Mel Berns

Mel Berns, born in Illinois, on September 27, 1897 was an American makeup artist. A legend in his own time he created the makeup for Katherine Hepburn's screentest at RKO. He was the Head of Makeup at RKO for more than twenty years, creating the makeup for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

He was a lifelong friend of Ginger Rogers, who makes ample reference to their friendship in her autobiography: "Ginger: My Story"(Harper Collins 1991)

He worked extensively in television after leaving RKO, notably the "Perry Mason" series

He died in California, on May 7,1977

A partial list of his best known credits include:

"A Bill of Divorcement" (1932) "King Kong" (1933) "Christopher Strong" (1933) "Professional Sweetheart" (1933) "Rafter Romance" (1933) "LIttle Women" (1933) "Flying Down to Rio" (1933) "THe Son of Kong" (1933) "Spitfire" (1934) "The Gay Divorcee" (1934) "Roberta" (1935) "The Nitwits" (1935) "Alice Adams" (1935) "Top Hat" (1935) "Sylvia Scarlett" (1935) "Follow The Fleet" (1936) "Mary of Scotland" (1936) "Swing Time" (1936) "Shall We Dance" (1937) "Stage Door" (1937) "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) "Carefree" (1938) "Bachelor Mother" (1939) "Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman" (1940) "Citizen Kane" (1941) "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) "Mr. Lucky" (1943) "The Curse of the Cat People" (1944)