Twyla Milano (1923–2014)
Twyla Milano -- Body Make-up Artist -- (1923 – 2014)
Twyla Milano was one of the pre-eminent body make-up artists of the 1970s until her retirement in 1988. She began her career at the Paramount Studios make-up department office where she worked for Wally Westmore for nearly 18 years. Changing careers, she studied the craft of Body Make-up and earned her days to join the union working at Paramount (but now as a Body Make-up Artist), Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, The Burbank Studios, and Wolper Productions. She joined Local 706 in 1977, passed her craft examination and became an Executive Board member and was on the Constitution Committee. She was never shy about sharing her secrets and knowledge of the craft, and tutored many others.In the decades before the Body Make-up Artist classification was eliminated, it was a craft that was mandatory on any film or television production showing bare skin. Actors were painted into perfection, their skin was made to appear as though they might have a tan, sculpted muscles or covered scars and tattoos. During that time, make-up artists were only allowed to work on actresses above the collarbone; the body make-up artist painted the bare décolletage, torso, legs and arms. They were specialists in their field and traveled from job to job every day. On rare occasion did they stay on any one production for an extended period of time, unless it was film or television series that showed a lot of skin. Since there were only about 20 of these artists, they worked constantly, but only rarely received screen credit.
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