Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546058
I C O N S By Andrea Napier How the West How the West Was Won by Was Won by Luster Bayless Luster Bayless This year, one of Motion Picture Costumer's own icons, Luster Bayless, was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; an honor he shares with the likes John Muir, Sandra Day O'Connor, and Gene Autry. According to the Museum, "[Those] honored within the Hall of Great Westerners represent the heart and spirit of this virile Western heritage and embody a precious and immutable legacy." With a career spanning decades, Bayless excelled as a Costumer, Costume Designer, and costume house owner. Luster Bayless was born on October 26, 1937, in Ruleville, Mississippi. The son of a sharecropper, Bayless grew up on a cotton farm, played football in high school, and served two years in the US Navy. Looking for his next adventure, Bayless hitchhiked to Hollywood with only a few dollars in his pocket and word from his friend, Jimmy George, that he had an interview at Western Costume Co. He beat out several other applicants and spent the next two years working and learning his new craft. In 1961, Bayless was "called up to the majors" with a job dressing John Wayne on the movie McLintock! Wayne loved the way he worked, remarking that Bayless was, "the hardest working little son of a gun I've ever seen." Their relationship lasted more than a dozen films and beyond. Bayless later referred to Wayne as his second father. His career went on to include films such as Mary Poppins, True Grit, Apocalypse Now, and The Quick and the Dead. He also worked with actors Steve McQueen and Sam Elliott. In 1977, Bayless realized his dream of opening a costume house that spans 200 years of costumes (1770-1970). His vision for American Costume Co., now United American Costume Co., was a place where the full costume, from head to toe, could be found, and a new Costumer could be well trained in the craft. With that regard, Bayless was quoted saying, "First thing to learn, learn your clothes… We have to have respect for the clothes. You got to talk to those clothes." His collection started with pieces from the movies he worked on and pieces he bought along the way that would fit in a shed, to enough costumes to fill a 125,000- square foot warehouse. Today, that collection also includes an expansive military inventory making United American Costume Co. one of the largest costume rental houses in the business. Luster Bayless, having passed in 2022, was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners posthumously. At the ceremony, his daughter, Diana Foster, accepted the honor on his behalf. "My dad decided early on that he wanted to take a different path than the one he was given. After leaving the Mississippi Delta and hitchhiking to Hollywood, he never imagined that the movie stars he snuck into the Delta theater to see would become his lifelong friends. He made a name for himself in the film industry because of a strong work ethic, extensive knowledge of his trade, and a vision to build a costume company for the industry to enjoy." Luster Bayless arrived in Hollywood in 1959, hit the ground running, and never stopped. The Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum can be viewed at: https:// nationalcowboymuseum.org/collections/awards/great-westerners/ 48 FALL 2026