Known for Costume & Make-Up
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. Two years later, Dawn was assigned the task of giving life to three non-human characters - a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion - in MGM's now-classic musical film The Wizard of Oz, based on L. Frank Baum's novel. He also created the green makeup for Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton and multiple looks for Frank Morgan, who portrayed five different characters in the film, as well as for the Munchkins. His work resulted in some of the most recognizable makeup designs ever created for a Hollywood production. In 1943, Dawn approached the San Diego Naval Hospital with an offer to help World War II soldiers whose faces and hands had been disfigured in battle. He created inlays that helped patients appear normal between multiple plastic surgery operations. Dawn worked with many of Hollywood's legendary performers, including Laurel and Hardy, Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Greer Garson, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Fred Astaire, and Betty Hutton. Dawn died in Glendale, California, five years after retiring from films. He was buried with an unmarked grave in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Born
February 10, 1892
Died
June 20, 1961 (age 69)
Birthplace
Fleming, Kentucky, USA
Filmography
122 films


Duchess of Idaho
1950 · 1h 38m · US
Ellen Hallit is in love with her playboy boss, Douglas Morrison, but is too timid to do anything about it. To help her, her roommate Chris decides to step in, and devises a plan. Chris follows Morrison on his trip to Sun Valley, Idaho and plays the overattentive female, hoping that he will send for Ellen (who often played his "fiancée" when he had a female he couldn't discourage otherwise.) Complications arise when Chris catches the eye of band leader Dick Layne, and finds herself caught in a triangle between the two men.


Three Little Words
1950 · 1h 42m · US
Song-and-dance man Bert Kalmar can't continue his stage career after an injury, so he has to earn his money as a lyricist. By chance, he meets composer Harry Ruby and their first song is a hit. Ruby gets Kalmar to marry his former partner Jessie Brown, and Kalmar and Jessie prevent Ruby from getting married to the wrong girls. But due to the fact that Ruby has caused a backer's withdrawal for a Kalmar play, they end their professional relationship.


The Big Hangover
1950 · 1h 22m · US
A young law school graduate is hired by a prestigious firm, but he neglects to inform them he is allergic to even a single whiff of alcohol.


Shadow on the Wall
1950 · 1h 24m · US
Angered that her sister Celia has stolen her fiance, Dell Faring kills her and allows Celia's husband David, knocked out in an argument with Celia, to take the blame and end up on death row. Later Dell, finding out that David's young daughter Susan was witness to the crime and is undergoing psychiatric treatment, plans to eliminate her before her memory returns.


Annie Get Your Gun
1950 · 1h 47m · US
Gunslinger Annie Oakley romances fellow sharpshooter Frank Butler as they travel with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.


Please Believe Me
1950 · 1h 27m · US
A woman in London unexpectedly inherits a Texas ranching fortune, and takes a transatlantic voyage to collect her fortune, not suspecting two men aboard both plan on winning her hand before she reaches America. One is a gambler interested in her money, and the other, a rich man looking for a wife. The rich man's friend, meanwhile, believes the heiress is actually a gold-digger.


Stars in My Crown
1950 · 1h 30m · US
An orphaned man recalls his upbringing with his aunt and her husband, the parson, in a small Western town during the Reconstruction.


Black Hand
1950 · 1h 32m · US
In turn-of-the-century New York, an Italian seeks vengeance on the mobsters who killed his father.


Nancy Goes to Rio
1950 · 1h 40m · US
Mother and daughter compete over same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man.


Ambush
1950 · 1h 30m · US
A Westerner searches for a white woman held by the Apaches.


On the Town
1949 · 1h 38m · US
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.


Intruder in the Dust
1949 · 1h 27m · US
Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.


Battleground
1949 · 1h 58m · US
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.


The Red Danube
1949 · 1h 59m · US
A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.


Madame Bovary
1949 · 1h 46m · US
In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.


Neptune's Daughter
1949 · 1h 35m · US
Scatterbrained Betty Barrett mistakes masseur Jack Spratt for Jose O'Rourke, the captain of the South American polo team. Spratt goes along with the charade, but the situation becomes more complicated when they fall in love. Meanwhile, Betty's sensible older sister Eve fears Betty's heart will be broken when Jose returns to South America. She arranges to meet with the real O'Rourke and love soon blossoms between them as well.


Little Women
1949 · 2h 1m · US
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.


Julia Misbehaves
1948 · 1h 39m · US
Julia and William were married and soon separated by his snobbish family. They meet again many years later, when their daughter he has raised invites her mother to her wedding, with the disapproval of William's mother.


A Date with Judy
1948 · 1h 53m · US
Best friends Judy and Carol compete for the affection of an older man during their high school dance. As Carol tries to rekindle Judy's relationship with Carol's bumbling brother, Oogie, Judy suspects that her father is having an affair with a beautiful dance instructor. The two girls team up to expose Judy's father -- who is only taking innocent dance lessons.


The Pirate
1948 · 1h 42m · US
A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.


Summer Holiday
1948 · 1h 33m · US
Danville, Connecticut at the turn of the century. Young Richard Miller lives in a middle-class neighborhood with his family. He is in love with the girl next-door, Muriel, but her father isn't too happy with their puppy-love, since Richard always share his revolutionary ideas with her.


Big City
1948 · 1h 43m · US
A young orphan in New York's Lower East Side is collectively adopted by three neighborhood men--a minister, a cantor, and a cop.


Cynthia
1947 · 1h 39m · US
Sheltered by her conservative parents, a small-town teenager finally goes out on a date.


The Sea of Grass
1947 · 2h 3m · US
On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.


