[2] Photographer and frequent collaborator Francesco Scavullo called Bandy "one of the great makeup artists of our time.
His love of movie magazines and the stars featured in the pages led him to begin portrait paintings.
"[1] After high school, Bandy attended Birmingham–Southern College where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
After his reinvention, Bandy never publicly discussed the details of his previous life and refused to reveal his birth name or real age.
[9] After the show closed, Bandy began working as a freelance makeup artist for print, television and films.
Bandy's work was featured in editorials for Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Rolling Stone.
[10][11] Bandy's emphasis on skin care (he used cold pressed avocado or olive oil to cleanse client's faces) and natural makeup he created and mixed himself made him a favorite among celebrities.
[3] Over the course of his career, Bandy was hired by Catherine Deneuve, Farrah Fawcett (Bandy did her makeup for the 1978 film Somebody Killed Her Husband), Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Diana Ross, Lee Radziwill, Gloria Vanderbilt, Crystal Gayle, Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand.
In 1976, Margaux Hemingway requested that he be her personal makeup artist for her film debut in the thriller Lipstick.
Four months before his death, he did then First Lady Nancy Reagan's makeup for a photo spread that appeared in the September 1986 edition of Harper's Bazaar.
[12][13] By the mid-1980s, the AIDS epidemic was spreading throughout the United States and would claim the lives of many fashion industry figures.
[8] Intensely private about his personal life, Bandy never publicly revealed that he had contracted AIDS sometime in the early 1980s, fearing the stigma of the disease would cause him to lose work.
[13] In June 1986, Bandy developed a persistent cough and sore throat but refused to see a doctor because he did not trust them.
[15] Concerned about her client's declining health, Bandy's agent Helen Murray called former Vogue editor-in-chief Grace Mirabella for advice.
Hairstylist and friend Maury Hobson noted that before Bandy began his career, models applied their own makeup for photo shoots.