lit a candle 1d agoMy dad rang to tell me this one, which says something, since neither of us would have known the name without the Narnia credits rolling past. Funny how the person who does the wigs never gets the applause but the whole illusion falls apart without them. He mentioned The Shining miniseries too, said it won an Emmy, which I didn't know.
Their story
Mark Alan Boley was an American special-effects makeup artist, wig maker and hair supervisor whose credits ran from Hollywood features and Emmy-winning television to opera houses and custom medical wigs. Based in Columbus, Ohio, for much of his life and later returned there after more than two decades in Los…
Mark Alan Boley was an American special-effects makeup artist, wig maker and hair supervisor whose credits ran from Hollywood features and Emmy-winning television to opera houses and custom medical wigs. Based in Columbus, Ohio, for much of his life and later returned there after more than two decades in Los Angeles, he died on 16 September 2026 at the age of 63.
Boley's path began onstage. Cast in Murder at the Cathedral in 1978 while still a teenager at Fort Hayes in Columbus, he moved from acting into makeup at The Wright Place and, from 1982, into touring opera work with Elsen Associates. Through the 1980s he also worked as a Maybelline makeup artist for Miss Teen USA, Miss Universe and Miss America, contributed to CAPA productions, painted the Solid Gold Dancers, built a zombie prosthetic for an NBC College Bowl Halloween special, and appeared as the Lazarus department store's "Mr. Tree" at Christmas in downtown Columbus.
In 1991 he drove west to Los Angeles. Early film hair work included Revenge of the Nerds, Coneheads, Naked Gun 33 1/3 and Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag. As hair supervisor for Steve Johnson's XFX he worked on Blade II, Bicentennial Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the Stephen King miniseries The Shining, whose makeup team won an Emmy for Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries or Special. He later headed the hair department at KNB EFX Group on productions that included Hitchcock, The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, The Walking Dead, Apocalypto and Oz the Great and Powerful. Family remembrances also credited him with the frozen prosthetic arms used for Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Titanic.
After about twenty-two years in California he returned to Ohio and resumed live theatre and opera, working with companies including the Ohio Theatre, Opera Columbus, Opera Carolina, Toledo Opera, Opera Grand Rapids and, with Martha Ruskai, Chautauqua Opera. He crafted custom wigs for cancer patients and people with alopecia, and contributed to Ohio-shot films including Judas and the Black Messiah and Shirley. He lived in Columbus with his mother, Barbara Boley, and is survived by siblings Stephen, Kristin, Susie and John and by extended family. A memorial gathering was set for 1 November 2026 at Mozart's Bakery and Events Space in Columbus. Rodenberger-Gray Funeral Home published the family obituary; Wikipedia's 2026 deaths list recorded his age and major film credits.
Biography adapted from Rodenberger-Gray Funeral Home / Legacy.com family obituary; Wikipedia Deaths in 2026.
Photos
1Mark Alan Boley
by People Forever
It did, I looked it up after reading this.