The Maybelline Story
Room VIII · The Studio

MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

By Sharrie Williams · Written May 2012 · 3 min read


During the ’30s to the ’60s movie magazines around the world were overflowing with glamorous photographs of movie stars. One of the most interesting photographers working during this period was Paul Hesse who helped pioneer the use of color film in commercial art. (Old Movies Nostalgia.)

MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.


Paul Hesse and Elyse Knox.

Elyse Knox married fashion photographer
Paul Hesse, who had shot many of her print ads and magazine covers. 


MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

Elyse Knox


MAYBELLINE LIGHTS THE WAY TO NEW EYE BEAUTY, signed Elyse Knox. By 1938 Paul Hesse had earned his reputation as one of the best commercial photographers working in New York. He was traveling to
Hollywood several times a year to shoot glamorous photos of the stars for Photoplay magazine and he became the first photographer to use color in a national advertising campaign. 


MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.
Elyse Knox

Hesse enjoyed working with actors and he created many popular celebrity endorsed ad campaigns for companies such as Maybelline, Rheingold Beer, Chesterfield Cigarettes, Lipton Tea, Royal Crown Cola and
Studebaker automobiles. He also shot many photos for American Magazine.



MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.
Elyse Knox

His colorful and hyper-realistic portraits of celebrities had a very distinct style that is still noticeable today. 


MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

Elyse Knox.
The actress Greer Garson once said that Paul Hesse was, “greatly in demand by the leading national magazines to create cover-portraits to delight the eye. The result would be a true-to-life likeness but idealized, or glamorized if you will, by his superb technique in producing only delectable color values.”

MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.
Elyse Knox.
In 1940 Hesse decided to move to Los Angeles where he opened a new studio on Sunset Boulevard that became a gathering place for Hollywood stars and industry bigwigs. According to the book Masters of Starlight: Photographers In Hollywood, he was awarded the title of “Hollywood’s Photographic Ziegfeld” by a committee of unnamed movie stars in recognition of his contribution to their careers. 

MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

Elyse Knox dies at 94; 
B-movie actress inthe 1940s.

Elyse Knox appeared in nearly 40 films. She was


perhaps best known for the only horror film she ever 


made, ‘The Mummy’s Tomb,’ with Lon Chaney Jr. as the

 

monster who kidnaps her.



MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.


Elyse Knox and Tom Harmon.


While appearing on the Bing Crosby radio show, Elyse 


Knox met football star Tom Harmon. 


They were engaged to marry, but ended the relationship 


when Harmon entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942.

MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

Later that year, Knox married fashion photographer


Paul Hesse The marriage was brief. Following her


divorce and Tom
Harmon’s return from World War II


during which he survived two plane crashes and being 


(lost in the jungle), she and Harmon married in 1944.


Knox’s wedding dress was made from silk from the


parachute Harmon used when bailing out of his crippled 


plane.


MARK HARMON’S MOTHER, MAYBELLINE MODEL, ELYSE KNOX DIES AT 94.

Tom Harmon
 The couple remained together until his death in 1990. 

Please click on link below for past post on Elyse Knox.

http://www.maybellinebook.com/2011/06/maybelline-pin-up-girl-elyse-knox-1944.html


Link to past post about NCIS and Maybelline cousin, Brian Dietzen, Jimmy Palmer in the show.


http://www.maybellinebook.com/2012/02/congratulations-ncis-and-brian-dietzen.html



Stay tuned for more Maybelline Stars

 photographed by the Great Paul Hesse.

Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams

Maybe She’s Born With It

The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.

Where it began: The Maybelline Story — Amazon · Ebook · Signed copy

© 2026 Sharrie Williams · All photographs from the Williams family archive