BY DANIEL CURET
JOURNEYMAN HAIR STYLIST
Renate Leuschner
I wanted to sing the praises of our (sometimes) unsung heroes with a series of conversations illustrating unique contributions and exploring what working friendships have meant to them over the years making wigs for film, TV and theater in Hollywood.
I don’t know about you, but without a well-made wig, transforming an actor into the character they envision can take a lot of hair styling trickery. A custom-made wig can instantly transform hair color and texture without damaging the actor’s hair and can save on styling time in the chair. They are simply hand-made miracles.
My first department head job was with a Paul Huntley wig. I have since worked with many wigs from many wigmakers. I took my journeyman test borrowing a lace wig from Vivian Walker when she owned the wig stock from MGM and rented them out through Favian Wigs (since purchased by George and Natascha Ladek and still in business). It wasn’t until years later that I had the pleasure of having one of many wigs made by Renate. This toupee she made for me still looked a little thick over the actor’s slicked down hair and she said to me, “dahrling, you could read a newspaper through that thing, why don’t you try shaving his head?’ Sage advise, it did the trick. With more than 61 credits on IMDb and countless of uncredited wigs made, Renate Leuschner has had a roster of actors, hair stylists, make-up artists, producers and directors seek out her talent. She has now retired, closed up shop and offered her wig stock up for sale.
Renate, when did you get your start? I got my start in Germany. In the theater as an apprentice. First in a beauty salon, then as an apprentice in the theater classified as a “künstlerlehrling” (which means a make-up apprentice and doing everything) for three years. I learned all the period hair styling. My first boss would give me wigs to work on and had me copy his period work. He taught me how to see the “big picture” in designing for shows. He taught me a lot. In those days, they didn’t pay very much. Then I got to do the big shows.
When did you get to Hollywood? I wanted to see America. I had no intention to stay. In those days, there were immigration programs you could apply for and somehow I got a job at a beauty salon in Chicago which I hated. Through a mutual acquaintance from Germany, I met Ziggy, who did beautiful men’s hairpieces. We communicated and he helped me come out west. At 26 or 27, I took the cross country train to Los Angeles. He got me my first job in a wig-styling salon and gave me a few hairpieces to work on. I wasn’t a very good wigmaker in those days. I was mostly a hair stylist. He also introduced me to Roselle Friedland, the wig supervisor on The Carol Burnett Show and I worked with her and the costume designer Bob Mackie for a few years. I returned home for vacation and was laid off from that job. Bob contacted me to help an actress with very long hair apply a wig. Later on, the same actress’ hair stylist was having problems wrapping her hair under another wig and she asked Bob to “get me that German girl!” That is how I met, and, got to work with Cher for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. She at once said to me, “You are a keeper”.
Besides Cher, are there other memorable clients you would like to share about? In the beginning, I was mostly working on variety shows. I got the opportunity for a teleplay at Channel 28 with an English actress. I made the wig and did the tests and handed it off to the hair stylist. The next day, they called me in a panic because the hair stylist had restyled the wig from the sleek Veronica Lake look designed to a ’40s musical showgirl style. CBS made a deal with Local 706 that I could be “per-mitted” to apply the wigs backstage until I worked 30 days and took the test to join the TV Roster. After I joined, I got an offer to work on a George C. Scott ’30s period film called Movie Movie with tons and tons of wigs. Afterward, there was another movie in Vancouver with George. He was great. In those days, the make-up artist was still the head of both departments. This fellow was very upset about a wig design meeting I attended without him. In my ignorance, I asked him, “Do you make, style and fit the wigs? No? Then why did you want to be at the meeting?” He left me alone after that encounter. Working with Barbara Hershey and Bette Midler was memorable as well.
Tell me about forming partnerships with hair stylists and make-up artists. It has to be a partnership! The first time I met Yolanda was on Down and Out in Beverly Hills. It was such a pleasure to work on. Yolanda started calling me for movies and introduced me to Ve Neil. We did a series of films like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and the Batman films with Jim Carrey’s Riddler and Danny De Vito’s Penguin and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze. Those films had a lot of really fun looks. I took care of Cher again for Witches of Eastwick, Moonstruck and Mermaids. Leonard Engelman met her on Witches and did such a beautiful make-up on her. I really enjoyed working with Stan Winston on Interview with the Vampire. He knew exactly what he wanted. The way we worked together was such a pleasure. I remember Mike Meyers for Austin Powers and an odd but interesting film called The Cell. I also made wigs for some of the X-Men films with a lot of other wigmak-ers. Robin Williams had such a big head when I brought some wigs to try on him up in San Francisco for Mrs. Doubtfire, I had to cut them in the back to make them fit.You have to work together. We have to know about the finished hair style in order to make a wig. The hair stylist usually comes for fittings. They have to wrap the hair so I can fit the wig to the way they are going to wrap. Otherwise if the wig doesn’t fit, you’re in big trouble. For the final fit-ting, the hair stylist always has to be there. It’s always a collaboration to make a wig. After all, a wig can only look as good as the hair stylist that applies it. I owe a special thanks to Kathy Blondell, Barbara Lorenz, Cydney Cornell and Melissa Yonkey for all our collaborations and patronage over the years.
