Pioneering makeup artist (1889-1968). Real name: Yiannis Pikoulas.
Born in Greece, he moved to the United States as a teenager, changed his name, and tried out several different careers, including some time as an amateur baseball player. In the 1920s, he started working in movies -- specifically, cinema manager, stuntman, actor, assistant director, and eventually makeup.
Pierce worked on a film in 1926 called "The Monkey Talks," in which he created makeup effects for actor Jacques Lernier as an ape with the ability to speak -- the makeup work won the approval of Carl Laemmle, legendary head of Universal Pictures. He also designed the makeup on "The Man Who Laughs" in 1928, transforming Conrad Veidt into a man with a permanent rictus grin -- and eventually inspiring the creation of the Joker in comic books. This got him hired full-time by Universal. Pierce designed makeup for 1931's "Dracula," but Bela Lugosi was old-school, and he insisted on doing his own makeup. He also worked on 1935's "Werewolf of London," but his original vision for the werewolf was shot down by actor Henry Hull and Laemmle, who favored a less hairy look for the monster.
Of course, the makeup project that really make Pierce's career was 1931's "Frankenstein." His design of Boris Karloff's flat-topped monster with electrodes in his neck was universally acclaimed and has become the accepted look that people expect of Frankenstein's creation, even today. The next year, Pierce worked with Karloff again to design the makeup for his character in "The Mummy." Later that year, Pierce worked on the makeup for Lugosi in "White Zombie."
By now, Pierce was the head of Universal's makeup department, but he wasn't particularly popular around the studio. He had a stern personality, and his makeup techniques took a lot of time to apply. He was initially very reluctant to use latex appliances, preferring to build up facial features from cotton and nose putty, though he did eventually use latex appliances for Karloff in "Bride of Frankenstein" and "Son of Frankenstein," and on Lon Chaney, Jr. in "The Wolf Man." He and Chaney didn't get along well, but they generally remained professional.
Pierce was fired from Universal in 1946, after 20 years with the studio, primarily because the studio wanted work done faster and cheaper -- and because the studio wanted to hire Bud Westmore, who was young and charismatic and who was a member of the famous and glamourous Westmore family of makeup artists.
After leaving Universal, Pierce's career went on a downward swing. Much of his work was in low-budget movies and TV shows, though he did work on a few high-profie productions. His last regular job was four years handling makeup on the "Mister Ed" TV series from 1961-64.
No other makeup artist has been as influential as Jack Pierce. If you want to learn the craft of movie makeup, you study current techniques, but you also study the masters, and that means they all learn what Jack Pierce knew.