Babushka, Barbra, Euphegenia: An oral history of the iconic 'Mrs. Doubtfire' makeover

A still from the famous scene wherein Daniel Hillard becomes Mrs. Doubtfire features (L-R: Scott Capurro, Robin Williams, and Harvey Fierstein). Scroll ahead to see more stills from the scene. A still from the famous scene wherein Daniel Hillard becomes Mrs. Doubtfire features (L-R: Scott Capurro, Robin Williams, and Harvey Fierstein). Scroll ahead to see more stills from the scene. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Babushka, Barbra, Euphegenia: An oral history of the iconic 'Mrs. Doubtfire' makeover 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Robin Williams was a very kind man.

Ve Neill doesn’t remember every detail of the days spent shooting 1993’s “Mrs. Doubtfire” in San Francisco, but she does recall that fact clearly. And she’d know — over the course of filming, Neill, the makeup artist who worked on Williams, spent hundreds of hours with the star.

She assembled a collection of foam latex pieces more than 50 times to make Williams into the incognito protagonist fans know and love, but Euphegenia Doubtfire wasn’t the only look. In one notable scene, Neill made Williams into a coiffed brunette woman with red lips, an elderly babushka and, most recognizably, Barbra Streisand. That scene’s supporting actor Scott Capurro says there was also an outtake in which Williams was made up to look like Ivana Trump — but more on that later.

Of all the iconic moments of “Mrs. Doubtfire,” none showcase Williams’ skill as such a versatile comic actor as when his Daniel Hillard character, a voice actor, arrives at the doorstep of his brother Frank (Harvey Fierstein) and his brother’s husband, Jack (Capurro) for a full nanny makeover. The objective: to fool his ex-wife Miranda (Sally Field) into believing he’s an elderly, prim Scottish caretaker.

Working with Greg Cannom, Neill was up to the job of actually making that happen. One of the film’s makeup artists was uniquely experienced for the job; she’s a Hollywood industry legend who just before “Doubtfire” won an Academy Award for 1988’s “Beetlejuice.”

Capurro, a comic and actor in San Francisco, didn’t quite have the clout Neill did when he got involved. He was new to film acting when the “Doubtfire” opportunity came along, but he couldn’t have prepared much for the audition anyway. He didn’t receive a script, nor much detail about the role or movie itself. All he knew was that the character for which he was reading was small, but important.

“I was asked to improvise, and I remember the casting agent saying we need to make Robin into a presentable female — what would you do?” Capurro says. “I remembered reading an article about Robin having had his hands shaved because he was so hairy for a film, so I just started pretending I was a designer. I said, ‘First thing you've gotta do is shave your hands because you are hairy as a bear.’ And I got a big laugh with that … I didn't camp it up in the audition, but I made it clear that I was happy to be out on screen, which probably was unusual in 1993.”

When production began, Neill and Cannom (with Yolanda Toussieng) began developing the look of the titular Mrs. Doubtfire. The Doubtfire character was derived from a real-life Scottish woman, which meant the makeup team would be in for a rather time-consuming challenge. Before every day’s application, the makeup team had to recast all the individual latex pieces from scratch before they could be applied to Williams’ face: a neck piece, nose, lips, eye bags, eyelids and forehead.

Each application of the full Doubtfire face took hours, leading Neill and her assistant, Stephan Dupuis, to work out a way to keep Williams occupied during long sittings in the makeup chair. They arrived at a surprising solution.

“(Robin) had not seen a lot of classic films, at all, and I thought that was so odd,” Neill remembers. “Stephan brought in his laser disc player — that's how long ago this was — and I took the doors off the cupboards. We put this monitor up there so he could watch the films in the mirror. Mind you, I think I put him in that makeup like 52 times, so we're talking about quite a few films.”

Here, Neill and Capurro revisit the makeover scene and its frenetic filming for SFGATE. Capurro vividly recalls his overwhelming nerves on set and Neill remembers planning Williams’ various looks on the fly. Williams, both say, was as buoyant as ever.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Neill: We wanted to try a lot of things just to see how many different ways we could make him look as a woman. So we just used a lot of stock pieces we had and tried different noses and, you know, different disguises and wigs, head wraps or whatever we could figure out ... I'm pretty sure that we just kind of winged our way through that.

Capurro: When we walked in, they showed us a bedroom and there were outfits laid out for all of us. It was quite a large apartment, I remember, and I was trying to stay out of everyone's way. (Because) even in a large apartment, there's lighting tech, sound people, there's people everywhere. And we all had extras as well stepping in for us in-between takes.

