Bob Mackie, costume designer who dressed Cher and Carol Burnett, dies at 87

Photo: Cag1970, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, 2010 — The curtain-rod dress Mackie designed for Carol Burnett's 1976 "Went With the Wind!" sketch, photographed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2010.

The designer behind the beaded “naked dress” and the flame dress died Monday in Palm Springs of pneumonia, his publicist confirmed.

The death, and a birth date obituaries don’t agree on

Bob Mackie, the costume designer who dressed Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross and Tina Turner over more than five decades, died Monday, Sept. 14, in Palm Springs, California. He was 87.

His longtime publicist, Jenelle Hamilton, confirmed the cause. NBC News reported that Hamilton “confirmed that he died of pneumonia Monday morning in Palm Springs, California.” CBS News reported the same, that he died “from pneumonia, his publicist Jenelle Hamilton confirmed to CBS News.”

The news was announced on his Instagram account: “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today. He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a Fashion and Costume Designer, which is all he ever wanted to do. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.”

The New York Times and other obituaries give his birth date as March 24, 1939, in Monterey Park, California. The Television Academy’s own biography lists his birthday as March 24, 1940. The statement on his Instagram account said he “lived his 87 years to the fullest,” which matches the 1939 date.

What he changed: the “naked dress” and the flame dress

Fern Mallis, a fashion historian, former executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and founder of New York Fashion Week, told CNN: “He invented the naked dresses with the strategically placed beads.” She added that “Now everyone who walks the red carpet, or designs for the red carpet, owes him a debt of gratitude, whether they know it or not.”

Mackie himself recalled the reaction to an early version of that idea, a 1974 Met Gala dress for Cher, telling CNN: “People were horrified. They thought, that’s not fashion, she’s just naked at the Metropolitan.”

NBC News traced the evolution of his other signature piece, the flame dress, which “has been worn by pop icons Beyoncé and Turner, as well as Cher.” A version, NBC reported, “debuted in 1968 on ‘The Fred Astaire Show,’ initially featured large gold paillettes. By the time Cher and Turner donned matching versions on ‘The Sonny & Cher Show,’ the paillettes were replaced by smaller sparkly sequins that came to typify his work.” NBC described it as “more of a bodysuit than a dress, with sheer nude cutouts and sequins sewn into the shape of flames.”

Cher’s most talked-about Mackie look came at the 58th Academy Awards, March 24, 1986, when Cher presented the Best Supporting Actor award to Don Ameche wearing, as NBC put it, “a tall black feather headdress and beaded two-piece ensemble baring her famously toned midriff.” Cher joked at the ceremony that she had received her “Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress.” Mackie told The Daily Beast: “Of course it’s not fashion. It’s a crazy getup for attention.”

He put his own philosophy plainly, in a line NBC News attributed to The Hollywood Reporter: “A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed.”

Weekly television and the discipline of comedy

Mackie designed the costumes for “The Carol Burnett Show” over 11 seasons — NBC called it “a post he held for 11 seasons”; ABC’s “Good Morning America” put it as “spanning 11 years.” CBS reported he had first been “tapped to create a new look” for Mitzi Gaynor in 1966, which caught Burnett’s attention.

His best-known piece from the show is the curtain dress, worn by Burnett as “Starlet O’Hara” in the “Went With the Wind!” sketch that aired Nov. 13, 1976, according to the Smithsonian’s own blog. Mackie called it the “Wind Dress,” per NBC; it now belongs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Accepting it, museum director Brent Glass said: “Mackie’s design represents an iconic reimagining of Scarlett O’Hara’s curtain dress, and it exists as a worthy reminder of the designer’s unique contribution to a golden era in American comedy.” In the sketch, Burnett delivered the line the Smithsonian still quotes: “I saw it in a window, and I just couldn’t resist it.”

Mackie also designed for “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” from 1971 to 1974 and for its 1976–1977 successor, “The Sonny & Cher Show,” earning Emmy nominations in 1972, 1974 and 1977.

He described his own range in a quote featured on the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame tribute page: “A lot of people only want to do glamorous or beautiful, but my biggest plus as a designer was that I could do funny, too.” In a 2013 interview with Vice, he said of that era: “we were doing 50 to 70 costumes per episode, and we had a show every week.”

The record, as the official databases state it

The Television Academy’s official biography credits Mackie with nine competitive Primetime Emmy wins: 1967, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (NBC); 1970, “Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations on Broadway” (NBC); 1976, “Mitzi… Roarin’ in the 20’s” (CBS); 1978, “Mitzi… Zings Into Spring” (CBS); 1984, “Mama’s Family” (NBC); 1991, “Carol & Company” (NBC); 1995, “Men, Movies and Carol” (CBS); and 2000 and 2003 for “Cher: Live in Concert, From the MGM Grand” and “Cher, The Farewell Tour.”

The Academy’s bio lists 32 nominations in all, spanning 1966 to 2006. NBC News’ obituary put the number at 30; the Television Academy’s own count is 32. NBC News reported that Ray Aghayan hired Mackie to work on “The Judy Garland Show” and that “the pair went on to win the first Emmy Award for costume design in 1967”; the Academy’s list credits that 1967 win to “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” and its biography does not use the word “first.” He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002.

In film, Mackie received three Academy Award nominations and no wins, according to the Oscars’ own ceremony records: 1973, for “Lady Sings the Blues,” shared with Ray Aghayan and Norma Koch; 1976, for “Funny Lady,” shared with Aghayan; and 1982, for “Pennies From Heaven,” alone.

He won the Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical in 2019, for “The Cher Show.” He also received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards in Brooklyn, and, in 1999, the first year the Costume Designers Guild gave its awards, its Rit Color Award for Achievement in Costume Design, which the guild lists among its career achievement honors.

Beyond the stage

In 1982, according to his official biography, he launched a ready-to-wear clothing collection. He also designed a line of collectible Bob Mackie Barbie dolls.

His career was the subject of a 2024 documentary, “Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion.”

Tributes, and the family he leaves

Cher wrote on X: “My dear Bob has gone up to heaven. Knowing him, he’s bringing sequins, beads, & his sketch pad. Good nite sweet, Prince. Luv Me.”

Carol Burnett wrote on Instagram: “Sadness doesn’t come close to how I feel. I loved him very much. As for his genius, there are fashion designers who don’t do costumes, and there are costume designers who don’t do fashion. Bob did it all. There was no one like him.”

Elton John wrote on social media, as quoted by NBC News: “Every time I put something on that Bob made, I felt very, very special. His costumes were works of art, and he will go down as one of the most legendary designers ever in Hollywood. He loved glamour like I love glamour, but more than anything, we shared the same sense of humour and had so much fun together.”

Barbra Streisand posted on Facebook, alongside a photo of a “Funny Lady” dress: “Bob Mackie was an incredible talent. He designed one gorgeous outfit after another for me in Funny Lady. He might continue designing creations for the angels.” Bette Midler called him “extraordinarily talented” and Goldie Hawn said he had the “essence of an angel,” according to tributes collected by Cover Media.

Journey Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center, said Mackie “understood the unique power of costume in comedy, to help create a character and become part of the creative energy that drove the comedy itself.” His work with Burnett, Cher, Joan Rivers, Bette Midler and Lucille Ball, she said, “helped shape some of comedy’s most memorable moments on television and stage.”

Mackie’s longtime partner, costume designer Ray Aghayan, died in 2011 of kidney failure at 83, according to NBC News. His son, makeup artist Robert Gordon Mackie Jr., died of AIDS-related complications in 1993, at 35. Mackie was briefly married to Lulu Porter from 1960 to 1963.