Bob Mackie has died at 87 — he sketched Marilyn's "Happy Birthday" dress and didn't see it in person for 54 years
The statement went up on his own Instagram on Monday and it was short: Bob Mackie lived his 87 years to the fullest. He is why Cher turned up at the 1986 Oscars in a feathered Mohawk and why Carol Burnett came downstairs wearing a curtain rod. He also drew a dress you have absolutely seen.
Bob Mackie died on Monday at 87. The news came from his own Instagram account: "He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a Fashion and Costume Designer." No cause was given.
The record, since it is worth getting right: nine Emmys out of 30-plus nominations, a Tony in 2019 for The Cher Show, three Oscar nominations — Lady Sings the Blues, Funny Lady, Pennies from Heaven — and no Oscar. In 1967 he and Ray Aghayan collected the first Emmy ever given for costume design; in 2002 he became the first costume designer in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
The volume is what nobody quite believes. On Funny Lady he and Aghayan built 40 complete 1930s outfits for Barbra Streisand, hats and gloves and shoes included. On The Carol Burnett Show, Burnett estimated he made over 17,000 pieces in 11 seasons — some 50 a week for a decade.
The one everybody remembers was on screen for seconds: the green velvet drapes of the 1976 "Went with the Wind!" sketch, brass curtain rod still in them, riding across her shoulders. It is in the Smithsonian now.
"He saved me and many a comedy sketch... many times gave me the clue as to what the character I was playing was all about." — Carol Burnett, in Frank DeCaro's Unmistakably Mackie
With Cher it was economics as much as design. Her wardrobe on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour reportedly ran $30,000 an episode in early-1970s money, and the run lasted 40 years — as far as the 1986 Oscars, where she presented in stretch pants, a bejewelled loincloth and a feathered Mohawk.
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The dress he drew and never signed
Before any of that he was a sketch artist — for Edith Head at Paramount, then for Jean Louis. One job came with no explanation. He told PEOPLE in November 2025 he was 21 at the time.
"It was a very early job. [Jean Louis] wouldn't tell me what it was for. He just said, 'It's for Marilyn.' And I went, 'Oh, okay,' but he wouldn't tell me what the deal was."
What he had drawn was the crystal-covered gown Marilyn Monroe was sewn into to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" in May 1962. He found out from a newspaper a week later. The sketch then vanished, Monroe was dead within three months, and he did not see the dress in person until Julien's auctioned it in 2016 and Ripley's Believe It or Not paid $4.8 million. His drawing surfaced the same year — on the Today show, which he watched over breakfast.
When Kim Kardashian wore it to the 2022 Met Gala, he told Entertainment Weekly it was "a big mistake": it was built for one woman, and "nobody else should be seen in that dress."
The credits that fall off the obituaries
- The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). He dressed the broadcast George Lucas spent decades burying; his signed sketches from it turn up at auction.
- The MGM Grand, 1974. With Aghayan, 940 costumes for a single $3 million Las Vegas number.
- Barbie, 1982. His doll line is still one of Mattel's most collected.
Aghayan, his life and professional partner, died in 2011; Mackie's only son, Robin, died of an AIDS-related illness in 1994. "I was kind of dragged into the fashion world, which was fine," he said, "but the fashion press never really liked me." Nine Emmys suggest television felt differently.
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