Carlos Cruz Gemora (June 15, 1903 – August 19, 1961), commonly known as Charles Gemora, was a Hollywood makeup artist renowned as "the King of the Gorilla Men" for his prolific appearances in many Hollywood films while wearing a

gorilla suit Gorilla suits are a type of creature suit resembling a gorilla. The gorilla suit is a popular Halloween and costume party costume, and is also used as a source of humour, while more realistic suits have been used both to represent real gorillas i ...

Biography

Gemora was born on the island of Negros, Philippines, and arrived in San Francisco as a

stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other cas ...

. He quickly found work on a fruit farm in Colusa, California but later moved to Los Angeles. He earned money doing portrait sketches outside of

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

where his talents were discovered and put to work in the studio's sculpture department for ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...

'' (1923). Gemora found his 5'4"/163 cm stature made him a natural to wear a gorilla suit, which he did, beginning with ''The Leopard Lady'' (1928). Gemora's study of real gorillas at the San Diego Zoo and his expertise on makeup gave him an extensive career as a gorilla opposite actors including ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' (''

Bear Shooters ''Bear Shooters'' is a 1930 '' Our Gang'' short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 98th (tenth talking) '' Our Gang'' short that was released. Plot Spud wants to go camping and shoot many bears with Jackie, Chubby, and Farin ...

''),

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

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The Unholy Three The Unholy Three can refer to the following: * ''The Unholy Three'', a 1917 novel by Tod Robbins * ''The Unholy Three'' (1925 film), directed by Tod Browning * ''The Unholy Three'' (1930 film), a remake of the 1925 film directed by Jack Conway * ...

''),

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Murders in the Rue Morgue "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in ''Graham's Magazine'' in 1841. It has been described as the first modern detective story; Poe referred to it as one of his "tales of ratiocination". C. Auguste Du ...

''),

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, ('' The Chimp'' & '' Swiss Miss''),

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At the Circus ''At the Circus'' is a 1939 comedy film starring the Marx Brothers (Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx) released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which they help save a circus from bankruptcy. The film contains Groucho Marx's classic rendition of ...

''),

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

and

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

('' Road to Zanzibar''),

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Gildersleeve's Ghost ''Gildersleeve's Ghost'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas from an original screenplay by Robert E. Kent. It is the fourth and final film in the Gildersleeve's series, all of which were produced and distributed by RKO R ...

''),

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People *Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

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Africa Screams ''Africa Screams'' is a 1949 American Adventure film, adventure comedy film directed by Charles Barton (director), Charles Barton and starring Abbott and Costello that parodies the safari#Cinema genre, safari genre. The title is a play on the ti ...

'') and

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

(''

White Witch Doctor ''White Witch Doctor'' is a 1953 Technicolor adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, and Walter Slezak. Made by 20th Century Fox, it was produced by Otto Lang (film producer), Otto Lang from a screenp ...

''). With men in gorilla suits no longer providing the same scares in the 1950s as they did in the 1930s/1940s, Gemora moved into science fiction films such as the Martian in ''

War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appearance in hardcover was i ...

'' and ''

I Married a Monster from Outer Space ''I Married a Monster from Outer Space'' is a 1958 American horror science fiction film from Paramount Pictures, produced and directed by Gene Fowler Jr., that stars Tom Tryon and Gloria Talbott. Paramount released the film as a double feature ...

''.

Death

Gemora died of a heart attack in August 1961 while he was working on the makeup for ''

Jack the Giant Killer "Jack the Giant Killer" is a Cornish fairy tale and legend about a young adult who slays a number of bad giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterised by violence, gore and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklor ...

''.

References

External links

Profile of Gemora
accessed March 7, 2015.
''Uncredited: Charlie Gemora'' (2016 documentary by Jason Barnett)
accessed March 8, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gemora, Charles 1903 births 1961 deaths American make-up artists Filipino emigrants to the United States Special effects people 20th-century American male actors Male actors from Negros Occidental