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John Dods(I)

  • Special Effects
  • Make-up Department
  • Additional Crew
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
John Dods 10/17/24
Alien creatures invade a small town and a group of four teenagers, plus one little boy, try to escape from them.
Play trailer2:19
The Deadly Spawn (1983)
1 Video
99+ Photos
Born in December 1948, in Plainfield, New Jersey, John Dods has been described by CNN as "one of the world's foremost masters of disguise." Dods has created makeups ranging from the AIDS victims of Longtime Companion (1989), to the aliens, vampires, and zombies of the TV-series Monsters (1988), to the Beast in Disney's Broadway musical (1994-2007). Other Broadway credits include Prosthetic Design for "The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein" (2007) and "The Toxic Avenger Musical" (2009).

Dods professional breakthrough happened in 1983 when his mechanical monsters for the indie-feature The Deadly Spawn (1983) appeared on 6 magazine covers and acquired cult status on Internet websites.

Dods fabricated Matt Dillon's death by train crash for A Kiss Before Dying (1991), turned Whoopi Goldberg into a statue for Naked in New York (1994), and Grace Jones into a corpse for Boomerang (1992). In 1998, then Vice-president Al Gore wore prosthetic by John Dods when he and wife Tipper went costumed as Beauty and the Beast to a Halloween ball. A "Theatre Crafts International" award recipient in 1997 for his work on Disney's Broadway show "Beauty and the Beast", Dods is the Prosthetic Designer for 7 international productions of B&B worldwide.

Dod's creations have appeared on the Tony Awards (1992 & 2008), the Academy Awards (1990), The Kennedy Center Honors Telecast (2009), and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange - when The Toxic Avenger rang the opening bell on 8/31/09. John Dod's work has appeared on the covers of film and theater magazines 38 times.

John Dods is an award winning stop-motion filmmaker whose animation models have appeared in in the network documentary "SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back", the CNN series "Future Watch", the TV series "Monsters", and television commercials for Honey Toasted Cheerios, Payday Candy Bar, Oreo Cookies, Lazyboy Furniture, and Munchies Breakfast Cereal (see "Other credits"). In 1989, John Dods was the Lead Model Maker for the construction of the "Ice Age" miniature set for Universal Studio's "Back To the Future" theme park attraction, Director Douglass Trumbull.

Dods articles on films and filmmaking have appeared for over 30 years, in "Starlog","Fangoria", "Cinemagic", "Scarlet Street", "Stop-Motion Magazine", "The Bolex Reporter", "Van Helsing's Journal", "Cinemagicians", and "Scarlett: The Film Magazine"
BornDecember 10, 1948
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BornDecember 10, 1948
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
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  • Photos136

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    Known for

    The Deadly Spawn (1983)
    The Deadly Spawn
    5.9
    • Special Effects
    • 1983
    Monsters (1988)
    Monsters
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Special Effects
    Sandy Brooke in The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer (1986)
    The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer
    3.7
    • Special Effects
    • 1986
    Matt Dillon and Sean Young in A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
    A Kiss Before Dying
    5.8
    • Special Effects
    • 1991

    Credits

    IMDbPro

    Special Effects



    • Eddie Murphy in Boomerang (1992)
      Boomerang
      5.7
      • grace jones' corpse creator (uncredited)
      • 1992
    • Matt Dillon and Sean Young in A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
      A Kiss Before Dying
      5.8
      • dummy constructor: Matt Dillon dummies
      • 1991
    • Monsters (1988)
      Monsters
      7.3
      TV Series
      • finger effects
      • special effects
      • special effects makeup
      • 1988–1991
    • Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters II (1989)
      Ghostbusters II
      6.6
      • severed-head constructions maker (uncredited)
      • 1989
    • Black Roses (1988)
      Black Roses
      5.2
      • mechanical corpse effects
      • 1988
    • Heather O'Rourke in Poltergeist III (1988)
      Poltergeist III
      4.7
      • mechanical effects (uncredited)
      • 1988
    • Michele Little and Scott Valentine in My Demon Lover (1987)
      My Demon Lover
      4.7
      • special effects makeup
      • 1987
    • Sandy Brooke in The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer (1986)
      The Adventures of Taura: Prison Ship Star Slammer
      3.7
      • designer and fabricator: mutant rat
      • 1986
    • Spookies (1986)
      Spookies
      4.8
      • creator: additional effects
      • special creature design and animation
      • 1986
    • The Deadly Spawn (1983)
      The Deadly Spawn
      5.9
      • special effects director
      • 1983
    • Nightbeast (1982)
      Nightbeast
      4.3
      • beast designer
      • 1982

    Makeup Department



    • Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X Files (1998)
      The X Files
      7.0
      • headcast maker: Jeffrey DeMunn (uncredited)
      • 1998
    • Winona Ryder and Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Resurrection (1997)
      Alien: Resurrection
      6.2
      • headcast maker: Gary Dourdan (uncredited)
      • 1997
    • Tim Allen in The Santa Clause (1994)
      The Santa Clause
      6.6
      • headcast maker: David Krumholtz (uncredited)
      • 1994
    • Mary-Louise Parker and Eric Stoltz in Naked in New York (1993)
      Naked in New York
      5.6
      • prosthetic makeup artist: Whoopi Goldberg
      • 1993
    • Death Becomes Her (1992)
      Death Becomes Her
      6.7
      • special makeup effects artist (uncredited)
      • 1992
    • Monsters (1988)
      Monsters
      7.3
      TV Series
      • makeup artist
      • special makeup effects artist
      • special effects makeup
      • 1988–1990
    • Dermot Mulroney and Campbell Scott in Longtime Companion (1989)
      Longtime Companion
      7.6
      • special effects makeup consultant
      • 1989
    • John Walsh in America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988)
      America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back
      7.2
      TV Series
      • special makeup effects artist
      • 1988–2021
    • Spookies (1986)
      Spookies
      4.8
      • prosthetic makeup artist (uncredited)
      • 1986
    • A Christmas Treat (1985)
      A Christmas Treat
      6.1
      Short
      • makeup designer
      • 1985

    Additional Crew



    • Twisted Tale: The Unmaking of 'Spookies' (2019)
      Twisted Tale: The Unmaking of 'Spookies'
      7.2
      • additional photographs courtesy of
      • 2019
    • Monsters (1988)
      Monsters
      7.3
      TV Series
      • double: Darin McGavin
      • 1988–1990
    • Nightbeast (1982)
      Nightbeast
      4.3
      • double: "Nightbeast" (uncredited)
      • 1982

    Videos1

    The Deadly Spawn
    Trailer 2:19
    The Deadly Spawn

    Personal details

    • Official site
      • Official Site
    • Born
      • December 10, 1948
      • Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
    • Other works
      Created old-age makeup on Joe Jackson for "19 Forever" music video
    • Publicity listings
      • 1 Interview
      • 14 Articles
      • 4 Pictorials
      • 21 Magazine Cover Photos

    Did you know

    • Trivia
      Since 1993, he has produced 52,000 foam latex prosthetic pieces for 6 international productions of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast".

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