TOS Special Effects: Aging in "The Deadly Years"

In the following excerpt from "The Making of Star Trek" (Ballantine Books, 1968), by authors Gene Roddenberry and Stephen E. Whitfield; the behind-the-scenes story of the herculean makeup effort required to accomplish the aging effects seen in the memorable 2nd season TOS episode "The Deadly Years" (first airdate: Dec. 8, 1967) is presented ...

Fred Phillips, Star Trek's wizard of makeup, has been a makeup artist longer than he cares to remember. As a matter of fact, his father, Fred Phillips, Sr., was one of the eleven founding members of the Motion Picture Makeup Artists Association. I guess you could say Fred was practically born into the business...

One of the most difficult makeup jobs Fred has had to tackle on STAR TREK was in connection with the episode entitled "The Deadly Years." In this show Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scotty were supposed to age to ninety years old, through four separate stages. The first stage could be handled with makeup, but the remaining three stages had to be accomplished by hand-making specially constructed pieces of rubber for each stage. These pieces of rubber were used to build up certain facial areas in order to create wrinkles, sagging chins, sagging jowls, etc. This whole process required twelve separate plaster molds, just to make the special pieces of rubber. On top of them, makeup had to be applied to create the wrinkled, papery skin of the elderly -- not only on faces but on throat, neck, and hands. The last stage of "aging" required makeup time of three hours each on Kirk, McCoy, and Scott.

When the decision was made to shoot that particular episode, the first day of shooting was scheduled for eleven days later. Fred practically had a heart attack. Such an involved number of makeup changes, using essentially one makeup artist, was virtually impossible. Fred called frantically all over town, trying to enlist additional aid in getting the plaster molds made. He was turned down at every call. No one wanted to touch that many age changes unless they had at least thirty days to work on it. All Fred had was eleven. And the job had to be done; that's all there was to it. So he gritted his teeth, hired a mold maker to help him, and worked day and night -- eleven days straight. He got the materials made, but it was a frantic race to the wire.

Fortunately, he was able to beg, borrow, or steal an additional eleven makeup artists from around town who could work the six days the show would be shooting. As it was, everything worked out fairly satisfactorily, but Fred shudders every time he thinks about the experience.

Below are some behind the scenes photos taken during the production of "The Deadly Years" that document the transformation of William Shatner ...