Do you have a wig making philosophy? Again, wrapping the hair is the most important part. Then creating the plastic wrap “bubble” is second and transferring the bubble to create the block, third. Fourth, by creating the lace foundation, you are halfway there. Selecting the hair color and texture is the fun part. Knowing style direction is a must. Even when you have a platinum wig, you weave a little dark hair to give it life. Color-blending reds is the most difficult. I learned to lightly weave a very bright orange to maintain vibrancy in all type of lighting situations. It is interesting and counterintuitive. With curly hair, for example, adding too much density doesn’t allow for movement.
At the height of your shop, how many people did you have working with you? I didn’t have that many. When you get too big, you lose control. I had different ventilators do either the back or top depending on what they were good at. Sometimes I would switch them around.
Tell me about procuring the hair? Having the right hair is crucial. At first, I got hair from a company in Germany, then the prices went up and the quality went down. Then I used Giovanni and Sons. The Russian hair started coming in (it was really from Poland) and again the prices went up … the quality went down. Nowadays, it comes mostly from India and Italy. Depending on how the hair is processed, the quality is affected. Sometimes you mix different hair batches trying to blend colors and they can fight each other. At the end, you want the hair to have life and movement.
How is your inventory sale going? It’s going great and almost all gone. Thank you, Renate, from the bottom of our hearts for everything you have shared with us … especially all the kindness, love and support you show- ered on everyone! •
Partial list of credits for Renate Leuschner Emmy Nominations Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971) Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special If These Walls Could Talk (1996) Danny Collins 2015 (wigmaker as Renata Leuschner) Kirstie (key hair stylist one episode) 2014 Phil Spector (TV Movie) (wigmaker) 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man (wigmaker) 2011/I J. Edgar (wigmaker – uncredited) 2011 The Green Hornet (wigmaker) 2008/I W. (wigmaker - as Renate E. Leuschner) 2007 Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (wigmaker) 2007 Bordertown (wigmaker - as Renata Lueschner) 2006 Little Children (wigmaker: Ms. Winslet - as Renata) 2006 X-Men: The Last Stand (wigmaker - uncredited) 2006 X2: X-Men United (wigmaker - uncredited) 2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember (hair department: KNB effects crew) 2002 Prozac Nation (wigs: additional photography, Los Angeles - as Renata Leuscher) 2001 The Man Who Wasn’t There (wigs - as Renata Leischner) 2001 The Cell (wigmaker) 2000 The House of Mirth (wigmaker - as Renata) 1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (wigmaker) 1999 Mrs. Santa Claus (TV Movie) (wigs: Ms. Lansbury's) 1996 The Rich Man’s Wife (wigmaker) 1996 Independence Day (wigmaker - as Renata) 1996 Flirting with Disaster (wigmaker: Los Angeles/San Diego - as Renata Leufeher) / (wigmaker: New York - as Renata Leufeher) 1995 Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (hair designer - as Renata Leuschner)/(wig designer: principal wigs - as Renata Leuschner)/(wigmaker: principal wigs - as Renata Leuschner) 1994 Mermaids (wig designer: Cher - as Renata Leuschner) 1988 Beaches (hair stylist - as Renate Lauchner-Pless) 1987 Moonstruck (hair stylist: Cher) 1987 The Witches of Eastwick (hair stylist - as Renate E. Leuschner-Pless) 1986 Down and Out in Beverly Hills (hair stylist - as Renate Leuschner-Pless) 1985 Mask (hair stylist: Cher - as Renate Leuschner Pless) 1984 Rhinestone (hair stylist) 1983 The Changeling (hair stylist: Ms. Van Devere) 1979 Cher... and Other Fantasies (TV Movie) (hair stylist - as Renate) 1978 Movie Movie (hair stylist)
Originally published in The Artisan by Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild, Summer 2021