Ern Westmore

Who was Ern Westmore?

Ern Westmore, born Ernest Henry Westmore, was a Hollywood make-up artist and sometimes actor, the third child in George Westmore's famed Westmore family tree. Perc Westmore's twin, the two were born in 1904 in Canterbury, England, later moving to Canada and then the United States.

Considered the most talented of the Westmore brothers, Ern found work at Warner Bros. studio, RKO Studios, and Eagle-Lion Studios. He was the director of make-up on over 50 films during his career, and was also featured as himself in a number of B-movie-style features for Kroger Babb, including One Too Many, and Secrets of Beauty, also known as Why Men Leave Home, an instructional primer for women regarding how to keep their husbands faithful.

Ern was also involved in the creation of the House of Westmore with three of his brothers. It was billed as a place of beauty, primarily for women, and Ern was forced to borrow $40,000 from John Barrymore and Errol Flynn to assist in the financing, never paying them back.

In 1955, Babb set Westmore up with his own television series.