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James "Jim" Kail is a makeup artist who worked along with Wes Dawn and James L. McCoy as Makeup Artist on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

Kail, who has started to work in the entertainment industry in the 1960s, worked almost five decades as makeup artist. He was the makeup artist for actor Lee Majors on the action film Steel (1979, with Harris Yulin and Richard Lynch), The Agency (1980, with Saul Rubinek), High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980, with Michael Pataki and Tracey Walter), and The Last Chase (1981) and earned his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1975 in the category Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for his work on the television game show Masquerade Party which featured Lee Meriwether.

In 1981, Kail won a Primetime Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for his work on the television history pic Peter and Paul, starring Robert Foxworth and John Rhys-Davies. He received two more Emmy nominations in 1989 in the category Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for a Miniseries or a Special for his work on the television mini-series War and Remembrance, Part II and Part III. He shared these nominations with Wes Dawn, Thomas R. Burman, and Bari Burman. War and Remembrance co-starred William Schallert, Jeremy Kemp, Steven Berkoff, John Rhys-Davies, Leslie Hope, Paul Lambert, and Granville Ames.

Among his first credited work are the television movies and specials Mitzi's 2nd Special (1969), Keep U.S. Beautiful (1973), Flip Wilson... Of Course (1974), and Night Terror (1977) and the television series Dean Martin Presents: The Bobby Darin Amusement Co. (1972), Flip (1970-1974), What's Happening!! (1976-1977), Three's Company (1977, working with Brian McManus, Mark Bussan, Ellen Powell, and Hazel Catmull), The Jeffersons (1975-1978), Godd Times (1976-1978), Rhoda (1975-1978), Dallas (1978), The Chisholms (1979, co-starring Brett Cullen and Mitchell Ryan and with hair stylist Monique DeSart), and Struck by Lightning (1979).

Further credits include Are You in the House Alone? (1978, with Tricia O'Neil), Bitter Harvest (1981), Young Doctors in Love (1982, with Michael McKean and Saul Rubinek and working with Wes Dawn and Shirley Crawford), the television drama Missing Children: A Mother's Story (1982, with John Anderson, Mary McCusker, Jane Wyatt, Anne Haney, and Noble Willingham and hair stylist Janice D. Brandow), the television drama My Mother's Secret Life (1984, with Paul Sorvino, Stanley Kamel, and Dan Shor and hair stylist Paul Abascal), the comedy Up the Creek (1984, working with Wes Dawn), Into the Night (1985, working with Wes Dawn and Silvia Abascal), the television science fiction film J.O.E. and the Colonel (1985), The Karate Kid Part II (1986, working with Cheri Ruff), Die Hard (1988, working with Paul Abascal, Wes Dawn, and Josée Normand), and Ladykillers (1988, with Cheri Ruff) and Remington Steele (1982-1983), Outlaws (1986, with Cheri Ruff), and Magnum, P.I. (1988).

In the 1990s, Kail worked as key makeup artist on The Hunt for Red October (1990, with Wes Dawn and Dino Ganziano), Die Hard 2 (1990, with Paul Abascal, Thomas R. Burman, Bari Burman, and Josée Normand), The Marrying Man (1991, with Janice Alexander, Richard Sabre, and Monty Westmore), Shout (1991, with Dino Ganziano and Francine Shermaine), The River Wild (1994, with Patricia Vecchio, Donna Barrett Gilbert, and Richard Snell), Down Periscope (1996, with Michael Key and Cheri Ruff), Eraser (1996), Anaconda (1997, with Donna Barrett Gilbert, Dino Ganziano, Ken Diaz, Joel Harlow, and Dayne Johnson), Batman & Robin (1997), and Deep Blue Sea (1999, with Allan A. Apone, Jeff Dawn, Steve LaPorte, and Clinton Wayne).

In 2003, he worked as second unit makeup department head on Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, starring Kristanna Loken. Among his last known credits as key makeup artist are Ghosts of Mars (2001, working with Jake Garber), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005, working with Lee Joyner, Michael Moore, Francine Shermaine, and Cale Thomas), Life of the Party (2005, with Francine Shermaine), Rocky Balboa (2006), and License to Wed (2007).

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