Pic: Hart Ponder
You may not recognise his face, but if you're a science fiction fan you may well have seen quite a bit of Bill Blair over the years.
The American actor was honoured earlier this month at the Guinness World Records Museum in Hollywood in recognition of achieving the GWR title for "Most Special Effects Characters Played in a Career".
From aliens and vampires to Frankenstein's monster, Bill's unusual acting career stretches back to 1989, and has seen him notch up a record-breaking 202 other worldly roles that have required him to wear special make up or prosthetics.
Pic: Hart Ponder
Dubbed the "Alien Actor", Bill's big break came after meeting make-up designer Richard Snell and his girlfriend on the Sylvester Stallone film Demolition Man. This led Bill to his first work on the TV movie of Alien Nation.From there, he has gone on to make notable appearances in a long list of sci-fi staples such as Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5 and Sliders.
Speaking recently to redeyechicago.com, Bill explained he ended up specialising in special effect laden roles for the variety, and that the long hours spent in a makeup chair did not bother him.
"Well, when you put on these special effect makeup characters, you're truly in a make-believe world",
"I like to tell people that I started training for this type of thing when I was a child, because I would love to sit in front of the television and watch Saturday morning cartoons for hours on end, and I wouldn't move. I'd sit on the floor, sit in a chair, wherever I was at, in one position until I was through watching whatever cartoons I was watching. Apparently it was just natural for me to sit still for a long time."
Pic: Neko Kelly
For his Guinness World Record certificate presentation, Bill arrived on the red carpet as one of his special effect characters and was transformed back to his human self over the course of the night.
Proceeds for the event, which was attended by a number of Hollywood actors Bill had worked with during his career, are to be donated to the Rotary Club Project: Global Alternative Energy Alliance charity.