Neill: I remember it was really hectic, but it was kind of fun because the set dressers had the room set up and I said, "Oh no, this is all wrong." And I think I went through and changed a lot of the set dressing around in there to make it look like it was actually a makeup room.

Capurro: It was this very intimate setting and everyone was real nice. I'm sure I asked a lot of stupid questions and messed up a lot. I remember my first line, where I say, “He's got a five o'clock shadow at 8:30 a.m. and you're worried about some wires.” I screwed that line up so many times. I was so nervous and I could not get it right.

Neill oversaw the various looks tried on Williams throughout the scene, though she and Capurro differ on how long filming took. Neill says they tried multiple combos of prosthetic noses and wigs on Williams, starting with the “babushka” look.

Capurro: We worked off the script as I recall — this might be wrong, but we worked from the script for a couple of tapings and then the cameras just rolled and [Williams] just let it rip. There was a lot of improvisation on the set.

Neill: We'd probably started with the older woman with the big nose, because there wasn't a lot of beauty makeup involved. As you know, the more you put on, the [more] you have to take off. And then we went into the Barbra Streisand one.

Capurro: It flew by because we were improvising and Robin was so funny. I remember he didn't know the lyrics to the song [Streisand sang in “Funny Girl,” “Don't Rain on My Parade”]. [I said,] “I can't believe you don’t know the lyrics,” but it's probably a gay anthem song. He's like, “No, you gotta teach me that.” So we had to teach him a couple of songs that he ended up doing.

Neill: We tried to get through [the looks] as quickly as possible. I think I probably got each one of those done in about an hour.

Capurro: At one point, I think either Harvey or Robin said, “Wouldn't it be funny if we were dressed as Ivana Trump singing, ‘Leader of the Pack’?” And we came back from a lunch break and the designers, they had designed three huge blonde wigs for us, like three-feet-high off our heads. And we did a “Leader of the Pack” sequence. [Director] Chris [Columbus] came up later and said, “You know, I think that's a different movie. That’s not this one.” But it was hilarious — we were two back-up singers and Robin did the lead voice.

Williams, Capurro and Fierstein used a “brilliant” script during filming, as Capurro called it, but after a point, Williams would begin riffing off it. That underscored the energy on and off-set: It was collaborative, friendly and low-pressure. Williams wanted to have some fun too.

Cappuro: Robin liked to go off text. So, you know, we would do the scene as scripted a couple of times and then the cameras would just roll and he would continue … [Williams] was incredibly effervescent and supportive. I remember him being a real easy laugher and finding other people funny, which I thought was great. It felt like a very [nice] atmosphere.

Neill: There was one [other] day that we were shooting, where the guy tries to snatch his handbag. We were all standing out on the street in downtown San Francisco — I was standing with Robin because I always stayed with him. We were getting ready to shoot and, you know, we have people walking around because we’re on the street. This young man walked up to me and he said, “Hey, I hear you're shooting a movie with Robin Williams. Is he here today?” And I said, well, I think he's around here somewhere. And Robin [in costume] was standing right next to me.

Capurro: I remember Robin and Harvey and I ended up going for an ice cream in North Beach. Because of the success of ‘Aladdin,’ [Williams’] voice was incredibly recognizable to children. And we were walking on the street toward Washington Square and a kid with his parents just ran up to Robin and jumped into his arms. A little tiny kid. I think he was a tourist with his family, but he had heard Robin's voice and just got so excited. Robin just grabbed him and hugged him and laughed. I thought, God, they should use this — that was like something out of a movie, too.

More than 25 years after the release of “Mrs. Doubtfire,” it’s still held up as one of the greatest family comedies of all time. Part of that can be attributed to the artistry of Neill and the makeup team, who would go on to win an Academy Award for their work. But much about the success of its legacy is because of Williams’ masterful portrayal of Doubtfire — while wearing heavy makeup — and in the energy he helped to cultivate on set.

Capurro: Since "Tootsie," there hadn't been anything where a performer of Robin’s stature had embraced the drag. It's not an easy thing to do, comedically, without it sounding and seeming patronizing or negatively satirical. I would imagine it's because the leading men [in both films] were brilliant in the portrayals and added a lot of humor and personality to these characters instead of doing them one-dimensionally.

Neill: Working with Robin was a dream. I really adored him and it's funny, even years after that [when working on “Death to Smoochy” with him], he found out I was on the lot and rode over on his bicycle one day to come visit me. I still cry when I think about him — I'm going to get misty here in a minute. He was a great loss to our industry.

Capurro: ["Doubtfire"] was my first experience around people who were all huge stars and people who are excited to be working and enjoying what they did. There was a great generosity on set. I think it really comes across on screen, too.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: apereira@sfchronicle.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