Undercover Maisie
1947 · 1h 30m · US
Maisie Revere, a showgirl stranded in Los Angeles, decides to join the local police department on the persuasion of Lieutenant Paul Scott who wants to use her as an undercover agent to expose a conman.


The Arnelo Affair
1947 · 1h 26m · US
A neglected wife gets mixed up with an hypnotic charmer and murder.


Lady in the Lake
1946 · 1h 45m · US
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up.


Easy to Wed
1946 · 1h 46m · US
When a newspaper accuses a wealthy socialite of being a homewrecker, she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit. The publication's frazzled head editor now must find a way to discredit her.


Two Smart People
1946 · 1h 33m · US
Con woman Ricki Woodner and detective Bob Simms follow a prison-bound swindler Ace Connors on his five-day gourmet binge.


The Postman Always Rings Twice
1946 · 1h 53m · US
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.


The Hoodlum Saint
1946 · 1h 31m · US
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He gets caught up in the "make money at all costs" game but receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929.


Yolanda and the Thief
1945 · 1h 48m · US
Johnny Riggs, a con man on the lam, finds himself in a Latin-American country named Patria. There, he overhears a convent-bred rich girl praying to her guardian angel for help in managing her tangled business affairs. Riggs decides to materialize as the girl's "angel", gains her unquestioning confidence, and helps himself to the deluded girl's millions. Just as he and his partner are about to flee Patria with their booty, Riggs realizes he has fallen in love with the girl and returns the money, together with a note that is part confession and part love letter. But the larcenous duo's escape from Patria turns out to be more difficult than they could ever have imagined.


She Went to the Races
1945 · 1h 26m · US
A group of scientists develop a system to pick winners at the racetrack. Comedy.


National Velvet
1945 · 2h 3m · US
Mi Taylor is a young wanderer and opportunist who finds himself in the quiet English countryside home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse.


Lassie Come Home
1943 · 1h 28m · US
Hard times come for the Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling. Lassie, however, is unwilling to remain apart from young Carraclough son Joe and sets out on a long and dangerous journey to rejoin him.


Bataan
1943 · 1h 54m · US
During Japan's invasion of the Philippines in 1942, Capt. Henry Lassiter, Sgt. Bill Dane and a diverse group of American soldiers are ordered to destroy and hold a strategic bridge in order to delay the Japanese forces and allow Gen. MacArthur time to secure Bataan. When the Japanese soldiers begin to rebuild the bridge and advance, the group struggles with not only hunger, sickness and gunfire, but also the knowledge that there is likely no relief on the way.


Keeper of the Flame
1943 · 1h 40m · US
Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.


The Human Comedy
1943 · 1h 58m · US
Teenager Homer Macauley stays at home in the small town of Ithaca, California to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.


Tortilla Flat
1942 · 1h 45m · US
Danny, a poor northern Californian Mexican-American, inherits two houses from his grandfather and is quickly taken advantage of by his vagabond friends.


Nazi Agent
1942 · 1h 23m · US
Humble stamp dealer Otto Becker has little to do with international politics, so when he receives a surprise visit from his estranged twin brother and Nazi spy, Baron Hugo von Detner, his world is thrown into turmoil. Threatening Becker with deportation, Hugo forces him to use his shop as a front for espionage.


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1941 · 1h 53m · US
Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.


Comrade X
1940 · 1h 30m · US
An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.


The Philadelphia Story
1940 · 1h 53m · US
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.


Pride and Prejudice
1940 · 1h 58m · US
In early 19th century England, Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters vie for the affections of rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, who have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to eldest daughter Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with second-eldest Elizabeth.


Strange Cargo
1940 · 1h 53m · US
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.


Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
1939 · 1h 10m · US
Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.


Miracles for Sale
1939 · 1h 11m · US
Retired performer Mike Morgan sells original illusions to fellow magicians, and although he believes in the supernatural, likes to expose sham psychics. This involves him in some mysterious murders.


Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1939 · 1h 54m · UK
Throughout the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, Mr Arthur Chipping rises from a shy, nervous teacher to the beloved, revered headmaster of Brookfield School, with his life and career shaped by his love for his wife and his unwavering dedication to his students.


On Borrowed Time
1939 · 1h 39m · US
Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are inseparable. Gramps is concerned for Pud's future and wary of a scheming relative who seeks custody of the child. One day Mr. Brink, an agent of Death, arrives to take Gramps "to the land where the woodbine twineth." Through a bit of trickery, Gramps confines Mr. Brink, and thus Death, to the branches of a large apple tree, giving Gramps extra time to resolve issues about Pud's future.


Broadway Serenade
1939 · 1h 54m · US
A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.


Boys Town
1938 · 1h 36m · US
Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.


Marie Antoinette
1938 · 2h 29m · US
The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.


Conquest
1937 · 1h 53m · US
A Polish countess is dispatched by her country to become Napoleon Bonaparte's mistress at the urging of Polish leaders, who feel she might influence him to support Polish independence.


Way Out West
1937 · 1h 4m · US
Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.


Trouble for Two
1936 · 1h 15m · US
A decadent prince unhappy over an impending arranged marriage, looking for a good time in London discovers the existence of a secret society called The Suicide Club, and so he seeks to become a member.


Mark of the Vampire
1935 · 1h · US
Sir Borotyn, a prominent Prague resident, is discovered murdered in his home, with all indications pointing to a vampiric assault. The victim's friend, Baron Otto, and the physician who analyzes the body, are certain that the vampire is either the mysterious Count Mora or his daughter. Receiving little help from the law, occult expert Professor Zelen is sought to assist with their investigation.


The Big Trail
1930 · 2h 2m · US
Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.