Frank Griffin, who found another makeup artist to work with Steve Martin on Roxanajust one of the 20 films they made together, he died. He was 95 years old.
Griffin died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Studio City, his daughter Roxane Griffin, a veteran Hollywood hairdresser (The Avatar, Transparent, 80 for Brady), said The Hollywood Reporter.
Frank Griffin started out in Hollywood as an actor and studio worker before turning to makeup in the mid-1960s, and went on to work on Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Scarecrow (1973), Western World (1973), Cinderella Freedom (1973), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Urban Cowboy (1980), Midnight Run (1988), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Vacation (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985).
Survivors include his sister Debra Paget, who starred in films such as Broken Arrow (1950), Love me tenderly (1956) — Elvis Presley's first film — and The Ten Commandments (1956).
The other two sisters were also actresses: Lisa Gaye, who starred in the 1956 musical films Rock 24/7 AND Shake and swing!and Teala Loring, who made a lot of B-movies. They died in 2016 and 2007, respectively.
Ric Sagliani, Martin's regular makeup artist, had hired Griffin to work with him on Martin's makeup. Penny from the sky (1981) and Three Amigos! (1986). But with the actor set to wear a large prosthetic nose for more than three months in Roxana (1987), a modern reinterpretation of Cyrano de BergeracSagliani decided to give up that assignment, leaving it to Griffin.
“Ric was a lovely guy, but he didn't want to deal with that nose,” Griffin told Steve Rubin in a 2022 episode of his Saturday night at the cinema podcast. “I said [to Martin]“Well, I'll have you for this photo and Ric will call you for the next one.”
The next one was Planes, trains and automobiles (1987), which Sagliani also turned down, not wanting to go on set, Griffin noted. “So I guess if you say no to Steve twice, it's over,” he said. “From that point on I just stuck with him. He was so delightful.”
Griffin then worked with Martin on Parenting (1989), My blue paradise (1990), Father of the Bride (1991), History of Los Angeles (1991), Grand Canyon (1991), House cleaning assistant (1992), Leap of Faith (1992), A simple twist of fate (1994), Father of the Bride – Part II (1995), Sergeant Bilko (1996), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Bow finger (1999), Novocaine (2001), Cheaper by the dozen (2003), Bringing down the house (2003) and Clerk (2005), his latest work.
The second of four children, Frank Henry Griffin Jr. was born in Denver on June 25, 1929. His mother, Margaret, was a vaudeville performer who gave her children stage names she thought were “the perfect length for a movie poster.” His father, Frank Sr., was a house painter and later a laborer at Columbia Pictures.
The family eventually settled in Los Angeles in 1942 after Paramount signed Teala, who was seven years his senior, to a contract and for a time they lived across the street from the lot. Debra later landed a deal with 20th Century Fox.
From left: Actresses Lisa Gaye and Debra Paget with brother Frank Griffin at the premiere of the 1953 Fox film “The Rose.”
20th Century-Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Griffin and Debra attended the Hollywood Professional School and studied acting with Queenie Smith. While she became an instant star, he found work as a laborer at Columbia, just like his father, before making his acting debut in Lightning Pistols (1950).
Billed as Reull Shayne, he had small parts in films such as Fort Savage Raiders (1951), Teen crime wave (1955) and The Giant Claw (1957), and on TV shows including Death Valley Days, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon AND United States Marshal.
“I have never been happy [acting]“I always felt like I was underprepared,” he told Rubin. “If I really wanted to do this, I should have had the balls to go back to New York and study there.”
Griffin returned to studio work before landing makeup jobs at CBS and then Fox, working on The Tammy Grimes Show AND The Green BumblebeeHis first film as a make-up artist was Sam's Whiskey (1969), with Burt Reynolds and Angie Dickinson.
He also took care of the make-up for A Man Called Horse (1970), The farmhand (1971), Black gun (1972), Demon Seed (1977) and She is so adorable (1997) and in the first two seasons (1977-79) of CBS Louis Countwith Ed Asner.
He said that Asner, whom he affectionately called “Uncle Waldo,” and Martin were his favorite actors to work with.
Besides Roxane — so called because Cyrano It was one of his favorite love stories: Survivors include his other children, Beau (a Hollywood mogul), Garrett, Frank, and Gayle; grandchildren, Brandon, Jesse, Cassandra, Griffin, Kelsey, and Lindsay; and former Hollywood hairdresser Linda Trainoff, with whom he has lived for the past 43 years.