<![CDATA[Robert O'Bradovich - Blog]]>Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:11:45 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Random Press Photo Found on eBay.]]>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 01:53:22 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/random-press-photo-found-on-ebayEbay has often yielded many press clippings, photos, etc., from Dad's time at NBC. Here is a photo I bought one day that came up in my Facebook memories. It features Trevor Howard, in full Dad makeup, as Benjamin Disraeli for a 1963 production of "The Invincible Mr. Disraeli," which, I believe, is also available on YouTube (another good source). The original press caption was still affixed to the back.
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]]><![CDATA[Happy Halloween!]]>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 20:53:51 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/happy-halloweenDad won his third Emmy for a fondly remembered 1979 TV special called "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't." Although the disco elements make it a bit date, it still has its lovely charms. And the cast is great, especially Mariette Hartley whom I always thought was criminally underrated. We visited the great Westchester mansion where it was filmed and I remember Hartley saying hi while she was in the makeup chair! YouTube has a few copies, which is great. 
]]><![CDATA[James Dean, Rest in Peace. Seventy Years Gone Today, But Not Forgotten.]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 03:47:35 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/james-dean-rest-in-peace-seventy-years-gone-today-but-not-forgottenJames Dean, a visionary and brilliant, charismatic actor died in a horrific car crash on this day, seventy years ago. He only made three films. Incredible as "East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" are, he left behind a huge body of work in TV. During the early 50s, Dean started getting roles in TV dramas, and, according to tonight's TCM broadcast of a formerly lost, but now restored teledrama called "Life Sentence," Dean's performances were getting noticed by teens, who would send him tons of fan mail. How does James Dean fit in with my father's career? Well, being that Dad worked with most every famous actor and actress out there, he casually mentioned once that he worked with Dean on one such drama. He said Dean was intense, SCARILY intense, and Dad could see that the actor was supremely gifted. Now for the title of this drama..well, that one, so far has eluded me. Dad, with all the productions he was constantly working on, did not know the name of this Dean one. And to this DAY, I cannot find anything that they did together, either on Google, or by watching the James Dean on TV DVD gift set I have. I thought it would be interesting to see what Google/ AI came up with when I punched their names into the search engine. Hilarity ensued. I mean it's pretty accurate, but I still don't know the title....
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]]><![CDATA[A Tribute to Robert Redford (August 18, 1936-September 16, 2025) And "Three Days of the Condor."]]>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 22:54:54 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/a-tribute-to-robert-redford-august-18-1936-september-16-2024-and-three-days-of-the-condor
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I'm trying to think of a time from my 1970s childhood/teen years when Robert Redford wasn't a part of my cultural experience. He was THE biggest star in the world and he was everywhere. I really can't think of much to add to the volumes of loving tributes to the man, actor and activist that haven't already been said except to say that like everyone else, I adored his movies, and remember quite vividly when my Dad  took me to see "The Sting" (I really didn't get it) and when Mom took me to see "The Way We Were," a real grownup movie. (I loved it!)  His beautiful face graced all the movie fan magazines, while any movie release of his was a major event. To me, he  always came across as a good guy, the cautious everyman who tried to escape the glamor of his looks. So when Dad was hired to be one of the makeup artists for 1975's "Three Days of the Condor," I was beyond ecstatic. Dad and I had a ritual..he would carry my small (and now very tattered) autograph book to his sets and try to get whatever celebrity he was working with to sign it. That autograph book went everywhere with him, including several states. He would leave us for months on movie locations around the US and always, ALWAYS that book came right back to me. How he didn't lose it, I will never know. So when I begged him, cajoled him and nagged him about getting Redford's autograph, it proved most elusive. By all accounts the shoot, mostly on the streets of NYC in the winter was grueling. Redford seemed untouchable given that he had his own hair and makeup people. I have to think that Dad tried his best, but didn't want to come across as tacky and perhaps jeopardizing his own job. I regret it to this day, but at least he got me Cliff Robertson's signature. Small comfort to this pre teen Redford fan. But back to the shoot. I remember Dad discussing in great detail a special effect he had worked on diligently, as was his habit. It was a shootout in an alley off the famed Astoria building on the Upper West Side, where we also lived. (In fact, we had lived about ten blocks from part of the set on Broadway, which made Dad a happy commuter). The actor in question was to be shot in the throat, and a large gaping hole was seen in closeup. From what I recall, Dad fashioned the wound from rubber, filled it with fake blood and placed a rubber skin piece. And THAT piece had a long, barely visible string attached to it. At the moment of action, Dad was sitting right under the actor, hand on string and pulled the piece off in what must have been some sort of otherworldly feat of speed. The wound successfully gushed. This was all before computers and CGI. This is how it was done. By master craftspeople dedicated to being meticulous and creative. So RIP, Robert Redford, Say hello to Dad and give him that autograph!
