Variety Magazine called him “A mixture of psychologist and painter, sculptor and actor’s best friend”. A dear friend described him at 88 as “the youngest guy I know with the laughter and exuberance of a 14-year-old racing down a hill on a bicycle with complete abandon”. Dan Striepeke (Stree-Peck) was indeed that as well as a writer, producer,  conscientious negotiator for his union and peers, a veteran of the US Air Force, father of two sons, a loving husband, and a beloved friend and mentor to so many. And he was so much more than that. Encapsulating the arc of his life, the depth of his love, the authenticity of his personality, not to mention his revolutionary artistic achievements in the TV and motion picture industry into a standard obituary format, is near impossible. Nothing Dan did in his life was either standard or format. Born in Santa Rosa, CA, he came to Los Angeles at 19 with a mail-ordered, Max-Factor makeup kit to realize his dream of becoming a makeup artist. With a 60-year career (1956-2006 see www.IMDB.com) of working on Hollywood’s most iconic faces and films; from Mae West, Elvis, Streisand, Olivier, Redford, De Niro to Hanks and films from  Around The World In 80 Days, Spartacus, The Deer Hunter, The Sound of Music, Footloose to The Davinci Code. Dan became not “a” but, “the” makeup artist in Hollywood. He contributed to 9 “Best Picture” Oscar-nominated films, and was also a 2 time Oscar nominee for his work on Forest Gump and Saving Private Ryan. He pushed boundaries, created trends and changed the industry with his work on Planet of The Apes, the peel-off face mask signature reveal in the Mission Impossiblefranchise and worked with Visual FX to establish the motion capture dots on The Polar Expressand solidified makeup artists as the only craft allowed to apply them. When Planet Of The Apes was to receive a special Academy award, it would have gone to Dan because he was the head of the makeup department for 20th Century Fox Studios. Dan insisted that the Oscar go to his lab and prosthetics tech, John Chambers. This speaks to the high regard and profound respect that he had for his colleagues and is an eloquent testament to Dan’s integrity. Other notable acknowledgements are a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Makeup Artist Guild in 2004 and he was chosen by the Motion Picture Academy as the Oscar Legend in Makeup for 2017. He spent 19 years of his career, as Tom Hanks’ personal makeup artist and close friend. (See a tribute to Dan by Hanks in the NY Times The Man Who Aged Me) He wrote and produced the 1973 sci-fi thriller, now cult classic snake film, Ssssss. Even after his retirement in 2006, he lived a vivid artistic and impactful social life devoted to his loving wife Sherry, his French Bulldogs, Louie & Izzy, and a very intimate circle of friends. Dan continued his artistic contributions as an active member of the Academy, a negotiator and mentor for his local 706 union and became an accomplished sculptor. Dan lived his life by the edict “Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain.”

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