Dick Smith has made the most iconic characters in cinema history and his friends and colleagues in Hollywood pay tribute to the legendary make-up artist who died in Los Angeles Thursday. He was 92.

One of his protégés, Rick Baker confirmed his demise on Twitter on July 31.

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@TheRickBaker: “The Master is gone. My friend and mentor Dick Smith is no longer with us. The world will not be the same.”

Will the world ever be the same without the man behind the realistic transformations in cinema. With his outstanding skills and keen for details, Smith had made the impossible creations at the tip of every budding and professional make-up artists in Hollywood and around the globe.

Smith according to The New York Times, “…made flesh peel from famous actors’ faces, who made the young old and the beautiful hideous and who transformed a girl into a particularly possessed teen.”

He had received recognition for his contribution in the field in 2012 when he was given the honorary Governors Academy Award presented by Baker. He also received the elusive Makeup Artists Lifetime Achievement Award by the Makeup Artists and Hair Stylist Guild Awards early this year.

Variety took note of the commendations Smith received from his colleagues in the field.

“Rarely have there been makeup artists with the legendary inventiveness, creativity and artistic excellence of Dick Smith,” Variety quoted Makeup Artists Guild president Sue Cabral-Ebert as saying early this year.

The legendary makeup artist added Cabral-Ebert has served as inspirations to many worldwide.

Cabral-Ebert added, “Dick’s transparency and willingness to share the secrets of the craft have been the catalyst for young makeup artists all over the world to follow their imaginations and dreams.”

He is best known for his work to age Marlon Brando into the iconic character of Don Corleone in “The Godfather: Part II,” and F. Murray Abraham character as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. Colleagues and movie fans will also remember Smith for his notable creations in “Taxi Driver,” “Little Big Man,” “Scanners,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Marathon Man,” and “The Exorcist.”

The transformations created by his skills gave Smith the “thrill” and satisfaction he admitted in an interview with the New York Times in 1983.

“It’s kind of godlike to see your artistry come to life in this form,” The New York Times recalled Smith as saying during an interview in 1983. “It is thrilling to me that you can take a human being, can create on his face another person or creature who has all the life of a totally different individual.”

Born on June 26, 1922, Richard Emerson “Dick” Smith was a native of Larchmont, New York; son of Coral Brown and Richard Roy Smith. His interest in realistic transformations using make-up and his fine skills began after reading a book, “Paint, Powder, and Makeup.” His online biography said that he had then used the techniques learned from the book for a drama group in Yale. The New York Times noted that Smith ended up finding his way to the field beginning from his low-tech laboratory in his home basement in New York.

Smith is survived by two sons, Douglas and David.

TagsDick Smith, death, top makeup artist, Richard Emerson, Godfather of makeup