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]]><![CDATA[Ingmar Bergman Meets Bob O'Bradovich]]>Thu, 23 May 2024 22:36:01 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/ingmar-bergman-meets-bob-obradovichAs a huge fan of the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, I was once told that there existed a great old short film parody from the 1968 called "The Dove." I found out about it many decades ago when I was casually chatting with a fellow film fan in one of those late, great NYC poster shops that smelled of dust, cigar smoke and old paper. He told me it's a legendary film among Bergmaniacs, that it parodies "The Seventh Seal" (Death plays tennis!) and the cast recite their lines in ridiculously fake Swedish, like Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin once did in an equally wonderful Bergman parody on SCTV. Well that sold me. I NEEDED to see this film. But how? Despite all the repertory film theaters near my old Upper West Side apartment, I had never seen this one listed in a program. That lucky day finally arrived when a friend lent me a copy of the film. To my delight, it was everything I imagined it to be. Funny, biting and even reverential towards to the man, the myth and the legend. What I was NOT prepared for was the closing credits, which I always watch. To my utter shock, delight and thrill, none other than Bob O'Bradovich had done the makeup. That I wish I could have leapt up and screamed was an understatement. More than anything, I wanted to go running to my father and have him tell me all about this shoot, which took place when I was probably four years old. But I couldn't. By the time I had seen this film, he had passed away. But I was also left with many more questions. Why hadn't he ever mentioned this film to me, knowing that I had discovered Bergman's films in college? Did he have to watch "The Seventh Seal" to get an idea of Bengt Ekerot's stunning makeup playing "Death"? Surely he must have enjoyed working with a young Madeline Kahn, in her debut? I have to think that this project simply got lost to time. He was an exceedingly in demand makeup artist at the time, and this was probably a one off project, thinking it would go nowhere. Little did he know.  If he were alive, I would tell him how richly satiric the film is, what a great job he did with Death's makeup and, incredibly, that it was nominated for an Oscar for Live Action Short Subject at the 41st Academy Awards in 1969t. But alas, I cannot. I can only write a blog entry on his website. Still, I know he'd be delighted.
]]><![CDATA[Dad Gets a Mention on a 1970 episode of "To Tell the Truth"!]]>Mon, 04 Jul 2022 00:26:45 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/dad-gets-a-mention-on-a-1970-episode-of-to-tell-the-truthIt's been WAY too long since I've updated this website. But I had to get this in as a blog post. For those who don't know, "To Tell the Truth" was a great old game show in which three people disguised and pretended to be a prominent person in a specific field. It was up to the celebrity panelists to pepper each person with questions and then take an educated guess at the end ("Will the real (fill in blank) please stand up!). Hosted by the great Garry Moore, the show lasted through much of my childhood in the 70s. I watched it here and there, but I really missed this one.
The guest is a prominent makeup up artist whose last name I couldn't quite make out. He was Pres. Nixon's makeup artist at the time. At one point panelist Peggy Cass asks him for some names of other artists who were prominent in their field for character and aging makeup. He responds as follows: "I would say you have two top men, one Dick Smith and the other Bob O'Bradovich." Her question begins at approx. 6:06. It's a lovely moment and I thank my Facebook friend for alerting me to it.
]]><![CDATA[LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON, BRYAN CRANSTON AND DAD]]>Wed, 09 Sep 2015 06:58:45 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/lyndon-baines-johnson-bryan-cranston-and-dadThere are pictures going around of Bryan Cranston made up as LBJ for the upcoming HBO biopic "All the Way." The makeup transformation by Bill Corso is pretty uncanny, but it got me to thinking about an equally uncanny transformation done by Dad sometime in the late 60s. Details are sketchy, but he once told me that he did LBJ's makeup for some appearances and LBJ lived up to his "I don't give a damn what people think" attitude with spectacular results, including peeing right in front of my Dad. But aside from that, he used to create makeup transformations all the time using his face as his canvas. Below is a shot of Dad as LBJ and Bryan Cranston as LBJ. I'd say both are equally amazing, but I may be biased..
]]><![CDATA[SINGING THE PRAISES OF "SONG OF MYSELF" WITH RIP TORN]]>Sat, 27 Jun 2015 06:37:39 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/singing-the-praises-of-song-of-myself-with-rip-tornIn 1976, CBS aired a critically praised Walt Whitman biography named after one of Whitman's best-known poems. "Song of Myself" was a short film presented under the auspices of "The American Parade," which presented a series of programs about prominent American figures around the Bicentennial celebration. Rip Torn played Whitman, and Dad was hired to do the complicated aging makeup, always an O'Bradovich specialty. Torn was impressive and the program was well received. It was one among many pleasurable small projects that gave Dad his professional fulfillment. Torn and he became friends after the production ended. And, on a side note: a friend recently told me that he attended a Rip Torn retrospective in which the actor presented his favorite TV and movie performances. Among them? "Song of Myself."

Here is a clip from the special and from the O'Bradovich archives: a letter of effusive thanks from director Robert Markowitz.


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]]><![CDATA[Spotlight: "Three Days of the Condor" on tonight at 12:30am on TCM]]>Wed, 28 Jan 2015 02:35:32 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/spotlight-three-days-of-the-condor-on-tonight-at-1230am-on-tcmAll month long, TCM is spotlighting the films of Robert Redford, and tonight's movie "Three Days of the Condor" is one of his best. Released in 1975, it centers on New York CIA agent Joseph Turner who returns from a lunch break to find every single one of his co-workers dead. Barely escaping with his life, Turner goes on a quest to find the truth, but discovers he's the next target. Taut and tension-filled, "Three Days" luxuriates in paranoid conspiracy and gritty New York City realism. While America was still recovering from Watergate and trust in the government was at an all time low, NYC was facing a financial crisis that threatened its very solvency. Fans of 1970s New York City will lap up the location scenes, shot all around the city. As key makeup artist, my father was responsible for the special effects makeup, including the memorable shootout in the alley of the Ansonia hotel (now a residential building) on 74th street and Broadway. A longtime resident of the Upper West Side of Manhattan himself, my father often remarked that traveling to the set was a breeze. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of him working on the gunshot, but I have a few photos of him on the set and with Cliff Robertson (courtesy of Ira Gallen, who worked on the crew and graciously shared these rare gems with me) along with some of my own screen caps. Be sure to watch tonight!
]]><![CDATA[FAMILY PHOTO OF THE DAY]]>Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:06:47 GMThttp://www.robertobradovich.com/blog/family-photo-of-the-dayOne of the joys of growing up with a makeup artist for a father is that I sometimes got myself involved in the mix. Here is a scene from the living room where Dad was busy mixing his potions and I was being a curious five year old.
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