Greg Cannom, Oscar-Winning Makeup Artist on ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire,’ Dies at 73

Gifted at creating vampires and making actors age onscreen, he also won for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and ‘Vice.’

 

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - NOVEMBER 15: Greg Cannom attends the The Science And Technology Council Of The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' Screening Of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" at AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theater on November 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Toby Canham/Getty Images)

Greg Cannom Toby Canham/Getty Images

Greg Cannom, the masterful prosthetics and makeup specialist who received Oscars for his work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Vice, has died. He was 73.

Cannom worked often with makeup maestro Rick Baker early in his career, and Baker on Friday reported his death in an Instagram post. “His work will be remembered long after his passing,” he wrote. No details were immediately available.

In March 2023, a GoFundMe page was set up to help Cannom with expenses as he battled diabetes and a staph infection that led to one of his legs being amputated below his knee.

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In addition to his four wins, Cannom received six other Oscar makeup noms: for Hook (1991), Hoffa (1992), Roommates (1995), Titanic (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999) and A Beautiful Mind (2001).

He and Wesley Wofford shared an Academy Award for Technical Achievement in 2005 for “the development of their special modified silicone material for makeup applications used in motion pictures.”

And in 2019, the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cannom was especially skillful at making actors age onscreen; witness Kevin Pollak in The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Brad Pitt in Babel (2006) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man and Christian Bale — as Dick Cheney — in Vice (2018).

In 2006, he landed one of his five career Emmy nominations for his work in the finale of the original run of the NBC sitcom Will & Grace when the characters age some 20 years.

“With monsters, you design whatever you want. With age makeup, everybody knows what they look like, so it’s got to be really good,” he said in a 2021 interview.

His skill on transforming the young actors in The Lost Boys (1987) into vampires — while still retaining their boyish good looks — is universally admired. He also helped turn Williams and Martin Lawrence into believable women in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and the Big Momma’s House movies of 2000 and ’06.

Cannom said he was inspired to pursue a career in Hollywood after being wowed by the aging makeup handled by Dick Smith on Max Von Sydow in The Exorcist (1973).

 

After attending Cypress College in Southern California and working at the Knott’s Berry Farm theme park during Halloween seasons, he connected with Baker and served as his assistant on It Lives Again (1978).

The two also collaborated on The Howling (1981), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), Cocoon (1985), the 1987-88 Fox series Werewolf and perhaps most significantly on the 1983 music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

In that, Cannom appears near the end in full closeup as one of the vampires in makeup applied by Charles H. Schram of Wizard of Oz fame.

His remarkable film résumé also included Dreamscape (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987), Big Top Pee-wee (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), Postcards From the Edge (1990), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Alien 3 (1992), Batman Returns (1992), The Man Without a Face (1993), The Mask (1994), Thinner (1996), Kull the Conqueror (1997), Blade (1998), The Insider (1999), Hannibal (2001), Ali (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Van Helsing (2004), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) and The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), his final film.

Cannom assisted on seven films nominated for best picture: Titanic, The Insider, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander, Babel, Benjamin Button and Vice, with Titanic and A Beautiful Mind coming out on top.

He shared his Oscars with Michèle Burke and Matthew W. Mungle on Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), with Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng on Mrs. Doubtfire and with Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney on Vice.