Background
Tuttle, William Julian was born on April 13, 1912 in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Son of St. Julian Dean and Ann L. (Livingston) Tuttle.
Tuttle, William Julian was born on April 13, 1912 in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Son of St. Julian Dean and Ann L. (Livingston) Tuttle.
After a series of odd-jobs and a brief stint in his own band, Tuttle moved to Los Angeles in 1930 and began taking art classes at the University of Southern California where he would meet his future collaborator Charles Schram. Around the same time, he began working as a page at Fox Studios. He went on to work under makeup artist Jack Dawn at Twentieth Century Pictures.
In 1934, Tuttle and Dawn moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Tuttle created makeup for many of Hollywood’s biggest stars, among them Judy Garland (“Summer Stock”, 1950). Gene Kelly (“Singin’ in the Rain”, 1952).
Katharine Hepburn (“Pat and Mike”, 1952) and Esther Williams (“Million Dollar Mermaid”, 1952). Eventually he worked his way up to head of the studio"s makeup department, In the 1950s he would be responsible for the makeup in Singin" in the Rain, Forbidden Planet, North by Northwest and The Time Machine.
He reused pieces he first created for The Time Machine in The Eye of the Beholder, one of his many Twilight Zone contributions.
Later work included Logan"s Run and Young Frankenstein. Tuttle is the subject of the 1968 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short The King of the Duplicators where he demonstrated some of his work. He also appeared as himself in the documentary film The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985), produced and directed by Arnold Leibovit.
Later in life, Tuttle managed his company known as Custom Color Cosmetics.
His remains were placed in Minneapolis, Minnesota"s Lakewood Cemetery. William Tuttle was married five times.
Donna Reed (1943 - 1945).
Member Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (special honorary Oscar for Seven Faces of Doctor Lao, 1964), Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Academy (2 Golden Scroll awards for outstanding makeup achievement, 2 Saturn awards), Society Motion Picture and television Engineers, National Film Society (Special Achievement award 1979), Delta Kappa Alpha (honorary Alpha chapter), Cinema Circulus.
Married Donna Reed, January 30, 1943 (divorced 1945). Married Marie Kopicki, September 15, 1947 (deceased 1961). Children: John William, Teresa Ann.
Married Anita Aros, March 25, 1967.