Bob Mackie, the nine-time Emmy-winning costume designer known as the “Sultan of Sequins” for the spectacular, over-the-top outfits he created for the likes of Cher, Diana Ross, Mitzi Gaynor and Carol Burnett, died Monday. He was 87.
His death was announced on his Instagram page: “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today. He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a Fashion and Costume Designer, which is all he ever wanted to do. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”
Mackie worked on Burnett’s acclaimed CBS variety show for each of its 11 seasons, won the first-ever Emmy for costume design and earned three Oscar nominations during a sparkly five-decade career.
On Funny Lady (1975), Mackie and Ray Aghayan, his longtime professional and life partner, earned an Oscar nom after they created 40 complete 1930s-style outfits — not only dresses and suits, but also the hats, gloves, scarves and shoes — for Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice.
The twosome also shared noms for their work on Norman Jewison‘s Chicago-set period piece Gaily, Gaily (1969) and on Lady Sings the Blues (1972), which starred Ross as Billie Holliday.
He talked about his life and career with THR’s Scott Feinberg on an episode of Awards Chatter in 2019.
Mackie debuted his signature style of lavish gowns, astonishing headpieces and dance-friendly designs in 1966 when he was enlisted by Gaynor to design the energetic singer-dancer’s costumes for her Las Vegas revue and subsequent television specials.
After seeing Gaynor’s Vegas extravaganza, Burnett recruited Mackie to design the costumes for The Carol Burnett Show. The comedienne once estimated that he designed more than 17,000 pieces for her program.
Mackie’s most famous creation for that show was his “curtain rod” Scarlett O’Hara dress — which lampooned Vivien Leigh’s iconic green velvet drapery gown from Gone With the Wind — for the hilarious Burnett sketch “Went With the Wind!”
“He saved me and many a comedy sketch by coming up with wonderfully funny character outfits that not only enhanced the writing but many times gave me the clue as to what the character I was playing was all about,” Burnett wrote in the introduction to Frank DeCaro’s 1999 book, Unmistakably Mackie.
Some of his most iconic creations were for CBS’ The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, where Cher’s wardrobe budget was a reported $30,000 an episode. Mackie also dressed her for her other TV shows as well as for her concert tours.
He won two Emmys for his work with the singer, one in 1999 for Cher: Live in Concert From Las Vegas and another in 2003 for Cher: The Farewell Tour. To top it all off, he received a costuming Tony in 2019 for dressing Stephanie J. Block and others in the cast of The Cher Show.
Mackie’s most unforgettable creation of all was the ensemble that the slinky Cher sported at the 1986 Academy Awards (she was on hand to present the best supporting actor Oscar, which went to Don Ameche). The outfit featured black stretch pants, a bejeweled loincloth, knee high boots, a black chain-link top and a huge, feathered Mohawk headdress.
“She liked turning heads, and she liked for people to disapprove,” Mackie said of Cher in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2005. They would work together for 40 years.
Mackie, who was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002, was all about showmanship.
“You want the audience to be surprised when they walk out,” he once said. “You want them to swoon or ooh or ahh or clap — all of that is important, it’s part of the business of show business. It’s exciting. If a woman is going to do an hour and a half onstage and she’s just in a little black dress, she’d better be Judy Garland. You’re there to see her, you’re not just listening. So there needs to be something visual.”
It was Mackie who sketched out the flesh-colored beaded dress for designer Jean Louis that Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962.
Over the years, Mackie also designed clothing for other divas, including Garland, Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler and Tina Turner.
“A woman who wears my clothes,” he once said, “is not afraid to be noticed.”
Robert Gordon Mackie was born March 24, 1940, in Monterey Park, California. He attended Rosemead High School, Pasadena City College and the Chouinard Art Institute and began his career in 1961 as an in-demand sketch artist for Louis and another legend of costume design, eight-time Oscar winner Edith Head.
Later, Aghayan hired Mackie to be his sketch artist and personal assistant on CBS’ The Judy Garland Show.
Gaynor met Aghayan on a Danny Thomas TV special in 1966. She wanted him for her Vegas show, but he was too busy working with Garland and suggested Mackie instead. That marked the start of another long, fruitful collaboration.
The Burnett show called upon him to design everything from evening gowns to wacky character clothing. Mackie loved that variety and the opportunities for creativity that afforded.
“I could do all this funny stuff as well as beautiful production numbers,” he said in 2013. “She could look so many different ways. And I loved doing comedy, I loved making an audience laugh. A lot of fashion designers are like, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ They don’t get it. Fashion people don’t have very much humor in them.”
For their work on the 1966 NBC special Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mackie and Aghayan received the first-ever Emmy for costume design.
And for the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas in 1974, Aghayan and Mackie designed the opening for “Hallelujah Hollywood,” a $3 million tribute to classic MGM musicals that encompassed an astounding 940 costumes.
Mackie also designed costumes for numerous theatrical productions, including Lorelei starring Carol Channing, On the Town with Bernadette Peters, Platinum starring Alexis Smith, Moon Over Buffalo and Putting It Together with Burnett and Minnelli on Minnelli starring Liza.
He also designed a collection of Barbie dolls in 1982, which remain a highly sought-after collectors’ item. The dolls reflected his style, with oversized headdresses, ornate sequined designs and dresses larger than life.
Mackie, Aghayan and five-time Emmy winner Ret Turner, another costume design legend, partnered in Elizabeth Courtney Costumes, a design and costume rental company in Studio City.
“Going to Elizabeth Courtney is like going to Disneyland,” actress Lily Tomlin once said. “Anything you want, anything you want to be, you can be. It’s all there for you.”
In the 1980s, Mackie entered the consumer market with a ready-to-wear collection and QVC Wearable Art and home furnishings collections.
Mackie was married once, from 1960-63, to singer Lulu Porter, who gave birth to their only son, Robert Mackie, Jr. (aka Robin Mackie). Robin died in 1994 from an AIDS-related illness. Aghayan died in October 2011.
Though Mackie has been recognized as a fashion designer for his collaborations with celebrities, he always considered himself as costume designer first and foremost.
“Because of the women I dressed, I was kind of dragged into the fashion world, which was fine,” he said, “but the fashion press never really liked me.”
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