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Born Diana Isabel Gemora, in the early 40's, at Hollywood, California, Diana was raised in the Hollywood hills and on the Paramount Studio lot. Trained by her father, Charles Gemora, whose specialty was special effects make up, making monsters, painting portraits for the stars, sculpture, inventing, building, and gambling. His claim to fame were his gorilla suits. He was the first and best "gorilla man". Diana had a well rounded education. Art school was in her father’s studio lab at home and the Hollywood studios where he worked.
Diana became a child stunt double and stand-in, mostly for Disney Studios. She retired at the top of her profession to become a full time artist at age 28. Off she went to the forests of the Oregon coast, the mountains of New Mexico, the volcano of Haleakala, island of Maui, Hawaii and San Francisco.
Diana’s art has been shown in numerous galleries and is in many collections. Her body of work includes about 350 originals, some single prints, and published cards. She has launched two galleries with their opening shows and launched a newspaper with a full color front page. Some eclectic assignments have included the interior design, and building the innards, for a huge country market and redesigning and building the facade for a whole town in New Mexico. She considers helping with the building of many movie monsters such as for "The Blob", "The Thing", "War Of The Worlds", building gorilla suits with her dad, etc. are all considered as part of her body of work. She has ebbed and flowed in and out of the art market as moods and times Dictate.
In 1995, Diana re-emerged back into the art world after a 15 year hiatus. She decided to sell limited edition prints of her Indian series, which she continued to work on. The originals are to be saved for her children.
A call from the past has also dictated a new direction as a writer, and the artwork has come to an end. She has recently completed a science fiction story that has been in the works for over 50 years.
Her father, Charles gemora, has reached cult status and her stories of his exploits as Hollywood’s most famous gorilla man and monster maker are keeping her very busy these days.
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