Michael Westmore, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning makeup artist who worked with Elizabeth Taylor, will receive the Vanguard Award at the 11th annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards on Feb. 18. The guild announced the news on Thursday.
The Vanguard Award recognizes someone who has made “significant contributions to the make-up and hair styling industry and has left a lasting impact on the craft,” according to a statement.
“IATSE Local 706 is excited and thrilled to honor Michael Westmore with the Vanguard Award. His contributions and expertise to our industry are unparalleled,” Karen J. Westerfield, business rep for IATSE Local 706 Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild, said in a statement. “His unwavering encouragement and guidance to elevate our members, along with the Westmore Legacy, will continue to inspire future generations of Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists.
“We are truly honored to celebrate his achievements and incredible talent,” Westerfield continued. “We recognize him as the Man, the Myth, the Mentor … Michael Westmore.”
As his name would suggest, Westmore is a member of the renowned family that has been synonymous with Hollywood makeup since George Westmore founded the first department in the industry in 1917. Michael Westmore’s father, Monte, oversaw the makeup on “Gone With the Wind.”
Michael Westmore became the preferred makeup artist for Taylor, as well as Bobby Darin. Among his most famous big-screen achievements: transforming Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky” and “First Blood” and Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull.” He received his first Oscar nomination in 1985, for “2010: The Year We Make Contact” and won the following year for “Mask.” He was nominated again in 1987 for “The Clan of the Cave Bear” and in 1997 for “Star Trek: First Contact,” starring Patrick Stewart.
That wasn’t his first voyage with Jean-Luc Picard. In 1987, Westmore worked on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and for almost two decades thereafter, he created hundreds of alien characters for more than 600 episodes of various “Star Trek” TV iterations.
His television work has earned him 40 Emmy nominations, starting in 1973 with “The Wide World of Mystery” and running to his most recent recognition, for “Star Trek: Enterprise” in 2005. He has won nine Emmys, including for “Eleanor and Franklin” (1976) and “Amazing Stories” (1987). He won five for his work across the “Star Trek” universe.
