Bob Mackie

Robert Gordon Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Bette Midler, Doris Day, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Eden, Lola Falana, Farrah Fawcett, Judy Garland, Mitzi Gaynor, Liza Minnelli, Marilyn Monroe, Marie Osmond, Lynn Anderson, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, and Barbra Streisand, among others. He was the costume designer for all the performers on The Carol Burnett Show during its entire eleven-year run. For his work, Mackie has received nine Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. In April 2023, Mackie was awarded with the inaugural Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award by RuPaul at the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 15 finale. Early life Mackie was born March 24, 1939, in Monterey Park, California, to Charles Robert Mackie and Mildred Agnes ( Smith) Mackie. His father worked at Bank of America. He has an older sister. He was raised in early childhood by his maternal grandparents in Alhambra, California because his parents divorced. By high school he moved to Rosemead, California and lived with his father. He attended Rosemead High School. Mackie continued his education at Pasadena City College and one-year study at Chouinard Art Institute but left without earning a degree from either school. At Chouinard, Mackie studied under Eva Roberts, the head of the fashion design department. He left Chouinard early because he got his first job sketching for Frank Thompson at Paramount Studios. Between 1960 until 1963, Mackie worked as a novice designer and assistant under designer Ray Aghayan at Paramount Studios.