After his early MGM Studios work under Jack Dawn and William J. Tuttle, he did a pioneering stint at the Star Trek TV series, and created the formula for Spock's ears.
Early in his career, Phillips went uncredited as a make-up artist on a number of films including The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).
There was a contract in place with an outside company to make the ears, but after several failed attempts, Fred Phillips called a former colleague of his, Charlie Shram, who was then the head of make-up at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM).
[1] Prior to the adoption of digital media, Phillips was occasionally conflated with an eponymous New York City science fiction fan who helped to popularize the Society for Creative Anachronism and the works of H.P.
He was nominated for a Saturn Award for his work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which he shared with his daughter Janna Phillips and fellow make-up artist Ve Neill.