798 members remember Kelly Gleason
Last Christmas season, Kelly took the time to make a MUSIC CD to send along with her Christmas card...
My memories of Kelly begin in the mid 90's. I remember meeting her and actually feeling a bit intimidated. After all, not only was she one of the most talented make-up artists I ever met, she was also a very creative prop-maker, and, in fact, seemed to be able to master anything she turned her mind and her hand to. She was self-assured, confident, and a savvy businesswoman; rather extraordinarily accomplished for a woman only in her 20's! As I got to know Kelly better, she relaxed and opened up more. Part of her charm - and just a little surprisingly - was that she really took what people thought about her to heart, in spite of her denying it. She laughed a lot and liked to make everyone laugh a lot, too. My husband, Michael, and I grew rather close to Kelly in the late 90's. We went out to eat often and she came by our apartment several times where we laughed, watched old movies, got drunk, and passed out for the night. Those days flew by, and then we didn't see much of each other for a long time. Then, lo & behold, Kelly became Key on the cable TV series, "OZ." She called me up to day-play. When Kelly greeted me, instead of her usual youthful casual (read "sloppy") clothes, she was dressed in an attractive pants outfit, wore a pretty necklace, and no longer sported her crazy high-top sneakers. I thought to myself - quite maternally - our Kelly Gleason had become a grownup! She had changed; evolved into a person you listened to with a sense of respect which had also evolved. She was polite, generous, and made me feel special. She thanked me for being there to help her. Imagine that! Since it was I who thanked her for having me there. We saw each other professionally and, occasionally, socially. We went to one of her her birthday parties, we spent a Thanksgiving together, and so on. And we still laughed. But those moments were becoming fewer. It was while we were working on the feature, "I AM LEGEND," that I saw Kelly off by herself, sitting alone one day. Untypically, she was not feeling well. I thought it was the acetone fumes that had gotten to her. The last time we were together was when I day-played on TV's "MONY," last winter. I hadn't known she was sick, nor how sick she was. There was a rumor going around in September that Kelly was dying of brain cancer. I thought, no, it couldn't be . I was angry that someone could spread such a terrible rumor, and I was scared that it might be true. I called and left a message on her voice mail. I pleaded, "Say it isn't so!" Kelly called me from Paris to put the rumor to rest. I was relieved to hear her voice, overjoyed that she was OK. She wasn't dying from brain cancer after all. But she called me again a week later . . . to tell me the real story. That what she did have was pancreatic cancer. She asked me not to tell anyone. I was devastated. But if anyone could fight this, I thought, Kelly could! Sadly, I had actually come to believe that Kelly, unlike the rest of us, somehow was not merely mortal. She's too tough, I thought. Too intelligent, too resourceful. And here I am wiping away my tears yet again, wondering, "Why Kelly?" She will be in my thoughts and I will miss her as long as I live.
Christine Domaniecki
Although I am not a union member, I am a working makeup artist and it is because of Kelly Gleason. I'd like to share my thoughts:
Thirteen years ago, Kelly was my teacher at School of Visual Arts. She was teaching a Special Effects class at Alcone Cosmetics on 19th Street. From the moment I stepped in her class, I felt like I was at the right place. I was.
I loved the way she taught by example, then gave us a chance to duplicate the work. She very thoughtfully put together a basic kit for us to begin our studies and I hung on to every word she said. To this day, I still remember many of her teachings and use them when I work. In fact, I still have her instructions and diagrams in a folder.
When the semester was about to end, I was wondering how I was going to get a job as a makeup artist. I knew some of the "how to" ...but how would I get a job, I wondered?
So, there I was, minding my own business. Sleeping. The phone rang at about 9:00am. It was Kelly. "Hi. This is Kelly Gleason. Would you like to work today?" Of course I would!! For some reason, she needed to replace herself. She said, " How fast can you get here?" I said, "F-F -Fast" and was there within a half hour. Shaking from excitement. Before I knew it, I was changing wigs, doing some period makeup and making things move as quickly as possible. It was an Italian ballet company and they were live on stage. And...they spoke Italian, of course, which was a coincidence, because I had learned to speak the language. She left that morning with a smile on her face, knowing she did something nice for me. I was flattered and still am that she chose me to replace her.
I called home that day and reported that I was now a makeup artist!
But she wasn't done helping me out yet. Not only did she give me an A+ for the class ( for which I was very proud, as I knew she had high standards), she gave my name to a production company to do a period short film. They liked my work and asked me to key an independent, full length, and of course, I did it. I was only out of her class at that point a few months. From there, as all our careers happen, we then take a career journey with many twists and turns, but it has a definite starting point. For me, it was Kelly Gleason.
