Cosmetics guru Shu Uemura dead at 79

By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
 
TOKYO - Shu Uemura, the Japanese makeup artist who won acclaim in Hollywood and built an international cosmetics brand under his name, has died. He was 79.

Uemura, who gained acclaim working with actress Shirley MacLaine on the 1962 Hollywood film "My Geisha," died of pneumonia in Tokyo on Dec. 29, according to a statement released Tuesday by his company, also called Shu Uemura. Its products were mentioned in the more recent film "The Devil Wears Prada."

He is survived by his wife and a son.

Uemura's family and friends attended a funeral Friday, according to company spokeswoman Ami Nakano.

Uemura was working as a beautician in Hollywood when he was called to work on MacLaine's makeup for "My Geisha" after the staff makeup artist fell ill.

His transformation of MacLaine into a Japanese beauty catapulted the young Uemura to renown within the U.S. show business community. He soon became a favorite among top actresses as well as the likes of singer Frank Sinatra and actor Edward G. Robinson, according to his company's Web site.

In 1960, Uemura developed his first cosmetics product, a cleansing oil that remains popular today. He later opened a school to train makeup artists in Tokyo.

In 1983, amid Japan's economic boom and just as Tokyo was establishing itself as a fashion trendsetter, Uemura launched a cosmetics boutique in the capital. It drew crowds for its gallery-like interior.

Uemura gradually expanded his brand to include handmade makeup brushes, perfumes, and voluptuous fake eyelashes. The company's eyelash curlers were mentioned in the 2006 movie "The Devil Wears Prada" starring Meryl Streep.

The company, which has stores in New York, Paris, London and Hong Kong, was acquired by French cosmetics maker L'Oreal SA in 2004.

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Jan. 8, 1942: Birthday of a First-Rate Mind, and a Medical Marvel

Stephen Hawking (center) experiences the thrill of zero gravity on a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft, owned by Zero Gravity.

Image: NASA

By Tony Long 01.08.08 | 12:00 AM


Stephen Hawking (center) experiences the thrill of zero gravity on a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft, owned by Zero Gravity.
Image: NASA
1942: British physicist Stephen Hawking is born.
Hawking was born in Oxford (his website notes, in an interesting historical aside, that his birth coincides with the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death), where his parents moved to escape the German Blitz on London.
Naturally predisposed to mathematics, young Hawking switched to physics because University College at Oxford did not offer the discipline. He turned out to be pretty good at physics, too. From there, Hawking moved on to Cambridge to do his research in cosmology.
It was while attending Cambridge that he developed the first signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the incurable neurological disease that, defying all odds, Hawking has managed to live with for more than four decades. The average ALS patient dies within a few years of diagnosis.
In fact, Hawking has done far more than simply "live with ALS." Almost willfully ignoring his disability, which leaves him wheelchair-bound, paralyzed and unable to speak, Hawking has carved out a brilliant career as a theoretical physicist specializing in the study of the universe.
His best-seller on the subject, A Brief History of Time, helped raise public consciousness regarding the nature of the universe, its possible beginnings and its probable end.
The very slow progression of Hawking's disease remains a mystery. A special computer rigged to his wheelchair and operated by a "blink switch" attached to his glasses gives him a limited self-sufficiency, although he still requires around-the-clock nursing care.
In April 2007, Hawking realized his dream of making a zero-gravity flight, making him the first quadriplegic ever to do so. He's scheduled for a sub-orbital spaceflight in 2009.

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