mummy was amazing makeup, but I wanted to see more monsters. FM. In the days before the internet, how did you come across Jack Pierce and learn about what it was he did? RB. I became a credit reader, which was really hard on those old TV’s. The place I really found out about him was through FAMOUS MONSTERS. One of the things that was really great was that Forry talked about the people behind the scenes, the Jack Pierce’s, the William Tuttle’s, and the Ray Harryhausen’s. I think, again, that’s why people in my generation were so fond of these people. They were making these movies and Forry was telling us all about them. I mean, I pretty much blame Forry my strange choice of occupation. FM. At what point did you realize that your passion could become your career? RB. Fortunately for me, I decided very early on what I wanted to do with my life, and that was to make monsters. I found out what info I could and started messing around with makeup and making masks, and there was this “Eureka” moment where I realized that there are people actually doing this as a job—Ray Harryhausen, Jack Pierce—they make monsters for movies and that’s what I’m going to do. I was about ten and I decided I was going to make monsters. FM. What other influences were you drawing from as you were developing your craft? RB. I became a fan of just about anyone who made a monster movie. Whether it was Jack Pierce or Paul Blaisdell—who did the Saucer Men in those AIP films—I became a real big fan of Dick Smith, again, from reading FM. First of all, his work was incredible. He did these articles in FM that just kind of showed you how to do this stuff. He had that really cool Dorian Gray head for some TV production and had step-by step stills of how he made it. And then I remember he was on the WAY OUT series where he did this guy who lost his face. He had this really cool Quasimodo makeup. I instantly became a fan of his because he shared the knowledge, and did amazing work. And William Tuttle and John Chambers, Harry Thomas, so many people that I read about in the magazines and decided I wanted to be like them. FM. Although reviews for the KING KONG re-make you were involved with were mixed, there was almost universal praise for what you did in making Kong as expressive and emotional as you did. How was that possible in a time before CG entered the workflow?


RB. I found out from Landis that they were going to remake KING KONG. He said that Dino De Laurentiis was going to do it. The first thing I thought was that they were going to get some idiot and put him in a gorilla suit. . .and they were right [laughs]. To me it was sacrilege. Somehow, they got my name and I went in and talked to them. I thought, “well, someone’s gonna do it. So maybe if I’m part of it I can bring something to it that wouldn’t have been there if I wasn’t a part of it.” It was the beginning of my career in this business, of being frustrated about people not doing the movie that I wanted them to. When I first talked to them, they saw KONG as a disaster movie because this was the age of disaster movies. Dino saw Kong as just another disaster. And they originally had these drawings where they made him look like a Neanderthal, a caveman. I thought, “what the hell’s wrong with you? He’s a gorilla! If anything. he’s a super-gorilla.” I was twenty-five at the time and just kept saying, “you guys are wrong and I’m going to prove you wrong.”


26 FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • SEP/OCT 2011


Rick posing with his Frankenstein’s Monster in his Frankenstien’s Laboratory


Rick wearing his early test make up for THE WOLFMAN


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