This Day in Horror: Happy Birthday Tom Savini
Born today in 1946: Tom Savini.
The legendary special FX makeup artist became interested in the art when he was about nine years old, after watching Lon Chaney in the film The Man of a Thousand Faces. He enlisted in the Army and served a tour in Vietnam, which he says influenced his gory makeup style.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania meant he was bound to run into George Romero, who was also from the area. Savini was on the set of Night of the Living Dead, but his first job was working on Romero’s Martin. He went on to do makeup special FX on most of Romero’s films: Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, and Monkey Shines. Other films that his makeups can be seen in include Friday the 13th, Maniac, Trauma, The Burning, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
As an actor, Savini had small roles or cameos in most of the above movies. He also appeared in From Dusk Til Dawn(both the film and the TV series), Innocent Blood, Wishmaster, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Planet Terror, and Machete. As a director, he shot episodes of Tales From the Darkside and Creepshow, and segments in Deadtime Stories and The Theatre Bizarre.
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