At the Hollywood makeup awards, the spotlight will be on one family's half-century contribution to the world of crinkly noses, bug-eyed monsters and big-headed aliens.
The Hollywood branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees -- local 706 -- announced the nominees for the first annual Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild awards on Thursday.
Several lifetimes of achievement
In a gesture both sentimental and sincere, the members of the entertainment union elected Monty Westmore to receive the first George Westmore Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished body of work, contributions and accomplishments in the theatrical cosmetic field.
George Westmore, legendary English wigmaker who founded the first film makeup department back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, was Monty Westmore's grandfather.
Six of George Westmore's sons followed their father into greasepaint. Monty's father Monte was the oldest, but death cut his career short soon after his uncredited contribution to Gone With the Wind (1939).
Monty Westmore is best known in science fiction circles for his work on both Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
Over the course of his 41-year career, he also made his genre mark on Alien Nation (1988), Jurassic Park (1993), Robert Altman's post-apocalyptic experiment Quintet (1979) and George Pal's Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975).
He received an Oscar nomination for his makeup work on 1991's Hook.
Voyager, X-Files nods extend legacy
Although Monty's lifetime achievement award is set in stone, other Westmores are in the running for recognition in various other categories.
The 1,100 active members of the guild nominated Michael Westmore -- Monty's brother and the head of Paramount's makeup department -- for an award for best use of special effects makeup on a regular series for
Star Trek: Voyager's "Dark Frontiers" episode.
Michael Westmore has garnered nine Emmy awards, mostly in recognition of his long-time labor of latex on the Star Trek lot. He has told reporters that he has coated "thousands" of actors in alien appliances over the course of his career.
Other members of the Voyager team include Scott Wheeler, James Rohland and Ellis Burman.
The X-Files makeup team -- Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf and Kevin Westmore -- received two nominations for their work in the episodes "Two Fathers/One Son" and, with LaVerne Basham, "Triangle".
Kevin Westmore is the son of Michael and Monty's brother Marvin, who did makeup on Blade Runner (1982) and other films. Marvin, meanwhile, is up for a TV movie makeup award (together with wife June Westmore and John Jackson) for HBO's Lansky.
Other members of the Westmore makeup dynasty include Bud Westmore, whose genre credits ranged from It Came From Outer Space (1953) and
This Island Earth (1954) to The Andromeda Strain (1971) and Soylent Green (1973).
Beyond the Westmores
Voyager's mock-retro episode "Bride of Chaotica" grabbed two additional nominations -- for innovative hairstyling and character hairstyling -- for the Paramount hair team of Josee Normand, Charlotte Parker and Gloria Montemeyor.
The only SF film to be recognized for makeup was Bicentennial Man, which garnered nominations for both Robin Williams' longtime touch-up artist Cheri Minns and special effects team Greg Cannom and Wesley Wofford.
The awards will be announced at a gala presentation at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday, March 19.
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