Biography
Carlos Cruz Gemora (June 15, 1903 – August 19, 1961), commonly known as Charles Gemora, was a Hollywood makeup artist renowned as "the King of the Gorilla Men" for his prolific appearances in many Hollywood films while wearing a gorilla suit. Gemora was born on the island of Negros, Philippines, and arrived in San Francisco as a stowaway. He quickly found work on a fruit farm in Colusa, California but later moved to Los Angeles. He earned money doing portrait sketches outside of Universal Studios where his talents were discovered and put to work in the studio's sculpture department for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Gemora found his 5'4"/163 cm stature made him a natural to wear a gorilla suit, which he did, beginning with The Leopard Lady (1928).Gemora's study of real gorillas at the San Diego Zoo and his expertise on makeup gave him an extensive career as a gorilla opposite actors including Our Gang (Bear Shooters), Lon Chaney (The Unholy Three), Bela Lugosi (Murders in the Rue Morgue), Laurel and Hardy, (The Chimp & Swiss Miss), The Marx Brothers (At the Circus), Bob Hope and Bing Crosby (Road to Zanzibar), The Great Gildersleeve (Gildersleeve's Ghost), Abbott and Costello (Africa Screams) and Robert Mitchum (White Witch Doctor).With men in gorilla suits no longer providing the same scares in the 1950s as they did in the 1930s/1940s, Gemora moved into science fiction films such as the Martian in War of the Worlds and I Married a Monster from Outer Space.
Filmography
all 49
Movies 49
Charlie Gemora: Uncredited (2016)
Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Hands of a Stranger (1962)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Africa Screams (1949)
Who Killed Doc Robbin? (1948)
Road to Utopia (1946)
Kitty (1945)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Aloma of the South Seas (1941)
The Monster and the Girl (1941)
Golden Gloves (1940)
Those Were the Days! (1940)
Dr. Cyclops (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
At the Circus (1939)
Swiss Miss (1938)
Gum Shoes (1935)
Bum Voyage (1934)
So This Is Africa (1933)
Nature in the Wrong (1933)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Blonde Venus (1932)
Hawkins & Watkins Inc. (1932)
The Chimp (1932)
Sealskins (1932)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Nu-Ma-Pu - Cannibalism (1931)
Ghost Parade (1931)
Don Juan diplomático (1931)
Africa Speaks! (1930)
Rain or Shine (1930)
Bear Shooters (1930)
Ingagi (1930)
Tarzan the Tiger (1929)
Where East Is East (1929)
The Holy Terror (1929)
Stark Mad (1929)
Tarzan the Mighty (1928)
The Circus Kid (1928)
The Leopard Lady (1928)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
Ratings
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1903-06-15
Deathday1961-08-19 (58 years old)
Birth PlaceNegros, Philippines
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsCharles Gamore, Carlos Gemora, Charles Gemorra, Charles Gomura, Carlos Cruz Gemora
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