Rick Baker

Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950) is a retired American special make-up effects creator and actor, mostly known for his creature effects and designs. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning when he won the inaugural award for the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. As a teen, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the fan production The Night Turkey, a one-hour, black-and-white video parody of The Night Stalker directed by William Malone. Baker's first professional job was as an assistant to prosthetic makeup effects veteran Dick Smith on the 1973 film The Exorcist. While working on The Exorcist, Baker was hired by director Larry Cohen to design and create a mutant infant for Cohen's 1974 film It's Alive. Baker received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on An American Werewolf in London. He also created the werewolf creature Michael Jackson transforms into in the music video Thriller. Subsequently, Baker has been nominated for the Best Makeup Oscar ten more times, winning on seven occasions, both records in his field. Baker claims that his work on Harry and the Hendersons is one of his proudest achievements.[8] On October 3, 2009, he received the Jack Pierce – Lifetime Achievement Award title of the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.[9] He was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University San Francisco in 2008. He also contributes commentaries to the web series Trailers from Hell for trailers about horror and science fiction films. Baker received the 2485th star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 30, 2012. The star is located in front of the Guinness World Records Museum. Baker announced his retirement on May 28, 2015: "First of all, the CG stuff definitely took away the animatronics part of what I do. It's also starting to take away the makeup part. The time is right, I am 64 years old, and the business is crazy right now. I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That is not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out. I would consider designing and consulting on something, but I don't think I will have a huge working studio anymore."

Known For: Costume & Make-Up

Born: Binghamton, New York, USA, 1950-12-08

Died: null

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1972	The Thing with Two Heads	Gorilla	49
2	1976	King Kong	King Kong	63
3	1977	The Kentucky Fried Movie	Dino (segment "A.M. Today") (as Richard A. Baker)	62
4	1981	The Incredible Shrinking Woman	Sidney	54
5	1982	The Making of David Cronenberg's Videodrome	Interviewee	73
6	1983	Michael Jackson's Thriller	Zombie Opening the Crypt (uncredited)	82
7	1983	Making Michael Jackson's Thriller	Self	89
8	1985	Into the Night	Drug Dealer	65
9	1986	Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors	Self	70
10	1986	King Kong! The Living Legend	Self / King Kong	0
11	1986	The Making of Captain EO	Self	67
12	1994	Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects	Self	0
13	1994	It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein	Self	85
14	1997	The Making of Men in Black	Self	83
15	1999	She's Alive! Creating 'The Bride of Frankenstein'	Self	75
16	1999	Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'	Self	69
17	1999	A Tribute to the Wizard of Oz	Himself	40
18	1999	The Road to 'Dracula'	Self	74
19	2000	Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed	Self	70
20	2000	Metamorphosis of 'Men in Black'	Self	50
21	2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Puppeteer	68
22	2001	Planet of the Apes	Old Ape #2	58
23	2002	Men in Black II	MIB Passport Control Agent	64
24	2002	The 'Frankenstein' Files: How Hollywood Made a Monster	Self	77
25	2002	Rick Baker: Alien Maker	Self	0
26	2004	Videodrome: Forging the New Flesh	Self	65
27	2004	Ed Wood: Making Bela	Self	73
28	2005	The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz	Self	70
29	2005	The Perfect Scary Movie	Self	75
30	2006	The Sci-Fi Boys	Self	70
31	2006	Working with a Master: John Landis	Self	0
32	2006	Teddy Scares	Hester Golem (voice)	50
33	2008	He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce	Self	84
34	2008	RKO Production 601: The Making of “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World”	Self	0
35	2009	Monsterland	Self	65
36	2009	Beware the Moon: Remembering 'An American Werewolf in London'	Self	72
37	2009	I Walked with a Werewolf	Himself	0
38	2010	The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth	Self	70
39	2010	Pure in Heart: The Life and Legacy of Lon Chaney, Jr.	Self	70
40	2010	The Wolfman	Gypsy Man / First Killed	59
41	2012	Men in Black 3	Brain Alien	65
42	2013	House of Wax: Unlike Anything You've Seen Before!	Self	0
43	2014	The Scanners Way: Creating the Special Effects in 'Scanners'	Himself	47
44	2015	Birth Pains	himself	0
45	2015	Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex	Self	72
46	2016	Charlie Gemora: Uncredited	Himself	0
47	2017	MonsterKids: The Impact of Things That Go Bump In The Night	Self	0
48	2017	Cult of Terror	Self - Make-up Designer	73
49	2017	The Beast Inside: Creating 'Wolf'	Rick Baker	70
50	2018	King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen	Self	66
51	2018	Keep the Gaslight Burning	Mr Maxwell	0
52	2019	Making Apes: The Artists Who Changed Film	Self	68
53	2019	Tales Beyond Madness		30
54	2020	AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #1	Self	80
55	2023	Old Time Radio: Your Move	The Caretaker	0
56	2024	Fear and Love: The Story of The Exorcist	Self	0
57		Dance With Me	Caretaker	0
58	2025	The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault	Self	0

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	2011	Face Off	Guest Judge	71
2	2012	Unchained Reaction		70
3	2017	Face Off: Game Face	Self - Judge	68
4	2018	DC Daily	Self	60

Rick Baker

Film

Television