Before she got her studio and still worked out of the Alcone space, I'd go there for makeup and leave a message with one of the makeup artists who was working that day. I'd gush on how she helped me so much but I never got to thank her personally. I also knew she could be a bit private and did not want to bother her. I did follow up though, when I'd come back for more purchases. She got the message and remembered me. That made me feel happy.
Unfortunately, I had one more chance to tell her in person, and sadly, it will never be. I saw her walking down the street about two years ago. I was with my husband and whispered to him about who she was . I felt too timid to approach her and embarrassed if she didn't remember me. As she walked away, I called out to her anyway, and she didn't answer so I left it alone. I told my husband all about her and how my career started because of her. She gave me the courage to jump right in.
Because of her teaching and generosity, I had the confidence and assistance to become and remain a working makeup artist. I wish I would have told her.
My deepest condolences to her mother, father and 798.
Roxanne Manzano
Kelly’s Tribute
I first met Kelly Gleason in the early nineties. I was working at NBC . One day while working on the third floor in the evening news hair/make-up room, a fellow member, Make-Artist, came into the room, with this cute little blue-eye redhead, all bubbly and smiling, young lady. He introduced Kelly and I to each other. I knew from that moment that there was something special about Kelly.
Shortly after that introduction, Kelly and I begin working together quiet often and became great friends. I told Kelly that she was like the little sister that I had always wanted, but never had.. Kelly and I got along so well together. We told each other true stories about our lives and laughed about each of our stories so much, until we could hardly laugh anymore.
Kelly was such a great make-up artist. She was a perfectionist in everything that she did. I enjoyed watching Kelly work. Once while on a Woody Allen Movie, I watched Kelly apply some little devil horns to one of the actors head, they looked so real, that I had to go and observe closer. I said, “Kelly they look like they are growing out of his scalp.”, Kelly replied, “No, Mary, I just put this on and applied them.” On the Movie, “We Own The Night”, Kelly almost got arrested for doing such perfect work. There was a scene in the movie, that required a dummy for one of the actors that got wounded.. One morning as Kelly was putting the human size male dummy in her car to bring to the set, one of the neighbors saw it and called the police. The police knocked on Kelly’s door inquiring about the man in the back seat of her car. Kelly explain to the police officer that she was a make-up artist and that she had made the dummy for the film. The cop insisted on taking a look, up close and personal. To his amazement, it was a dummy and not a real person. When Kelly got to work and told us about her ordeal, everyone in the hair/make-up trailer could hardly stop laughing. Her work was awesome.
We all see what Kelly did for our union. When Kelly founded out what was happening to our union, she went above and beyond a union member expectation. She showed leadership and courage. She also informed members that we had worked with years before. These two members came with full force to help. One of them was living in another country, but he promised Kelly he would not leave until we got our union back. We owe that to Kelly, because she is the one that contacted them.
Kelly lead our Union as President with Honesty, Courage, Strength, and Integrity. Kelly will be missed so much by all of us. My last job with Kelly was on “M O N Y”, by that time she wasn’t feeling to well, but she kept herself so upbeat that no one knew she was sick until she told them. One day Kelly was talking in the trailer to us about being sick and having surgery. And she said,” jokingly, that nobody cares if she made it from the hospital or not, and they would forget about her shortly afterwards”. When everyone left the trailer, I told Kelly, that, “TRUTHFULLY, I would never forget her. I will always remember her, I will keep her memory alive. Sometimes I would call her name, KELLY, KELLY, KELLY.” As I told Kelly this, she sat there in her make-up chair, working with her make-up, I knew she was fighting back the tears as I was, but we continued with work at our stations and finished the day.
Kelly called me two weeks before she passed on. We talked for about an hour She told me she was weak, but she sounded so strong. We talked about the fun times that we had at work and had a joyous conversation.
The day I got the news of Kelly’s passing on, I was in shock. You can never prepare for news of this nature. Kelly was a Great President of Our Union, Co-Worker, and, a Friend, On that day I remembered the conversation that Kelly and I had in the hair/make-up trailer. and in memory of her I called out her name. KELLY! KELLY! KELLY!
Mary Cook
12/02/2007
Peace for Kelly
I had the opportunity to know Kelly on a personal and professional
profprofessionalessionallevel.
I met kelly in the summer of 2001 just before the attacks of 911 , we
had worked together before, but our connection began through a mutual
friend that night .
We would both be in California at the same time and decided to try
and connect while we were on the west coast.
nprofessionaleedless to say the world changed while we were both in
California. Kelly and some friend decided to drive back to New York
since there were no planes. i think they only got as far as Vegas
and then flew.
I stayed in California longer as i was advised to stay as long as i
could, because the air quality was not what the authorities were
telling us.
I was offered a small project at the time while out west, and i
called Kelly to see if she wanted to come and work with me. all
production had stopped in N.Y. so Kelly said" sure" and joined me out
in the desert for several weeks. We had a blast. we did karaoke in
the bar at night after shooting all day. in the sun. it makes me
laugh and cry at the same time.
