Tom Savini: Early Years

When I was researching Romero's Trilogy of the Dead Tom Savini's name kept on coming up so I thought I may as well dig a bit deeper and find out more about the man.

Tom Savini, actor, director, stuntman and, of course, special effects and make-up artist supreme!

Savini was born into a hard working Italian immigrant family, the youngest of 5, 3 brothers and a sister.

His father was a builder and carpenter, as well as general handyman, Savini attributes his work ethic as coming from his father.

His mother was the one that use to take him to the movies and that's where he fell in love with film, the movie The Man of a Thousand Faces, about the wonderfully talented Lon Chaney, was a massive inspiration and started his fascination with make-up and effects. 

From an early age Savini would practice doing horror (Dracula, Frankenstein's monster etc) make-up on his friends, and at the age of 14 he went to a magic show, Dr Silkini, and ended up working for the show dressed up as Dracula, it was his first paid job.

He attended Point Park University studying journalism for 3 years where he met his 1st wife, she got pregnant and so to pay the bills Savini enlisted in the Army as a combat reporter. It was in Vietnam that he saw the true atrocities of war, but it also gave him some of the ideas he would later use in his make up effects.

When he left the Army he'd split with his wife so he decided to complete his studies, he was accepted into Carnegie-Mellon University and was the first undergraduate to be awarded a full fellowship in the acting and directing program, there was a proviso though, he had to teach a class in make up design!

Whilst at University he put into practice the various talents he's acquired in his youth in various stage productions that the University put on, he was a tournament fencer and gymnast, a bit of a ace with a bullwhip, as well as an accomplished bike rider, most of his roles in his later career revolved around motorbikes.