Cleve Hall, Acclaimed Makeup Effects Artist, Dies at 61
Cleve Hall and daughter Constance Hall in 2019
Courtesy Everett CollectionCleve Hall, a respected makeup effects artist known for his distinctive work on such films as Ghoulies, Re-Animator and Troll, has died. He was 61.
Hall died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, his rep Mike Arnoldi told The Hollywood Reporter.
Hall’s daughter Constance has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with burial costs. Her dad “was a family man, an adored father, proud grandpa and a beloved mentor,” she wrote. “He loved movies, Godzilla, sculpting and inspiring the next generation of creatives.”
Constance and another daughter, Elora, and his ex-wife, Sonia, followed him in business and appeared with him on the 2012 Syfy reality series Monster Man. A year earlier, he was on another Syfy show, Face Off, a competition program that pitted makeup effects artists against one another.
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Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Hall said he knew what he wanted to do for a living after his mom took him to see the 1964 Japanese film Godzilla vs. the Thing. And in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985), he played Godzilla in a costume that he designed himself, later describing the experience as “this little kid’s dream come true!”
Hall served as a puppeteer on The Sandlot (1993) and collaborated with late makeup artist John Carl Buechler on films including Ghoulies (1984), The Dungeonmaster (1984), Re-Animator (1985), Zone Troopers (1985), Troll (1986), Eliminators (1986) and TerrorVision (1986).
He also created props for such musical acts as Kiss — he did Gene Simmons’ chest armor — Insane Clown Posse and Alice Cooper and received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2008 for his work on the Nickelodeon kids series Yo Gabba Gabba!
In a 2012 interview, Hall said he hoped computer effects would not destroy the old-school, hands-on techniques that he specialized in. “I think CG is it’s a good complement to the physical effects. It shouldn’t replace them,” he said. “I grew up with Ray Harryhausen, and those films [with] those gripping scenes, these amazing effects, it’s like now you know how they were done.”
He also is survived by another daughter, Zoe, and two grandchildren.