ROD STEIGER'S TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT

Last week I posted a story about Gordon Bau, the Warner Bros. makeup artist who designed and applied the "tattoos" to Rod Steiger's entire body for THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. I found his work so fascinating that I decided to post a few more images.

'TATTOOING' THE ILLUSTRATED MAN

In a makeup that rivals one of Jack Pierce's monster marathons, Rod Steiger underwent sessions of getting full body "tattoos" from makeup artist, Gordon Bau for his role in Ray Bradbury's film adaptation of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN (Warner Brothers, 1969). Like Karloff, Steiger's time on the table under the masterful hand of Gordon Bau was grueling.

Bau was the head makeup man for Warner Bros., used 11 assistants during the process. He developed a series of  non-toxic paints to apply to Steiger's entire body that took over 5 hours to apply, and sometimes much longer, depending on the shot for the day. In 1939, Bau and his brother, Gordon, took another 5-plus hours to makeup Charles Laughton for his role in RKO's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.

Again like Karloff, Steiger remained the consummate actor while undergoing the tedious makeup job and never complained.

These two articles from HOLLYWOOD STUDIO magazine (August, October, 1968) explain more.