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A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask image 1
A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask image 2
A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask image 3
A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask image 4
A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask image 5
The W.E. "Wes" Shank Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Memorabilia
Lot 92

A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask

14 May 2019, 13:00 PDT
Los Angeles

US$1,000 - US$1,500

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A Planet of the Apes background actor ape mask

Twentieth Century-Fox, 1968. Brown-faced rubber ape mask with attached mohair black hair, with a flap on the back lower part of the hair which lifts and reattaches with Velcro. This allowed the actors who wore the masks to easily put them on and take them off. The mask is mounted permanently to a mannequin head and shoulders and housed in a custom-made shadow box. Though the main actors in the film who played apes (Maurice Evans, Kim Hunter, Roddy McDowell, etc.) spent hours in the makeup chair every day to achieve the amazing ape effect, there wasn't the time or budget to do the same for the other actors playing background apes (still, $1 million of the $6 million budget was spent on makeup). Therefore, they were each provided with a mask such as this one, designed by makeup artist John Chambers. Under his direction, as many as 78 makeup artists were employed for the production, and Chambers won an Honorary Academy Award® for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.
Shadow box: 12 x 14 x 19.75 in.; mask: 10 x 10.5 x 16 in.

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