Thursday, May 11, 2006

The Burbank Bigfoot

The Burbank Bigfoot was a 900-pound, seven-foot-four-inch Bigfoot model created by Chambers and his crew chambersbigfoot2.jpgin the makeup artist?s Burbank garage.

According to makeup artists Tom Burman and Werner Keppler, the body was an alginate life casting of the actor Richard Kiel, best known for his role as "Jaws" in two James Bond films. Chambers worked on the face to create an "apeman" look and ultimately the whole body was cast in plaster.

The plaster body was meticulously painted by Chambers and then covered in three pounds of human hair, the hair alone requiring a week of work.

"Body hairs were placed on the figure a few at a time, and blended with various colors to match the patterns found on gorillas, monkeys, and humans. After the hair was set in place, Chambers and his men cut and trimmed it carefully, to give the entire hair covering an even natural look," according to an article in Hollywood Studio Magazine ("?Bigfoot? Born in Burbank?," June, 1970).

Werner Keppler clearly recalls the laborious fabrication process and the way that the huge plaster body was hoisted out of the studio-garage by rented crane. - cryptomundo

chambersbigfoot1a.jpgchambersbigfoot3a.jpg

No comments: