Forget checking the mantle. In fact, you'll have to look hard in Karl and Brenda Wesson's Salem, Utah, house to find Karl's two Emmy awards. Says Brenda, "It's not the first thing you'll see when you come in our home."
Karl Wesson is key hairstylist for the CBS television series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" and received back-to-back Emmys in 1995 and 1996 for outstanding hairstyling for a series.(As to the Emmy statuettes themselves, they're currently being stored in a box, awaiting the building of a custom bookcase - where they'll be used as bookends.)
Wesson is enjoying a career in Hollywood where he has cared for the locks and tresses of stars like Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner ("Maverick') and Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis ("Thelma and Louise").
If you saw the TV movie "Siege at Marion" or "Babe Ruth" (just to mention two - he's done more than a dozen) Wesson was the key makeup/hairstylist.
Any number of specials received the Wesson touch: Roy Clark specials, Tanya Tucker and Donna Fargo shows and the Donnie and Marie TV shows. (Wesson was a vice president and department head for hair/makeup at the Osmond Studios in Orem.)
Even local and national commercials are found on Wesson's resume. He has done makeup and hairstyling for Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Hasbro Toys, Hawaiian Punch, Nu Skin, KSL-TV, the LDS Church and Novell, among many others. Wesson has worked numerous times with LDS director Kieth Merrill - on "Polynesian Odyssey" for the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii; "Zion: Mystic Land," filmed in southern Utah; and "Legacy," filmed in Illinois, Wyoming and Utah.
Working in Hollywood has provided a good living for Wesson's family. His four children range in age from 7 to 21. The oldest, Amy, is a cosmetologist at BYU and tells her dad it's the best place to meet guys. She has worked on a couple of films with her dad.
Julie is a senior at Spanish Fork High School, Laura is 10 and Brent is 7.
In a telephone interview from the "Dr. Quinn" set in Agoura Hills, Calif., Wesson said how much he enjoyed working on a television series.
"For feature films, I'm gone four, five or six months at a time," he said. "Now, I'm home every weekend."
While the airline commute might seem tedious to others, Wesson looks on the bright side. "We took everyone to Disney World on frequent-flier miles," he said.
Wesson's career wasn't jump-started because of sisterly exposure to the world of hair care and makeup. His only sibling is an older brother.
Fate sent Wesson on a will-o'-the-wisp detour when he was a drama student at Tempe High School in Tempe, Arizona. And it was all because of a hairnet.
"I loved drama in high school," he said. "The first time I ever did hair was during a production of `My Fair Lady.' The star had long beautiful hair, and it just wouldn't stay up."
He brought hairnets that his mother used in food service and "from that moment on, I was interested in hair styling."
The Arizona native began attending beauty school while still in high school and, after graduating, went on to earn a degree from Arizona State University in business education and a master's degree in performing arts at Brigham Young University.
He worked at the BYU Motion Picture Studio and taught in the film and dance departments.
"I had some of the most rewarding experiences with students. Twenty or 30 of my students are working in the makeup/hairstyling world today," Wesson said. "Janet Swenson (at BYU) is still a good friend, and she brings her advanced students to California on field trips, and I arrange for them to go on the set. (Series stars) Jane Seymour and Joe Lando meet them."
And what is it like to work with Hollywood stars?
"The thing that I like best is that they're real people - basic, good folks," Wesson said.
He said he has especially enjoyed working with character actress Barbara Babcock, whose roles have ranged from playing Tom Cruise's mother-in-law in "Far and Away" to "Dallas" to "Hill Street Blues" to a role in the original "Star Trek."
As Wesson headed back to Utah for the Christmas vacation, he learned that "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" has been renewed for a sixth year.
"They're talking very seriously of a seventh and eighth season as well," said Wesson.
Cast and crew alike are proud of the awards the series has garnered. "The show has won every award you can give a series: best family program, best actress, best actor, best producer, best historical series on TV," said Wesson.
Each week Karl Wesson boards a jet that flies him to his work at the old Paramount ranch in California and back again to his Salem, Utah, home.
"We just built a new home that's out of the city," said Wesson. "Utah beats California hands over feet. We can saddle our horses and ride right into the hills."