andprosthetic makeup expert in both television and film. He received anAcademy Honorary Award from theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1968. He is best known for creating the pointed ears ofSpock in the television seriesStar Trek (1966), and for his groundbreaking prosthetic make-up work on thePlanet of the Apes film franchise.
Chambers was awarded CIA'sIntelligence Medal of Merit for his involvement in theCanadian Caper, in which six American hostages escaped during the 1979Iran hostage crisis. The incident was the basis of the filmArgo, which won the 2012Academy Award for Best Picture,[1] and in which Chambers was played byJohn Goodman.
Chambers was born inChicago,Illinois, to anIrish-American family. His father Michael emigrated fromNewport inIreland.
Chambers trained as a commercial artist and started his career designing jewelry and carpets.[2] Following service as aU.S. Army dental technician duringWorld War II, Chambers found employment repairing faces[3] and making prosthetic limbs for wounded veterans at theVeterans Affairs hospital inHines, Illinois.[4] He also trained underBen Nye, then head of make-up at20th Century Fox.[5]
In 1953, Chambers joined theNBC television network as a make-up artist for live shows. After working on his first filmAround the World in Eighty Days in 1956, he then joinedUniversal Pictures. He attracted attention for his work on the filmThe List of Adrian Messenger, in which the audience had to guess which celebrities were concealed under Chambers' makeup; the actors' identities were not revealed until the end of the film. Chambers also worked onThe Munsters andThe Outer Limits TV series.
Chambers became known worldwide for his work on thePlanet of the Apes film franchise, which began withthe eponymous 1968 film. During its production, he held training sessions at the 20th Century Fox studios to mentor the other 78 artists working on the film.[6][7] He won anhonorary Oscar at the41st Academy Awards in 1969 for his work on film, long before theAcademy Award for Best Makeup was established in 1981.[2] He was the first motion picture makeup artist to receive a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[8]
Chambers worked on thepilot episode ofMission Impossible and created the pointed ears worn byLeonard Nimoy's Spock in the originalStar Trek television series.[9] He also createdLee Marvin's prosthetic nose for his Academy Award-winning role inCat Ballou (1965), and a prosthetic chest forRichard Harris inA Man Called Horse (1970), where he was hung on pins for a native American initiation ceremony.[2] Some of his character creations, includingCornelius andDr. Zaius from thePlanet of the Apes series, are on display atThe Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. Chambers served as president of theSociety of Makeup Artists as well.[8]
In the late 1970s, Chambers worked as a contractor for the CIA, creating "disguise kits" for CIA personnel stationed in other countries.[10][11] Some of his work can be seen at theInternational Spy Museum inWashington D.C.
In 1980, Chambers was enlisted byCIA officerTony Mendez to work on theCanadian Caper—the rescue of six American embassy personnel who hid at the residence of the Canadian ambassador during theIran hostage crisis. Chambers set up a fake movie and production company as a cover story of a film crew planning to shoot a science fiction film, titledArgo, in Iran.[12] To make the cover story believable, Chambers used actorMichael Douglas's former office during the filming ofThe China Syndrome (1979) atSunset Gower Studios. Chambers and Mendez printed fake business cards, held a film press party at a nightclub in Los Angeles, and took out advertisements inVariety andThe Hollywood Reporter magazines. Fellow make-up artist Robert Sidell and his wife Andi assisted in the hoax; Andi posed as the receptionist of their fake production company.[13]
The rescue effort was successful, and Chambers was awarded CIA'sIntelligence Medal of Merit,[1][13] but he was required to keep his involvement a secret, until the story was declassified in 1997. In the 2012Academy Award for Best Picture-winning filmArgo, Chambers was portrayed byJohn Goodman.[14]
Chambers retired in 1982[15] and lived in a retirement community, theMotion Picture Country Home, inWoodland Hills, California. In 1998, a documentary,A Tribute to John Chambers (1998), directed by Scott Essman, was released.[16] That same year, he was named 94th in the list of "100 most influential people in the history of the movies".[17] Chambers was also given a "star" on theHollywood Walk of Fame at7006 Hollywood Boulevard, one of few make-up artists to have one.
Chambers died on August 25, 2001, in a California hospital, at age 78. He was survived by his wife Joan.[2]
"Sidell said he and his wife, Andi, who was the fake production company's receptionist, and Chambers never really talked about those events.." (page 1)
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