More than 60 years later, the practical effects used to rapidly age the title character in Twilight Zone season one episode “Long Live Walter Jameson” still hold up.
The immortal Mr. Jameson (Kevin McCarthy of Body Snatchers fame) is shot by a scorned lover he abandoned years earlier after she showed signs of aging. Then, in just a few seconds, he experiences a lifetime of anatomical decline in just a few seconds. Not too much of a surprise, considering he’s been roaming the earth for a couple thousand years.
When all is said and done, he’s nothing more than a pile of dust on the floor.
McCarthy’s staggering transformation from ruggedly handsome college professor to decrepit geezer was accomplished in three different stages, as laid out by Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion.
Exploring The Special Effects of Twilight Zone‘s “Walter Jameson” Episode
The first involved a neat in-camera trick series cinematographer George T. Clemens had picked up from his time working under director of photography Karl Struss on 1931’s Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
This bit of moviemakiong magic involved drawing red age lines on the actor’s face and hands, while simultaneously covering the set lights with red filters, so as to render the lines invisible. When those sources of illumination were dimmed, the crew lit up separate lights fitted with green filters. The change in color suddenly revealed the makeup on the black and white film.
You can see it in action when Jameson’s university colleague and would-be father-in-law Samuel Kittridge (Edgar Stehli) turns on the light in Jameson’s darkened study in the moments following the fatal gunshot wound.
The final two stages of Walter’s alarming deterioration required traditional makeup effects via custom-made prosthetics based on a life cast of McCarthy’s own head.
“Onto that,” wrote Zicree, “olds and wrinkles were modeled in Plasticine, an oil-based clay that never dries out. For each various component of the makeup (forehead, cheeks, chin, neck and upper lip), a separate mold was made. Foam rubber pieces were cast from the molded and glued onto McCarthy’s ace.”
These were provided by MGM makeup department head William Tuttle, who created many of the show’s most iconic visuals, including the pig-faced people in season two’s “Eye of the Beholder.”
Tuttle also became the very first recipient of an Academy Award in makeup design thanks to his work on 1964’s 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. John Chambers received the same honorary statue four years later for Planet of the Apes. The official makeup category wasn’t codified until the early 1980s, following Rick Baker’s lupine efforts on An American Werewolf in London.
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
