From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Gordon Bau, known as Gordon Bau and sometimes as Gordy Bau (July 1, 1907 – July 21, 1975), was the make-up supervisor at Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles, California, who worked in scores of films and episodes of more than twenty television series.

Gordon Bau and his brother George Bau worked for Rubbercraft, a firm which specialized in rubber parts for industrial uses. They began moonlighting by performing make-up for films and later television. The brothers built rubber eye prosthetics which could make white actors appear Asian on screen. While Gordon became head of make-up services for Warner Brothers, George headed the prosthetics laboratory at the studio.

Bau's work in films is voluminous, from Andy Griffith's Onionhead and Auntie Mame (1958) to John Wayne's Rio Bravo and Clint Walker's Yellowstone Kelly (both 1959), and Jeffrey Hunter's Sergeant Rutledge (1960). He also worked on Susan Slade (1961), The Days of Wine and Roses (1962), Kisses for My President (1964), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). His last film work was Dirty Harry (1971) and The All American Boy (1973).