Linda De Vetta
Make-Up Artist
Also known professionally as Linda Devetta.
Linda de Vetta was born in Hillingdon, London in 1943. After school she worked as a hairdresser and secretary before being accepted by ATV Elstree as a Trainee Make-Up Artist in 1963. At ATV she worked on a number of programmes including Emergency Ward 10 and Sunday Night at the London Palladium. After working her way up to Senior Make-Up Artist she left the company in 1966 and worked freelance on television shows, commercials and fashion shoots. She broke into feature films in 1967 and worked as a Make-Up Artist on a number of high-profile features including Charge of the Light Brigade (1967), Performance (1968), Ryan’s Daughter (1969) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1975). For the next thirty years she worked as Chief Make-Up Artist on a range of features including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Alien Resurrection (1997), and Quantum of Solace (2008). She has also been Personal Make-Up Artist to a number of leading actors including Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Irons, Faye Dunaway and Angelina Jolie. In her later years she taught make-up design and is now semi-retired.
In her recording Linda talks about her training at ATV including providing make-up for live television and the company’s first colour productions. She discusses the male-dominance of the make-up grade in British feature film production in the 1960s and the difficulty faced by women who sought professional acceptance in the industry. She describes adapting to location-shooting, the challenge of making-up extras for crowd scenes, and harmonising make-up with the tonal qualities of different film stock. Linda also reflects on her own practice as a make-up artist, discussing her use of specialist equipment and designing prosthetics.
©Melanie Bell
Interview
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Women’s Work Oral Histories/Oral Histories/Melanie Bell, Women’s Work in British Film and Television, https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/bectu/Oral Histories,Saturday 4th May 2024.
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