Lee Harman
Journeyman Makeup Artist
 1936-2021

Lee Harman lived an incredibly successful life, one which sounds fictional if you did not know it to be true. He was born into an IATSE family: his father, brother and uncles were members of various IATSE Locals. After graduating high school, he attended Oregon State University where he played basketball with his life-long friend Jimmy Anderson. He became an All American at O.S.U and was inducted into the Beaver Hall of Fame in 2014. After college basketball Lee was selected by the St Louis Hawks in the 4th round to play professional basketball in the American Basketball League (ABL). He played one season in St Louis and then one for the Long Beach/Hawaii Chiefs. After sustaining an injury Lee joined the Globetrotter tour to play against them and "see the world". As fate would have it, Lee met his wife and mother of his two boys, Maureen Winzer in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Africa. Lee and Maureen were married in 1963 which also was the year he retired from basketball.

Brother Harman immediately went to work at 20th Century Fox as a Local 44 greensman with his father Glenn, who ran the landscape business on the studio lot and Fox Ranch. Lee worked his way through almost every department in the business but found a zest and passion for lighting and make-up which complimented each other. Lee worked on the original Batman series and found a true love for makeup when working with Tom Burman on the original Planet of the Apes.

Lee’s attention to detail and his personality led him to work with many notable actors: Faye Dunaway, Jill Clayburgh, Diane Cannon, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Gregory Peck, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Archer (whom he said never needed makeup), James Garner; to name a few. If you were to ask him, he would tell you his favorites were Barbara Streisand whom he worked with on several films including Funny Girl, Sally Fields whom he absolutely adored, and his favorite "work marriage man…Chev-Boy", Chevy Chase. Lee loved to laugh and with Chevy and always felt he was "way too intelligent for this business".

Although Lee’s career in basketball and in the motion picture business was his "claim to fame" and he proved legendary in both, he found most fun in "either golfing, fishing, or working in the garden, and in that order" to quote his answering machine. He was married several times including Dorothy Garcia, Maureen Winzer, Marlyn Mason, Arlene Westphal, and Dorothy Garcia ("the sequel"). Lee’s best marriage was to his makeup artistry, as he brought joy to all he worked with and "always made them laugh, even though he frustrated a few". His final resting place will be in his favorite town Corvallis, Oregon, near his favorite and best friend Jimmy Anderson and his old coach Slats Gill.

He is survived by his two sons David and Curtis, and 7 grandchildren.

 

 

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