Who were the people in the famous alien costumes from movies?

They are some of the most iconic characters ever captured on celluloid, yet thanks to mountains of makeup and prosthetics, we never see the faces of the actors who play cinema’s most famous monsters. Say hello to some of them…

Alien – Bolaji Badejo

Badejo was a complete unknown, plucked from his graphic design studies by Ridley Scott in 1979 to play the original alien (Peter Mayhew, aka Chewbacca, also auditioned). He was a 26-year-old Nigerian who met his agent in a London pub and was immediately suggested for the role of the titular xenomorph because of his thin frame.

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Badejo is 6’2″ and studied mime to prepare for the role, but many of the scenes Scott wanted him to perform were ultimately neither practical nor physically feasible due to limitations in the suit (which cost $250,000) or his body. The scene in which the alien attacks Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) headfirst ended with a dizzy Badejo and a fainting stuntman. Ultimately, Alien was his only film. A year later, he returned to Nigeria, began his career as a graphic designer, and had two children. He suffered from sickle cell anemia and died in 1992 at the age of 39.

Predator – Kevin Peter Hall

Hall had already appeared in Bigfoot and the Hendersons and various television roles when he was cast as the villainous hunter in Predator. He wasn’t really the first choice for the role – an ape and Jean-Claude Van Damme had both filmed test footage with the character. Hall appeared as himself as a helicopter pilot at the end of the 1987 classic and returned three years later for the sequel. Although the lanky star was forced to play basketball (which he did, but never really liked), he studied theater. He loved ballet and opera, was married and had two children. He always saw himself as more than just a man in a suit, once saying, “In Predator, it’s half performance and half dealing with the physical traps. You have to keep a balance in the suit. You have to keep your character alive and at the same time deal with all these wires and special effects coming out of you. It all comes down to concentration and good rehearsals.”

After a car accident in the early 1990s, Hall had to undergo surgery. A blood sample was contaminated and he was diagnosed as HIV-positive. He died of AIDS-related illness in 1991 at the age of 35.

Howard the Duck – Ed Gale

Originally, Howard was supposed to be primarily a puppet controlled by several crew members. For the various practical actions on set, the filmmakers were looking for someone around 28 inches tall. Diminutive actor Ed Gale — at 3’10” he was rejected as too tall at his first audition and then hired as a stunt duck — grabbed a camera and filmed himself in Howard’s role behind one of the trailers. Howard was one of the first fully enclosed film suits. “There were no wires hanging out of my foot,” Gale recalls. “I could smoke a cigar. The brain was in my ass, so to speak. It was a technical marvel.” And although it was a flop of massive proportions, the actor has fond memories. “I bought a house, thanks,” he laughs. “It made me who I am.”

Predator in “AVP: Alien vs Predator” – Ian Whyte

The 7’5″ Welshman Whyte played professional basketball in Europe for nine years before becoming an actor. The 42-year-old has since doubled for Frances De La Tour in Harry Potter and appeared as an engineer in Prometheus and another demonic villain in Solomon Kane. But he is best known (at least in character, since you can’t see his face, of course) as the lead Predator in both films in the AVP series. He has since appeared in the Clash of the Titans reboot and played various roles in Game of Thrones.

Alien in “Alien”³‘ – Tom Woodruff Jr.

Special effects master Woodruff Jr. worked on both the original Terminator and Aliens with legend Stan Winston. It was on the latter film that he came up with the idea that he would be better in the suit than any stuntman.

After starting his own special effects company, he did just that on the third Alien film and has been working on the series – and in the suits – ever since. His portrayal of Gillman in the criminally underrated – and much scarier than it should be – children’s film The Monster Squad is also worth checking out.

Aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind – little girls

Steven Spielberg went through several ideas for how to portray the gang of little aliens in this classic sci-fi film. First he tried an orangutan on roller skates (seriously), then a collection of puppets. None of these worked—instead he settled on young girls, many of whom were local ballet students from Alabama, where they were filming. Spielberg found that girls moved more gracefully than boys, and the kids spent several months training with a movement coach. At one point they were even told to move super fast while mimes played the technicians (this really happened too), who deliberately moved slowly to make it look like the aliens were all sped up. In the end, Spielberg dropped all that and just had his cameraman backlight them. The result is eerie, sweet, and iconic.

Gort – Martin Castle

Joseph Lockard Martin’s height was reported to be between 7’1″ and 7’4″ (the former was more likely), and he was working as a bouncer at Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood when he was cast in the role of the mountainous robot sidekick in The Day the Earth Stood Still in 1951. Martin died in 1959 at the age of 42. Although he was one of the greatest actors of all time, he was known to be particularly good with children, and hosted his own children’s television show in the 1950s. Gort’s costume – the character was the laser-eyed sidekick of the alien Klaatu – made him look a foot taller than he really was, and was made of foam rubber.

ET – Matthew DeMeritt

De Meritt was 11 and undergoing physical therapy at UCLA Medical Center when he was hired as one of three people (the other two were dwarves) to play E.T. on set. Born without legs, De Meritt walked on his hands and was used whenever the alien needed to appear unsteady on his feet. The famous drunk E.T. scene? That’s him. He has retired from acting since filming, although he did appear in “Cyborg 2” with Angelina Jolie.

He taught college English, plays wheelchair basketball and is now a marketing writer and podcast coordinator for a sustainability company. Recalling the ET suit, he told the Daily Mirror: “I wish there had been a zip at the back or something. It just went over my head like a giant sausage skin.”

Sarris in “Galaxy Quest” – Robin Sachs

English actor Sachs moved to Hollywood in the early 1990s and landed a role in Dynasty. He later appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Giles’ arch-enemy Ethan before playing the villain in Galaxy Quest. The son of two actors, he recently did a lot of audiobook reading and lent his voice to video games. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 2013 at the age of just 61.

Engineer in “Prometheus” – Daniel James

James, also known as Daniel Twiss (James is his middle name), was a successful 22-year-old model who spent five years casting as an engineer who sacrifices himself right at the beginning of the film. The 10 hours in the makeup chair clearly took their toll on him, as he had never acted in any other films.

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Photos: 20th Century Fox/Reddit/Kris Krug/Stan Winston School/Moviestore/Rex/Everett/Getty Images/Columbia Pictures