'Bloody Mary' is a Hollywood makeup star

Bobbie Weiner picked up the name "Bloody Mary" after she handled special-effects makeup for the cast of the 1994 film Pumpkinhead II.

Her warm smile and friendly voice belie the horror and gore that are part of Bobbie Weiner's everyday life.

In fact, there's nothing horrific, gory, or even eerie about Ms. Weiner, who is known to her fans as "Bloody Mary."

It's the makeup that she applies - converting wearers into burn and gunshot victims, zombies, and monsters - that has helped her to become a prominent Hollywood special-effects makeup artist.

Ms. Weiner, CEO of Bobbie Weiner Enterprises LLC, a creative makeup products development company, said she picked up the name "Bloody Mary" after she handled special-effects makeup for the cast of the 1994 film Pumpkinhead II.

Her work also has been featured in the Oscar-winning film Titanic, where she transformed hundreds of actors into blue-lipped, icicle-covered corpses. Ms. Weiner also supplied the makeup and camouflage for Behind Enemy Lines starring Gene Hackman, and serves as a makeup consultant for Twentieth Century Fox.

She has been profiled on CNN and Entertainment Tonight, and sports fans wear her face paint at events to show team spirit.

She is under contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to supply camouflage face paint for the Army, Navy SEALs, and Marines. She also supplies makeup for shock rocker Marilyn Manson and other performers.

Her Halloween makeup kits were introduced in 2000, followed by a line of Goth makeup products.

Ms. Weiner is scheduled to make several appearances in the Toledo area this weekend. She will conduct Halloween makeup workshops, "Make-up To Die For," at Kostumes Ltd. in Perrysburg, and she will apply makeup and sign autographs at the Haunted Hydro in Fremont. She also will appear at the Toledo School for the Arts in downtown Toledo.

Now immersed in the world of special-effects makeup, Ms. Weiner admits that becoming a makeup artist was not a lifelong passion.

"I never gave it much thought. I was divorced and needed work and somebody suggested that I go to makeup school. It was either that or work at the Gap or something like that," said Ms. Weiner.

The Philadelphia native attended Temple University and operated a thrift store before starting her makeup business, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

In the weeks before Halloween, she conducts workshops across the country in makeup application. Sometimes her skills are too realistic. "I did a workshop where it made people look like they had second and third-degree burns, and I told the [model] not to look in the mirror, but he did and got sick all over the place. I guess in my line of work, that's the highest compliment," she says.

Ms. Weiner says her company is scheduled to release a comic book, The Tales of Bloody Mary, in December, and in January she will play host to a Bloody Mary Cruise on the Carnival Cruise line. The event, now in its third year, attracts, Goths, costume-shop owners, and Halloween enthusiasts.

"I never get to dress up at Halloween because I'm always working, but last year on the cruise I was a skull, and this year I'm going to be a devil lady," she said.

Bobbie Weiner will conduct "Make-up To Die For" workshops from 3 to 5 p.m. tomorrow, and 10 a.m. to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Kostumes Ltd., 116 West South Boundary St. in Perrysburg. She will apply makeup and sign autographs from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. tomorrow, 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, and 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sunday at Haunted Hydro, 1333 Tiffin St., Fremont. She is scheduled to conduct a workshop from 2:30-4 p.m. Sunday in the Toledo School for the Arts, 333 14th St. Information: Kostumes Ltd., 419-874-5537; Haunted Hydro, 419-332-7380; Toledo School for the Arts, 419-246-8732.

Contact Rhonda B. Sewell at: rsewell@theblade.com

or 419-724-6101.