Kelly was a pro! always generous in sharing her knowledge, and would
make you feel good about your self, when you had your own doubts.
Kelly came to Phlly to help out on the movie The Village. She
decorated the holding area with blow up palm trees fake grass ,cool
lighting and music. she made it a tikki lounge you never minded
coming to at un Godly hours of the morning.
As i write, more memories come to me. If you were lucky enough to get
to know Kelly she was an awesome friend. she was no BS.
if she had issues with you, she would confront you, not a phony. and
not every one appreciated it.
But Kelly Gleason was one of the most talented, strongest most
tenacious people i have ever known.
I was working as her second when all of the union stuff was going
on. she was relentless, i would drop her off after working maybe 12
hrs, in N.J. she was on to N.Y. to meetings, to make CDS to mail, so
people would understand what was going on .She circulated petitions,
and met much resistance along the way. getting phone calls being
yelled at; but it never stopped her .she was on a mission , and she
saw it through.
.
My heart hurts,me, but it hurts more to think of the loss to her
family, Kelly loved her parents, her brothers and nephews. A close
family.They built her beautiful home together . in between her
working hours , her home reflected her many tastes and talents. Her
Emmy proudly displayed .
I feel blessed to have wonderful memories and stories to share. That
is how i want to remember her.
I know the courageous battle she fought
I have held Kelly in my prayers. , the last communication was after
her return from Paris.
Her back hurt, she said she felt like s++t that was the last i
heard, but i know she was fighting hard and was hoping she was
beating all odds.
That is why when i received the news of her passing ,it was like
being kicked hard .
I wanted to believe she would win. like she did with getting our
union back.
Her work here on earth must have been done, i beleive she is at
peace . . i welcome more memories even if they make me cry, i was
blessed to have known Kelly Gleason.
Sincerely, Felice Diamond
thank you for doing this.
How fortunate we are to have had her valiant energies working on our behalf. She is an inspiration. (always will be for many of us, Im sure)
It seems almost impossible that she is gone from this planet --
During our work together while producing a Non- MAC event for NYWIFT, and the NY Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts and Media, Inc., I had the opportunity to tell her of my personal admiration for her as an artist and a leader ...(our paths had crossed sweetly, over the years).
Her passing drives me now to "officially" thank you -- the leaders of the rank and file of our "little union that could"-- who have done yeoman service for us -- in circumstances which seemed overwhelming.
You have been remarkable, friends. In tribute to Kelly -- I just wanted to say this out loud!
Hooray for outstanding activism.
Bless Kelly. Bless you all.
and thank you.
Best,
leslie Shreve
212.866.7450
First let me preface this with how shocked and saddened I am to hear of Kelly's passing and battle with cancer. I came home late last night and received a card in the mail from the union regarding the meeting/"Kelly Gleasons Memorial Service".
I could not process it....Memorial Service?
What does that mean....I could not wrap my head around the fact that it might mean she passed away. I did not sleep well thinking about the reality of what this might mean. Unfortunately my computer was down and it was too late to call anyone.
I woke up this morning, went straight to my computer and fortunately it was working and discovered the news. My deepest condolences to Kelly's family and close friends. She will be greatly missed.
I first met Kelly in the late 1980's when I applied for a class at Visual Arts for fx make up. Kelly was sharing space with Alcone at that time on 19th Street in Chelsea and was teaching the class there.She wasn't even in the union yet, a very young Kelly. Her class was great and ofcourse she was very generous with her knowledge as always. I enjoyed the class very much. She and I hit it off, we discussed the union as she was very much interested in joining, I also was leasing a store front in Manhattan, so we had lots in common. Some time had passed and we lost touch, surprisingly one day out of the blue Kelly called me to ask me if I wanted to work on a broadway show called "Passion".
She was then in the union...she wanted to leave the show. I was thrilled to do it and honored that she remembered and was considering me for the job. Broadway didn't have many opportunities for make up artists and I had never done Broadway before. So I was very excited. Kelly ofcourse walked me thru step by step ...she was very very very detailed, which I loved and respected her for. I stayed on the show till it closed.
Kelly would come visit often...during Christmas she brought gifts for everyone.
Handmade ofcourse...she made me ironically enough an "Angel" (which I still have and consider one of my treasures from my journey in the business.) It is something I have always held dear to my heart.
So I'd like to close with much gratitude to Kelly for her courage to stand up for what she believed in and her ability to be different and make a difference. I truly have always admired her strength as well as her talent, I only wish I had taken the time to let her know......I'm certain she is one of Gods Angels now probably redesigning heaven and keeping
everyone in line. I love you Kelly....Rest in Peace. To her family you should be very proud of the daughter you raised she was truly unique and special.Carole Barone
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