See also Biography Index (T) :: Filmography Index (T) :: Discography Index (T)

Early life
Savini was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated Central Catholic High School, attended Carnegie-Mellon University and was raised in the Catholic religion.[2] Savini served in Vietnam as a combat photographer. A popular misconception holds that Savini`s wartime experiences spurred his move into makeup effects, but this is untrue; he was actually inspired during his childhood by the James Cagney film Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), the cinematic biography of Lon Chaney, Sr.. Savini continued to practice makeup in Vietnam, often frightening indigenous peasants by appearing to suddenly transform into a "monster".[3]

In 1970 while Savini was on guard duty, a flare was triggered in the jungle area he was watching. Against military protocol, Savini fired into the bush without informing his superiors. Other soldiers likewise started firing until a duck wandered from the bush completely unharmed. Due to his failure to follow orders, Savini was taken off guard duty from his bunker the following evening. The bunker was attacked that very night and several soldiers were killed. Savini earned the nickname "Duck Slayer" and to this day will not eat duck.[4] Savini said his wartime experiences informed his eventual style of gory effects; "I hated that when I watched a war movie and someone dies," explaining "Some people die with one eye open and one eye half-closed, sometimes people die with smiles on their faces because the jaw is always slack. I incorporated the feeling of the stuff I saw in Vietnam into my work."[5]

Career
Savini is primarily known for his groundbreaking work in the field of special makeup effects. He got his breakthrough working with Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero, providing a convincing wrist slashing effect in the opening scenes of Martin (1977). The following year, working with an expanded budget on Dawn of the Dead, Savini created his signature palate of severed limbs and bite-marks. Some say the gore effects in Dawn have been widely imitated but never bettered for sheer visceral impact, the only exception being Savini`s own work in the subsequent Day of the Dead (1985).

Savini has also worked on films by Dario Argento (Trauma, Two Evil Eyes) and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2). His signature realism livens otherwise plodding genre films such as Maniac (1980), which incidentally contains the infamous "shotgun" scene. Perhaps Savini`s most noteworthy special effects occurred in the zombie epic Day of the Dead.

Savini has noted that most of the characters he has played are bikers. He played a relatively straight, innocuous character in Martin (1977), but played a menacing biker called `Blades` in Dawn of the Dead (1978), a role he reprised with a brief cameo appearance in the 2005 continuation of the series, Land of the Dead. He also had a cameo as a sheriff in the 2004 remake of Dawn.

Savini did have a much more prominent role as biker/Renaissance fair participant Morgan in George Romero`s Knightriders (1981), and had a small role as a biker in The Boy Who Loved Trolls in (1984). In 1985, he had a small part in Twisted Sister`s video for their song Be Chrool to Your Scuel. He also played the whip-wielding, vampire-fighting biker `Sex Machine` in the 1996 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. (This character was a riff on the "Blades" character Savini created for Dawn of the Dead replete with the same costume.)

As a di