Hugh Grant and the Duchess of York chat amiably. During the French Revolution, she collected the severed heads of royals and made wax likenesses to preserve their images for posterity. Philbin is here, but former co-host Kathie Lee Gifford is not. In an era in which stars are notorious for trying to control all aspects of their images, Tussaud's insists it works without contracts and won't cede final approval of portraits. Technicians even march in with a tray of eyeballs that later will be customized with red silk thread to simulate veins.
Artists begin working with clay and later cast faces and hands with wax.
It takes about six months to complete a figure - five weeks alone to insert perfectly matched human hair, strand by strand. Joan Rivers was such a stickler for detail that she requested her own peachy nail polish be used. Celebrities such as Couric and Tony Bennett donated their clothes. Others, including Whoopi Goldberg and Princess Diana, are garbed in copies. Though some of the stars look thinner than they've appeared at public events, inches will not be shaved off at a celebrity's request, says Janine Scarpello, general manager of Tussaud's New York.