Freaky Faces (Bad Cosmetic Surgery)

In the mood for some fun-size candy? In Hollywood it's Halloween year-round. Let's go trick-or-treating with some of our favorite stars from the KnifeStyles' archives! (To find out more about how you can get any of these looks at home, just click on his/her/its name under Labels.)

Leading the party is birthday boy Michael Jackson. He celebrated his 50th this year with a new and improved wig. And bringing the party balloons and matching face is big sister LaToya (52).

How did they come up with this look?

I'll tell you how: they ripped it off! In 1952 Hasbro came out with Mr. Potato Head. The original package included plastic eyes, nose, mouth, ears along with a styrofoam head for kids to practice making wacky expressions. Featured in the first TV toy commercial ever, it earned $4 million in sales in just the first few months.

The competition in Hollywood has been fierce ever since.

The Scary Clown face took off with the Batman film series. Mickey Rourke (52) can't smile anymore without conjuring up images of a demonic Joker. Not to be outdone, Donatella Versace (55) is going as Mrs. Joker.

Then there are those older kids who go in for the classic fairy tale genre: the Big Bad Wolf my-teeth-will-eat-you-up. Both Faye Dunaway (67) and Gary Busey (64) have aggressive, man made choppers perfect for the part.

Also light and playful are Clown Lips, often paired with great big rubber breasts that go beep-beep. Just showing up as the first supermodel would so '80s. Or so Janice Dickinson (53) thinks.

On the more on the risqué side of the room is Man-as-Phallus, Sylvester Stallone (60). This look can be obtained by combining surgery with lots of injected testosterone and hGH. Not sure how much candy you'll get with this one....

Not to be outdone, Madonna's (52) new face shares a lot in common another x-rated marionette: Madame. Too tight, too thin, all cheeks and chin! Lil' Kim (31) tried the same same idea, but she's got a few years to go before she can really pull it off.

Victoria Principal (62) just wants to be thought of as hip and techno-savvy, so she's going as an emoticon, the Happy Face.

Imitation can be a source of flattery – or not. We could ask Rowan Atkinson if his Mr. Bean Brows are proprietary and whether Melanie Griffith (51) has paid.

Of course, the easy cop-out is just to put on a mask. Are you listening, Ms. Presley (63)? It's much more fun when you put some effort into it. Take, for instance, Julie Newmar (75): a deft hand with the make-up can really liven up your Death Mask.

Then there's the crowd that believes that trick-or-treating should be a creative expression of one's worth. Why trick out your ride when you can Pimp Your Face? Mike Tyson (42) is outspoken on the topic.


Or just forget about plastic surgery and Just Do Drugs for a really scary look.




PS:
Oh, those fun FM 107.1 listeners, one of whom submitted this photo to give Donatella a run for her wax lips. Who says 40 can't be fabulous?



New Feature FM107.1 on Demand - audio archive
http://www.fm1071.com/ondemand/

Did you miss hearing Anne flesh it all out with Kevyn Burger on-air? Use this link to find the FM107.1 audio archive of Knifestyles broadcasts by date (second hour). Step one: select the date shown on the blog posting; step two: click on Kevyn Burger; step three: click on second hour. Enjoy!

A Picture is Worth... (Before & Afters)

... A thousand disclaimers to the contrary. After all, a celebrity is more likely to admit to having herpes than cosmetic surgery. A recent NYTimes article featuring an MSNBC article featuring the opinions of a celebrity blogging surgeon (how's that for sourcing?) purported to reveal all in pictures.

The running commentary of the star-studded slide show was meant to expose the not-so-pretty results of rejuvenation surgery. To really have an eye for the faces you need to be both predisposed to gossip and have had a lot of time holding the knife, so to speak. A general plastic surgeon who is young, relatively inexperienced (in surgeon years), and not terribly savvy about facial plastics is going to miss quite a lot.

Let's have a little look-see.

Here are some of the then-and-now photos and quotes from the MSNBC pictorial, along with some tips from moi. Just double click on any photo or link for a closer look.

Nicole Kidman (40) is not showing "classic botox brow" here in this side-by-side; what it does show is a lot of grey and hair extensions. This is what botox brow looks like. Kidman is currently off the juice due to her pregnancy and has the brow movement to prove it. (PS: red lipstick was not a good look in 1997.)

It's more than just "possible" Kenny Rogers (69) has had a necklift; there's plenty of evidence of his facelift(s) as well in the side-by-side photos. Compare the two necklines from 1985 (far left) and 2007 (middle). That turkey gobbler didn't go away on its own! Note as well the post-facelift choice of a goatee; most likely the surgeon hid the facelift scar behind the tragus and the natural beard line is now in there as well. Just a little image googling shows Rogers had a previous blepharoplasty and facelift prior to this; his 9/2006 ear (near left) shows obvious signs of a lift, but the neck skin is much more lax than what he's sporting in 2007.

The ear can potentially give you a lot of information about anyone's facelift. Just as in tailoring, the seam has got to go somewhere. In men the facelift incision is most often placed in the preauricular position, in women it's looped around behind the tragus. Care must be taken to avoid loss of temporal hair/sideburn elevation, tragus elimination, earlobe dislocation/distortion, and visible scars in front of the ear– all too common mistakes.

