Celebrity makeup artist Paul Starr was found dead in his home in the Silverlake-Echo Park area L.A. apartment yesterday. His age was not certain but he is believed to have been 48 at the date of his death.

He was famous for working with film Hollywood stars such as Sophia Loren, Angelina Jolie, Mariah Carey, Jessica Alba, Renee Zellweger and Jennifer Garner. He was also known in the fashion industry for collaborating with Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana.

His corpse was found Tuesday morning about 10:30 a.m. by the police who forced their way into his home because neighbours and friends complained hey had not heard from him for several days.

In his 2005 book “Paul Starr on Beauty: Conversations With Thirty Celebrity Women” Jolie says, "During the time we have spent in the make up chair, we talked about everything but the photo shoot; global issues, babies, human rights."

Garner also talks about Starr in the book: "Paul Starr has this uncanny ability to look at a face and see what it needs. He's done my face a thousand times and never repeated a look. I have never felt more like the best version of myself than when Paul has made me up," she says.

Starr's cause of death is as yet unknown but it is thought to be natural. "It is a possible natural causes" case, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

He worked over two decades as a makeup artist.