William Tuttle was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1911. At the age
of 15 he was forced to leave school in order to earn a living so he
could support his mother and younger brother,
Thomas Tuttle. His music background got
him work with comedy teams and a burlesque orchestra and, finally, his
own band.
At age 18 he moved to Hollywood, California. He eventually ended up
working at Fox studios. He became an apprentice to
Jack Dawn, head of makeup at
Twentieth-Century Pictures. Seven months later Twentieth Century closed
down for the summer in 1934 and Bill went to MGM to continue his
apprenticeship.
Fox hired Bill as a makeup artist after seeing the work he had done at
MGM. He worked on three films for Fox before returning to MGM, and made
it his home for 35 years. For eight years he worked as an assistant to
Jack Dawn (by then head makeup artist at MGM) and, after Jack retired,
he became the head of the department for over 20 years.
William Tuttle and
Charles H. Schram
both worked on
The Time Machine (1960). Bill
had taken a trip to the San Diego Zoo and got the idea to use the fur
of an East African species of monkey for the fur of the Morlocks. He
won an honorary Oscar in April 1965 for his work on
George Pal's
7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). He
has taught at the USC film school and created his own line of
cosmetics, Custom Color Cosmetics.
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.(1966)as Tuttle
The Ellen Burstyn Show(1986)
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal(1986)
The Rainmaker(1982)
Zorro: The Gay Blade(1981)
The People vs. Jean Harris(1981)
Fraternity Row(1977)
Glorious Technicolor(1998)as Self - MGM Make-up Department 1936-69
A Tribute to John Chambers(1998)as Self
Inside the Dream Factory(1995)as Self
MGM: When the Lion Roars(1992)as Self
The 80th Annual Academy Awards(2008)as Self - Memorial Tribute