Lon Bentley says his was a typical hometown childhood. Except that the San Fernando Valley where Lon grew up was also home to the Hollywood film industry, and had been for twenty years. Long leaving its fledgling status behind in the valley’s agricultural furrows and earning the mantle of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Lon's grandfather, Robert Collins Jordan, being an original Los Angeles council member, arranged the L.A. work permit for one of the founding fathers of American cinema, and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history: Cecil B. DeMille.
Fame was, quite literally, just around the corner. And yet for Lon not even that far. His grandmother operated the Universal Hotel, right across the street from Universal City film studios. Permanent residents were Hoot Gibson, Buck Jones, and Lon Chaney, among others.
With a hotel full of movie stars, a film lot for a backyard, and a number of aunts and uncles on the Hollywood payroll, it was only a question in what capacity Lon would join the great adventure to carve out his own career.
It was his enterprising grandmother's new beau, Charles Middleton – Ming in the Flash Gordon serials – who suggested Lon try his hand at acting. And so, at the ripe old age of ten, Lon began a two-year role on Inspirational Hour, which Lon describes as "Father Knows Best in a religious setting."
At twenty, Lon was routinely getting roles on network shows such as The Donna Reed Show and Twelve O'Clock High. But it was the rejection of a role on the long-running western series, Gunsmoke – to give another upcoming young actor a chance – that was the catalyst to Lon finding his true purpose in the film industry. And in a career that would enable him to be in complete control of his own artistic talents; and not told what to wear, where to stand, or what to say – even if Lon could remember what to say.
Two years previous, during a lull in acting roles, and thinking ahead like a struggling actor must, Lon had worked with his high school friend, Mike, a member of the longstanding Westmore family of makeup artists. Then, "One day, not long after being shot down by Gunsmoke, I was called to a temporary makeup assignment and, after that, I never went back to acting."
That temporary assignment became a lifelong commitment, where Lon could find himself working anywhere in the world for a few days or months, exploring a world of light and shadow, line and plane, texture and tone. Using his keen eye and steady hands to sculpt the faces and enhance the portrayal of dramatic expression on actors big and small. Enabling them to be the best that they could be; to look the part and to be the part, for the cinema-going public's better appreciation and enjoyment.
- "When I see a face, I see a skull. I look first at the underlying bone structure … Your eye has to see like a camera lens. Then, hopefully, your hands will do as the eye sees, and as the mind creates." – Lon Bentley
Oh, and that young actor who gained a foot in the door on Gunsmoke, and inadvertently steered Lon to his lifelong career: Burt Reynolds. He, too, was no doubt happy with the decision. Two men on different paths but within the same industry. Each career reliant on the other. Each career respectful of the other – mostly.
Films that were Lon's greatest challenge and the most fun to make:
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Stay Away Joe with Elvis Presley
Tic, Tick, Tick with Frederic March
Rooster Cogburn with John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn
The Last Hard Man with Charlton Heston and Brian Keith
Gray Lady Down with Charlton Heston
The Bunker with Anthony Hopkins
Tom Horn with Steve McQueen and Linda Evans
The Great Santini with Robert Duvall
Runaway and High Road to China with Tom Selleck
Early Days
Family
Lon's Cars
Lon Working
Lon and the Stars
Lon Bentley IMDb
