13 Planet Of The Apes Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

10. It Revolutionised Prosthetic Makeup

Arguably the contributor who truly made the original film possible was the makeup artist. John Chambers first made up veteran actor Edward G. Robinson as Dr Zaius - the manipulative, authoritarian orang-utan (played in the film by Maurice Evans), the most emblematic of the original ape characters - in a missing-link style, half-ape and half-human. But as it became clear that he could create expressive simian masks with moveable latex, Chambers achieved what at first seemed impossible in those pre-CGI days. The makeup for ape crowd scenes was often cheaper and quicker, but Roddy McDowall (Cornelius/Caesar), who stayed for most of the series, was always able to project through the rubber. John Chambers was a TV horror and science-fiction veteran who did some great work for The Outer Limits, The Munsters, The Invaders, Star Trek and Night Gallery. He always claimed not to be responsible for the photo of the legendary/mythical Bigfoot that surfaced in 1967, but readers are urged to compare it to his creatures on Lost In Space.