Richard Snell

Richard Snell was a makeup artist and head of Richard Snell Designs, Inc. who worked on three  and at least one Star Trek television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In 1992, he shared an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup with Michael M. Mills and Edward French for his work on the Klingon and Vulcan prosthetics created for. That same year, he won an Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series for his work on The Next Generation fifth season episode which he shared with Michael Westmore, Gerald Quist, Ron Walters, Jane Haymore, Bob Scribner, Ken Diaz, Karen Westerfield, and Tania McComas.

Snell previously won an Emmy Award in 1990 in the category Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Series for his work on the Alien Nation episode "Chains of Love", shared with Rick Stratton, Michèle Burke, Katalin Elek, and Ken Diaz. He received four more Emmy Award nominations: In 1995 in the category Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special for Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, shared with Rick Stratton, Janna Phillips, Zoltan Elek, Craig Reardon, and Edouard F. Henriques, 1996 in the same category for Alien Nation: Body and Soul, shared with Ricj Stratton, David Abbott, Craig Reardon, Steve LaPorte, Janna Phillips, Kenny Myers, and Jill Rockow, 1997 in the category Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special for Alien Nation: The Enemy Within, shared with Rick Stratton, Craig Raerdon, Janna Phillips, David Abbott, Edouard F. Henriques, Karen Westerfield, and Kenny Myers, and in 2005 in the category Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Non-Prosthetic) for his work on the television mini series Revelations.

Born in San Francisco, California, USA, Snell started to work for film and television as member of the creatures effects crew on the horror film Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and the horror comedy House (1986). He soon worked as makeup effects and contact lens artist on the fantasy film Nutcracker (1986), the science fiction thriller The Running Man (1987, with Jeff Dawn, Steve LaPorte, and James Lee McCoy), the horror sequel Fright Night Part II (1988, with Bart Mixon, Earl Ellis, and Greg Cannom), and the horror sequel Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) before he started his longtime connection on the Alien Nation franchise.

Snell also worked as a makeup artist on such films as Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), Demolition Man (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Amistad (1997), Species II (1998), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), A.I. Artificial Intellignce (2001), The Time Machine (2002, written by John Logan), Clockstoppers (2002, directed by Jonathan Frakes), and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004, featuring William Shatner).

Snell passed away on location in Freeport, Bahamas in February 2006 while working on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He was 50 years old. He is stated to have died from natural causes.

Star Trek credits

 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited)
 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited)
 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited)
 * - Makeup Artist (uncredited)

External link


Richard Snell