
Rick Baker
Biography
Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950) is a retired American special make-up effects creator and actor, mostly known for his creature effects and designs. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning when he won the inaugural award for the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. As a teen, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the fan production The Night Turkey, a one-hour, black-and-white video parody of The Night Stalker directed by William Malone. Baker's first professional job was as an assistant to prosthetic makeup effects veteran Dick Smith on the 1973 film The Exorcist. While working on The Exorcist, Baker was hired by director Larry Cohen to design and create a mutant infant for Cohen's 1974 film It's Alive. Baker received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on An American Werewolf in London. He also created the werewolf creature Michael Jackson transforms into in the music video Thriller. Subsequently, Baker has been nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar ten more times, winning on seven occasions, both records in his field. Baker claims that his work on Harry and the Hendersons is one of his proudest achievements.[8] On October 3, 2009, he received the Jack Pierce – Lifetime Achievement Award title of the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.[9] He was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University San Francisco in 2008. He also contributes commentaries to the web series Trailers from Hell for trailers about horror and science fiction films. Baker received the 2485th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 30, 2012. The star is located in front of the Guinness World Records Museum. Baker announced his retirement on May 28, 2015: "First of all, the CG stuff definitely took away the animatronics part of what I do. It's also starting to take away the makeup part. The time is right, I am 64 years old, and the business is crazy right now. I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That is not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out. I would consider designing and consulting on something, but I don't think I will have a huge working studio anymore."
Personal Info
Gender
Male
Birthday
1950-12-08
Place of Birth
Binghamton, New York, USA
Images


Cast
Men in Black II
20026.4 / 10
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
19948.5 / 10
Into the Night
19856.5 / 10
Cult of Terror
20176.3 / 10
The Thing with Two Heads
19724.9 / 10
The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth
20107.0 / 10
Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed
20007.0 / 10
The Sci-Fi Boys
20067.0 / 10
Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist
20240.0 / 10
Making Michael Jackson's Thriller
19838.9 / 10
Tales Beyond Madness
20193.0 / 10
Monsterland
20096.5 / 10
Planet of the Apes
20015.8 / 10
The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz
20057.0 / 10
The Road to 'Dracula'
19997.4 / 10
Old Time Radio: Your Move
20230.0 / 10
King Kong! The Living Legend
19860.0 / 10
The Making of Captain EO
19866.7 / 10
Videodrome: Forging the New Flesh
20046.5 / 10
Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex
20157.2 / 10
The Kentucky Fried Movie
19776.2 / 10
Charlie Gemora: Uncredited
20160.0 / 10
Teddy Scares
20065.0 / 10
I Walked with a Werewolf
20090.0 / 10
Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film
20196.8 / 10
King Cohen
20186.6 / 10
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors
19868.2 / 10
Metamorphosis of 'Men in Black'
20005.0 / 10
King Kong
19766.3 / 10
Michael Jackson's Thriller
19838.2 / 10
The Beast Inside: Creating 'Wolf'
20177.0 / 10
Birth Pains
20150.0 / 10
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
19815.4 / 10
Men in Black 3
20126.5 / 10
Keep the Gaslight Burning
20180.0 / 10
The Making of David Cronenberg's Videodrome
19827.3 / 10
A Tribute to the Wizard of Oz
19994.0 / 10
Ed Wood: Making Bela
20047.3 / 10
Rick Baker: Alien Maker
20020.0 / 10
The Making of Men in Black
19978.3 / 10
AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #1
20208.0 / 10
Working with a Master: John Landis
20060.0 / 10
The Perfect Scary Movie
20057.5 / 10
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
20006.8 / 10
Dance With Me
TBA0.0 / 10
The Wolfman
20105.9 / 10
The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault
20250.0 / 10
Crew
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
19906.5 / 10
An American Werewolf in London
19817.4 / 10
Mighty Joe Young
19986.3 / 10
It Lives Again
19785.4 / 10
The Thing with Two Heads
19724.9 / 10
Click
20066.3 / 10
Ghosts
19978.0 / 10
Cursed
20055.4 / 10
Schlock
19735.6 / 10
Octaman
19713.6 / 10
The Howling
19816.6 / 10
Bone
19726.1 / 10
Planet of the Apes
20015.8 / 10
Tanya's Island
19805.0 / 10
The Amazing Panda Adventure
19955.6 / 10
Max My Love
19866.2 / 10
The Funhouse
19815.9 / 10
Ed Wood
19947.5 / 10
Black Caesar
19735.8 / 10
Enchanted
20076.8 / 10
The Ring
20026.7 / 10
Matinee
19936.6 / 10
The Fury
19786.3 / 10
Squirm
19764.9 / 10
Coming to America
19886.9 / 10
Track of the Moon Beast
19762.2 / 10
Videodrome
19837.3 / 10
Silver Bullet
19856.6 / 10
Maleficent
20147.1 / 10
Altered States
19806.7 / 10
The Wolfman
20105.9 / 10
Skinned Deep
20043.9 / 10
Ghost Story
19816.0 / 10
Norbit
20075.7 / 10
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
20006.8 / 10
The Exorcist
19737.7 / 10
Wild Wild West
19995.3 / 10
Michael Jackson's Thriller
19838.2 / 10
The Nutty Professor
19965.6 / 10
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
20005.0 / 10
Cop Killers
19775.6 / 10
The Incredible Melting Man
19774.6 / 10
Zebra Force
19764.6 / 10
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
19746.4 / 10
Star Wars
19778.2 / 10
King Kong
19766.3 / 10
An American Christmas Carol
19796.2 / 10
Ratboy
19863.4 / 10
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
19815.4 / 10
My Science Project
19856.2 / 10
Summer School
19876.4 / 10
Gorillas in the Mist
19887.0 / 10
Harry and the Hendersons
19876.1 / 10
The Empire Strikes Back
19808.4 / 10
Captain EO
19866.8 / 10
Missing Link
19886.3 / 10
Dark Avenger
19903.8 / 10
The Rocketeer
19916.5 / 10
Wolf
19946.1 / 10
Psycho
19985.1 / 10
Baby's Day Out
19946.4 / 10
Body Bags
19936.1 / 10
Escape from L.A.
19965.9 / 10
Batman Forever
19955.4 / 10
The Frighteners
19966.9 / 10
Men in Black II
20026.4 / 10
Men in Black
19977.2 / 10
TRON: Legacy
20106.5 / 10
Men in Black 3
20126.5 / 10
It's Alive
19746.0 / 10