Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, Health, Hollywood
Mia Williams
Cast members of the infamous movie The Wizard of Oz were left hospitalized and suffering from multiple health conditions due to special effects that had 'never been done before'.
The 1939 Hollywood classic is a movie that has well and truly stood the test of time.
Creators of the film pulled out all the stops to make it one of the greatest pieces of cinema during that period, spending around $3 million (about $55 million today).
After winning two Academy Awards, the filmmakers had done their job by creating a timeless masterpiece.
However, it seems as though the cast of the hit movie were the ones who paid the price.
Advert
Some have gone on to claim that the film was 'cursed' after the Oscar-nominated special effects - which had seemingly never been done before - landed some of the cast members in quite a lot of trouble.
Aljean Harmetz, a former New York Times Hollywood correspondent who wrote The Making of The Wizard of Oz, said: "Some of these special effects had never been done before. There were no unions, at that time.
"Stars and lesser players were indentured servants [for] studios."
Advert
There was no SFX makeup back in 1939, and so Buddy Ebsen - who played the Tin Man - was painted with pure aluminium dust.
He was essentially poisoned by the so-called makeup, and was hospitalized just nine days after filming had begun. He was required to sit under an oxygen tent in order to recover from the poisoning.
The filmmakers then hired Jack Haley to be the Tin Man, but (sort of) learned from their previous mistakes.
Instead of using aluminium powder, they mixed it into a paste and applied it. But he wasn't left unscathed, after developing an infection in his right eye, which thankfully happened to be treatable.
Advert
And it wasn't just the Tin Man who suffered these conditions.
Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West, also had makeup-related problems.
After artists had used copper as part of her face paint, she suffered burns. Production had to rush to take it off to ensure that it didn't seep through to her wounds.
Advert
The star of the film Judy Garland, who was just 16-years-old, was also left with life-long conditions following the filming of the classic.
She claimed that the studio forced her to take growth-suppressing drugs to maintain her youthful appearance, as well as imposing restrictions on her weight.
In later years, she struggled with an eating disorder and drug abuse, and made several attempts to take her own life.
She tragically died of an accidental overdose on June 22, 1969, at just 47-years-old.
Advert
Harmetz added: "If she was a normal kid, allowed to go to a normal school and not come into the industry until she was an adult.
"I doubt the tragedy that became her life in her last years would have happened."
UNILAD has contacted Warner Bros. for commnet.