ROBERT McCann loved the glamour of Hollywood and the beauty of the screen goddesses it produced. But, as he dabbed powder on the cheeks of Reporting Scotland presenter Mary Marquis, he could hardly have imagined that one day he would become personal make-up artist to the actress who perhaps comes closest to the glamour and sophistication of the stars of Tinseltown's golden age.

His relationship with Nicole Kidman began on Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and he subsequently worked with her on a string of films that included The Others and The Stepford Wives.

McCann also became one of her closest friends and referred to her as his "princess".

Kidman began to worry when the usually reliable aide failed to turn up to do her make-up for the New York premiere of her new film Bewitched and there was no answer on his mobile phone.

He was found dead in his apartment, having suffered a heart attack. He was 47.

Kidman heard of his death just as she was about to set off for the event and, although she attended the screening, reports noted that she was visibly upset.

McCann was born in Glasgow in 1958, studied textiles at Glasgow School of Art and was reputedly the first man on BBC Scotland's make-up course. He was responsible not only for the way Kirsty Wark looked on air, but also the way she looked on her wedding day.

Moving into drama of another type, he was a make-up artist and hair stylist on the Thames Television adaptation of Lorna Doone (1990), with Polly Walker and Clive Owen.

He went on to work on a string of other British television dramas and films, including The Secret Garden (1993) , with Maggie Smith, Deadly Advice (1993) , with Brenda Fricker and Jane Horrocks as mother and daughter, and the popular Sunday-night drama series Hamish Macbeth (1995-97) , with Robert Carlyle.

His career took off in 1996 with the TV thriller Truth or Dare, the football film When Saturday Comes, The Leading Man, in which Nicole Kidman made a cameo appearance, and most notably Trainspotting.

Kubrick was famously, or infamously, a perfectionist and, although Eyes Wide Shut was intended as an intimate drama, shooting on it dragged on from late 1996 to early 1998, giving cast and crew every opportunity to get to know each other.

The film starred Kidman and her then husband, Tom Cruise, as a married couple unhappy with their sex lives.

McCann was reunited with Cruise as key make-up artist on Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) and worked with Kidman again on The Others (2001), Dogville (2003) , The Human Stain (2003) , Cold Mountain (2003) , The Stepford Wives (2004), Birth (2004), The Interpreter (2005) and Bewitched.

When she was forced to pull out of Panic Room (2002) with a knee injury, he continued as make-up artist for her replacement Jodie Foster.

He also began work with Kidman on Eucalyptus in Australia at the beginning of the year, but it was cancelled when Russell Crowe fell out with the producers, and he had been working with her most recently in New York on Fur, the biopic about photographer Diane Arbus.

Although McCann spent much of his time abroad, particularly in the US, Glasgow remained his home base. Birth co-starred Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall and when she visited the city in April, to promote her autobiography, she found time for dinner with McCann.

He is survived by his partner, Glasgow lawyer Peter Lawson, son Roddy, father Eddie, mother Anna, sisters Edana and Suzelle and brother Frank.

Robert McCann, film make-up artist; born May 1, 1958, died June 13, 2005.