Bette Davis, Roy Ashton and unidentified man

A publicity photograph of Bette Davis (1908-1989), Roy Ashton (1909-1995) and a second man, taken by an unknown photographer in about 1955.

Roy Ashton (1909–95) and Phil Leakey (1908–92) were master make-up artists who worked on many of the British cult horror films of the mid-20th century. A trained artist, Australia-born Ashton began his career at Gaumont-British Film Corporation in 1932 as a means of supplementing his passion for opera singing. In 1955, Ashton became the assistant to Hammer Films’ Phil Leakey, the first makeup artist to receive on-screen credit for ‘Special Make-up Effects’.