Moustache - HANDLEBAR, PENCIL, HORSESHOE OR TOOTHBRUSH.

As part of her Ghost Chasing (genealogy research), Thea came across Milicent Patrick (1915-1998).

Milicent, a second cousin, twice removed, was a Hollywood actress, makeup artist, costume designer, animator and special effects artist.

She worked from the 1930s to the 1950s.

In 1939 Milicent began working at the newly created Walt Disney Studios, where she became one of their first female animators. Here she was involved in the ground breaking animated movie, Fantasia and worked on four sequences, including the rather scary end scene, ‘Night on Bald Mountain’. Before leaving Disney she also worked on the animated film, Dumbo.

However Milicent’s most famous creation was done while she was at Universal Studios, here she designed the ‘Gill-man’ from the 1954 horror movie, Creature from the Black Lagoon.

As a promotion for the film, Milicent was sent on a press tour of the US called ‘The Beauty Who Created the Beast’. Bud Westmore, the head of the Universal Studios makeup department, was rather pissed off that Milicent was stealing his thunder and not giving him enough credit for developing ‘The Creature,’ which he didn’t do.

She was promptly fired on her return to Hollywood and for years her legacy was hidden.

The Milicent Patrick story has now been made into a book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, by Mallory O’Meara, a self confessed feminist and horror film buff.

During her life she went by many names. Family history knows her as Mildred Elizabeth Fulvia di Rossi, but the world now knows her as Milicent Patrick – the creator of the Creature.

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