Zavitz's handiwork on 'Cleopatra' won accolades.

Posted: Thursday September 17, 2009

Hairstylist Vivienne Walker Zavitz, a film and television hairstylist whose illustrious career spanned more than 40 years, died of age-related causes Sept. 3 in Los Angeles. She was 95. Walker had been a longtime member of Local 706, the West Coast union of make-up artists and hairstylists.

Born in South Africa and raised in England, Zavitz attracted the attention of Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn in the early ´30s as a manicurist on a New York cruise ship. Cohn arranged a job for her at Denham Studios when she returned to England in 1935. She worked at the studio for more than 20 years, first as a wigmaker, then as hairstylist and hairdressing supervisor. She became head of the hair department in 1939 and styled the era’s leading actors, including Greta Garbo, Rex Harrison, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Alec Guinness and Maurice Chevalier.

After moving to the United States in the late ‘50s, Zavitz earned her cosmetology license and applied for United States citizenship. In 1959, she became a member of Local 706, and was placed on the Industry Experience Roster as a journeyman. She went on to work with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Barbra Streisand, John Wayne, Peter Sellers, Henry Fonda, Clint Eastwood and Al Pacino.

Zavitz’s filmography included The Thing, Murder by Death, Mommie Dearest, Annie Hall, Being There, Hair, Chinatown, Tom Sawyer, Funny Girl, The Red Shoes and Cleopatra, for which she styled star Elizabeth Taylor. She also worked on such television productions as The Waltons and Miracle on 34^th Street; for her work on the 1977 production Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, Walker won an Emmy® award, which she shared with fellow hairstylist Emma M. diVittorio.

Zavitz served on the Local 706 Executive Board from 1971-1981 and retired in 1983. She earned Smitty and Diamond awards for her union leadership. The Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild honored her with its annual Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. She was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement award by the Society of Camera Operators. Zavitz and daughter Anne co-owned Favian Wigs, which supplied the motion picture, television and advertising industry for many years. Upon her retirement, Zavitz sold Favian Wigs to Natascha Ladek.

Walker was married to special effects pioneer Lee Zavitz, whom she met on location in Fiji. He died in 1977. She is survived by daughter Anne Clanton, nephew Benjamin and step-granddaughter Jan Alexander, a fellow hairstylist and guild member.

Services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles. A reception will follow at 12:30 in the cemetery’s Masonic Lodge.