Who's next? Susan Sarandon (61) looks like she's "aging gracefully" in MSNBC's side-by-side, but sometimes you just need the right picture. Once again, google is your friend. There's plenty of evidence under her chin of a facelift in this 5/2008 candid (far right). Now look again at the MSNBC photos: her crowsfeet swing upward with the onset of aging...or a temporal lift.

Madonna (49)? Excuse me?!? Is the Pope Catholic? Yes, she's had a facelift. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Sylvester Stallone (61) does not look "more and more like his mother." He looks like an engorged p _ _ _ _. I can't say it, even in print. He has the classic signs of testosterone replacement in addition to his hGH use.
That raw meat look comes from over-doing the hormone supplements. Not only has he had an upper blepharoplasty, he's had lips, browlift(s), and full facelift. Check out the incision scars; there's no "maybe" about it.

And the NYTimes covergirl, Priscilla Presley (62)? That's a 40 year gap between images, but her nasolabial folds disappeared and her pucker got poutier. But what's the most obvious thing that jumps out at you? Her facelift! Check out those ears, no before photo needed! This is not merely "Botox injections, Restylane injections, chemical peels and laser treatments...fat grafting...long-acting filler like Radiesse." It's a facelift, boys and girls. Now, class dismissed.

Hollywood Hunks - Aging or Not?

The life-cycle of the leading man used to be predictable: the bigger the film star, the more you could bank on the four phases. Every 10-12 years these male actors would metamorphose, thereby holding old fans and gaining new ones as they aged. Think of Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Stewart and Henry Fonda. The changes wrought by aging were embraced, or at least capitalized on.


The NYTimes cites the 1959 classic western Rio Bravo as a freeze frame of the "Four Ages of the Movie Star:"

"[f]irst comes the rebellious young adult (Ricky Nelson, as a cocky gunfighter) who evolves into the conflicted middle-aged professional (Dean Martin, as the deputy with a drinking problem), who turn into the trustworthy elder statesman (John Wayne, as the self-sufficient sheriff), who eventually gives way to the lovable old coot (Walter Brennan as, well, the lovable old coot)."

Interestingly, RioBravo is a film in which the plot is simply a token and it is the nuanced characters which are essential.

Contrast this with today's aging action figures: nothing slows them down. They capitalize on the franchise, no older, no wiser. The biggest stars of yesterday didn't resist the transition to sagging jowls and character-etched visages. Today's stars make use of every trick that drugs, surgery, and the camera can offer in order to appear trapped in a time warp.

Sylvester Stallone (61) notoriously did it with hGH, gym time, and lots of plastic surgery. Before filming the comedy Oscar (1991) he had his first surgery, a unilateral direct browlift to correct a birth injury brought on by high forceps. Since then Rocky has had his nose broken, more brow work, belpharoplasty, and a facelift (2006). And probably botox and facial fillers.

Harrison Ford (65) went in for reputedly once went in for hair transplants & coloring in the 1980s and now a very young wife. But even without plastic surgery, his upcoming appearance in the upcoming 4th installment of Indiana Jones seems to confirm what's changed about today's leading macho man roles. Nothing.


Ford plays the same archeologist adventurer over a 20 year span doing the same stunts. The script may joke about aging, but essentially he doesn't age. Ditto for Bruce Willis (52) who is dying hard for the fourth time in 20 years. Hollywood uses every digitalized sleight of hand to make them appear unchanged.

Perhaps the exception to the pre-video cinema time machine was Cary Grant, the epitome of the seductive man – sauve, sophisticated, marvelously dressed. He never looked really young even in the 1930s when he landed on-screen and he never looked really old when he left the screen at age 62.

George Clooney (46) is heir to the Grant's bespoke shoes. Male actors can command a long life as romantic leads, just as they do in real life. The standards for masculine sex appeal are broad and encompass some aging, unlike the standards for action hero virility which requires that time stop.

Will Clooney make it to 62 without resorting to surgery? If he continues to emulate Cary Grant, it will be by making no attempt to hide his true age. So far, he hasn't.

According to the NYTimes, "[t]he stars who emerged in the 1960s and early ’70s — before cable television, home video and the Internet began to divide the audience into discrete demographic groups — will likely be the last generation to make it into coothood with their popularity more or less intact: Clint Eastwood (77), Jack Nicholson (70), Al Pacino (67)."

Stars like these have moved on with the times and chosen roles reflective of their age, despite modest plastic surgery. Jack Nicholson had a direct browlift after his first film success Five Easy Pieces. Robert Redford (70) had a blepharoplasty many years ago. Eastwood (despite misleading pictures) has not. Robert Duvall (77) has not. Warren Beatty (70) has perhaps had an upper blepharoplasty years ago, but nothing obvious.

Their behaviors and mates may not be age-appropriate, but their looks are.

But for stars who arrived in the late seventies, after movies moved out of the theatre, the options are very different. They are a generation of young actors aging on the small and large screen, their films out of chronological order. It includes the likes of Tom Cruise (45), Leonardo DiCaprio (33), Brad Pitt (44), Matt Damon (37) and Will Smith (39). Will they do without plastic surgery?

It's unlikely today's fans will tolerate their favorite stars getting any older. Tell us what you think.

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