(Ken was the budding young make-up artist, hand picked by John Chambers to tackle the job of Maurice Evan's Dr. Zaius make-up.) 

Q) What were you doing (for a living at the time) when John Chambers offered you a job on the first Planet of the Apes film? 

(A) I was working as a makeup artist when the roster was full and the union approved the employment of non union members who resided on the industry experience roster. 

(Q) What was it about your background, talents,  and experience that made 
Chambers consider you for the job? 

(A) During the training sessions conducted for both novices and journeymen John was obviously impressed with my ability to mimic his techniques. John made his assignments based on the work he observed during the training period. 

(Q) How old were you at the time Chambers offered you the job? 

(A) Twenty-four 

(Q) What was your initial reaction when you found out that the job was 
Planet of the Apes? 

(A) Elation, excitement!!! 

(Q) Had you had much prosthetic make-up experience prior to “Apes”? 
(A) No 

(Q) How was Maurice Evans to work with? 
(A) A kind generous man with a good sense of humor and even temperament. 

Further,  Maurice Evans and Roddy McDowall  had much in common. Both were true gentlemen and demonstrated even temperaments, good-naturedness and a 
genuine concern and interest in others with whom they associated, regardless of their status. 

(Q) Can you share a “most memorable moment” during production with us? 

(A) When John Chambers left the location in Arizona he told me to take 
the next day off since I’d been working such long hours and none of the 
prosthetics were going to be working. To my great surprise I was rousted 
from my slumber and instructed to go to set and stand by for some of the 
other makeup artists. 

(Q) Did working on the principle antagonist for Planet of the Apes do anything for your career? 
(A) I’m sure it did. After “Apes” things were all uphill. 

(Q) What were some of the biggest difficulties about Maurice’s make-up? 
(problems with glue, or bad skin days, etc.) 

(A) Maurice Evans salivated abnormally and was famous for spitting when 
he delivered his lines. The running joke when he appeared on stage 
wasn’t to sit in the first  row. Because of this it was nearly 
impossible to keep his lower jaw piece attached to his lip. In fact at 
the end of day cleanup the appliance was literally soaked with his 
saliva . 
  

(Q) Were the glues and removers back then harsh compared to products 
used in the industry today? 
(A) We used spirit gum which required lot’s of repair work during 
the day. An early version of prosthetic adhesive was used on the lip but 
had nowhere near the holding power of today’s pros-aide and other surgical adhesives. 

(Q) Did you design, sculpt, and/or make-up any other ape characters for 
the saga? 

(A) John Chambers was the sole creator of the designs in “Apes”. I 
had nothing to do with design. I applied makeup as instructed by 
Chamber’s. 

(Q) Looking back, what are your feelings about having been a major part 
of cinematic history? 
(A) It pleases me I was fortunate enough to have had the experience. It 
was a special time for me as I was just beginning my career. 

(Q)  If you had it to do all over again, would you? 
(A)   Of course. 

APEMANIA.COM would like to thank Mr. Chase for sharing his thoughts and memories of working on Maurice Evans and the Planet of the Apes film.   
We plan to add more to this page and other interview pages in the near future. 

Incidentally, among  his other great make-up achievements, Ken Chase was also responsible for the original Tony Clifton make-ups worn by Andy Kaufman back in Andy's hay-day.