Trailblazing make-up artist Greg Cannom learned the basics of his craft by reading monster magazines. In between studies at Cypress College in southern California, he also worked seasonally at Knott's Halloween Haunt theme park. His continuing interest in the horror genre eventually led to an ongoing collaboration with special make-up effects creator Rick Baker on films like Der Planet Saturn läßt schön grüßen (1977), Teufelskreis Alpha (1978) and Die Wiege des Satans (1978), as well as on the iconic music video Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983). In the course of his distinguished career, Cannom transformed actors into aliens, werewolves, vampires and assorted monsters. He particularly excelled at old age make-up, best exemplified by Gary Oldman's famous desiccated appearance in Bram Stokers Dracula (1992) and Robin Williams's ageing android in Der 200 Jahre Mann (1999). He created the green make-up and fake teeth for Jim Carrey in Die Maske (1994), which took four hours to apply. Cannom also devised Danny DeVito's penguin hands for Batmans Rückkehr (1992), foam latex facial applications, fangs and glowing red contact lenses for The Lost Boys (1987), vampire make-up for Blade (1998) and the diverse prosthetics for Igor and other Dracula minions in Van Helsing (2004). He also made notable contributions to instalments of established franchises like Star Trek, Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien and Pirates of the Caribbean, plus stand-alone box-office hits like Jimmy Hoffa (1992), Titanic (1997), A Beautiful Mind: Genie und Wahnsinn (2001), Master & Commander: Bis ans Ende der Welt (2003) and Der seltsame Fall des Benjamin Button (2008). Cannom won the last of his five Academy Awards (including one for Technical Achievement in 2005) for his transformation of Christian Bale into Dick Cheney for Adam McKay's political satire Vice - Der zweite Mann (2018).
Greg Cannom was featured on the premiere issue cover of Make-Up Artist Magazine. He had served as an instructor for Local 706, the Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild, who presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Cannom passed away on May 9 2025 at the age of 73.
