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'The Elephant Man' (1980) -

A rare photograph of John Hurt as Joseph Merrick (1862-1890) in the David Lynch-directed 'Elephant Man.' Among other accolades, the movie, shot in black and white, garnered a slew of Oscar nominations. But after receiving widespread complaints for failing to honor the film's makeup effects, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was prompted to create the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 1981.  

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'An American Werewolf in London' (1981) -

This John Landis-directed horror comedy is the first ever film to win an Academy Award for Best Makeup. The transformation of David Naughton's character into a frightening werewolf is a masterpiece of technical achievement.

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'The Hunger' (1983) -

The groundbreaking special effects in this Tony Scott-directed horror film were supervised by legendary makeup artist Richard Smith, who transformed David Bowie's character into a 200-year-old vampire, seen here with Catherine Deneuve's character.

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'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (2008) -

David Fincher's film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse, a startling metamorphosis that won Academy awards for Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects, among other accolades.

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'Planet of the Apes' (2001) -

Pictured: Tim Roth as sadistic chimpanzee military commander General Thade in the sixth film in the Planet of the Apes franchise, directed by Tim Burton. Richard Baker's prosthetic makeup designs and visual aspects were highly praised.

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'The Fly' (1986) -

Jeff Goldblum's portrayal of scientist Seth Brundle slowly turning into a fly-hybrid creature in this David Cronenburg movie was acclaimed by critics, as were the special makeup effects created by Chris Walas.

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'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (1992) -

Francis Ford Coppola's take on the Dracula legend won three Academy Awards, including one for Best Makeup. Pictured is Gary Oldman as the evil Vlad the Impaler, aka Count Dracula.

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'Big Fish' (2003) -

Among award nominations in multiple film categories, a BAFTA Best Makeup and Hair nomination acknowledged the visual effects that helped make Tim Burton's fantasy drama a big hit. Almost unrecognizable is Helena Bonham Carter as a witch.

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'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' (2000) -

In this Ron Howard-directed movie, Jim Carrey plays the Grinch, a green-furred creature who despises Christmas. It won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

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'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984) -

One of the genre's most celebrated films, this slasher movie directed by Wes Craven introduced Robert Englund as Freddie Kruger, whose face alone is the stuff of nightmares.

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'The Wolfman' (2010) -

Benicio del Torro plays an American actor who's bitten and cursed by a werewolf after returning to his ancestral homeland. Rick Baker and makeup effects supervisor Dave Elsey won the Academy Award for Best Makeup at the 83rd Academy Awards for their efforts.

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'Mrs. Doubtfire' (1993) -

The late Robin Williams plays the titular character, a recently divorced voice actor who dresses up as a female housekeeper to be able to interact with his children, in yet another movie that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

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'X-Men' (2000) -

Rebecca Romijn stars as Raven Darkhölme/Mystique in the first of the X-Men superhero films. The actress wore 110 individual silicone prosthetics on her body to portray her character. Only the edges were glued—the rest were self-sticking.

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'Monster' (2003) -

This biographical crime drama directed by Patty Jenkins received numerous nominations and awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress for Charlize Theron, who was transformed into serial killer Aileen Wuornos by some incredibly realistic makeup.

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'The Nutty Professor' (1996) -

Critics especially praised the makeup and Eddie Murphy's performance in this slapstick science-fiction comedy that sees the actor play a brainy and kind-hearted university professor who's morbidly obese. In fact, Murphy plays a total of seven characters in the film, which won a Best Makeup Academy Award.

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'Little Big Man' (1970) -

Dustin Hoffman plays 121-year-old Jack Crabb, the oldest man in the world, and the sole white survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in this Western directed by Arthur Penn. The makeup for the ancient Crabb was created by Richard Smith from foam latex and included revolutionary false eyelids that could blink along with the actor's. The film was released before the Academy had created a category for for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The revolutionary effects, however, were widely praised.

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'Edward Scissorhands' (1990) -

A Best Makeup nomination at the Oscars was just one of the many accolades bestowed upon Tim Burton's zany tale about an artificial man who has scissor blades instead of hands. Johnny Depp plays the unfinished creation, and Winona Ryder co-stars.

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'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' (2005) -

The fourth installment of the Harry Potter film series saw the malevolent and all-powerful wizard, Lord Voldemort, brought to life by Ralph Fiennes rather than achieved by computer generated imagery. The series itself was nominated for and won numerous awards, including Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects on several occasions.

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'Hairspray' (2007) -

In John Waters' musical romantic comedy, John Travolta is amazingly transformed into the obese Edna Turnblad. Costume designer Rita Ryack wanted to put Edna into several revealing outfits, so Travolta ended up being encapsulated in silicon prosthetics.

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'Batman Returns' (1992) -

According to Danny DeVito, who plays the Penguin in this Tim Burton-directed superhero action film, "It was four-and-a-half hours of makeup and getting into the costume. We got it down to three hours by the end of the shoot." Its two Academy Award nominations were for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup.

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The Godfather' (1972) -

During his screen test for the part of Don Vito Corleone, Marlon Brando stuck cotton balls in his cheeks, put shoe polish in his hair to darken it, and rolled his collar. Brando "aged" considerably throughout the movie, the story of which spans from 1945 to 1955.

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'Wonder' (2017) -

Then 11, Jacob Tremblay stars as August Pullman, a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, in this drama directed by Stephen Chbosky. The rare medical facial deformity central to the movie's plot required the young actor to spend nearly two hours in makeup. The film was later nominated by the Academy for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

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'The Grand Budapest Hotel' (2014) -

Tilda Swinton plays Madame D., the wealthy dowager and secret owner of the hotel, in Wes Anderson's comedy-drama. To age Swinton, makeup artist Mark Coulier applied soft silicone rubber prosthetics encapsulated in dissolvable plastic molding on her face. The film received four Oscar, among them Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

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'It' (2017) -

Based on Stephen King's 1986 novel of the same name, 'It' sees Bill Skarsgård become Pennywise, the evil dancing clown. Special effects company Amalgamated Dynamics worked on the  makeup effects on the film.

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'Nanny McPhee' (2005) -

For her role as the titular character, Emma Thompson is given a large distorted nose, bad skin, and a buck tooth. A tad alarming, actually.

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'The Hours' (2002) -

Sometimes simple and subtle makeup is the most effective. Nicole Kidman becomes writer Virginia Woolf with ease in this psychological drama, which was BAFTA nominated for Best Makeup and Hair—one of dozens of nominations and awards bestowed upon Stephen Daldry's film.

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'Star Wars' (1977) -

The first installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas' epic space opera introduced characters that are still familiar to the public 40-odd years on, personalities like the Wookiee Chewbacca (actually actor Peter Mayhew whose 2.21 m (7 ft 3 in) frame was wrapped in fur). 

See also: The best advice from celebrity makeup artists

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