Vin Kehoe; revised image of the British in US Revolution

When Americans were making plans to celebrate the country's bicentennial and local residents were rehearsing battle reenactments at Concord and Lexington, Revolutionary War historian Vin Kehoe was appalled by the ragtag uniforms and lax discipline of the contingent portraying the British soldiers.

The Red Coats were dressed "more like Colonial farmers in long stockings, knee britches, cloaks, and tricorn hats," said Mr. Kehoe's best friend, Brad Bigham of Concord. "It was a mishmash of people trying to look like British troops."

After Kehoe founded and took command of the American contingent of the British 10th Regiment of Foot in 1969, he outfitted re- enactors in red, double-breasted coats with the distinctive facing color, and they carried historically accurate swords and bayonets.

Vincent Jeffre-Roux Kehoe, a makeup artist well known in the entertainment field who also wrote books on history and bullfighting, died Aug. 17 at his home in Somis, Calif. He was 86 and had formerly lived in Lowell and Chelmsford.

Gena (Marino) Kehoe, his wife of 42 years, said Mr. Kehoe had recently been hospitalized after two strokes.

"When one views the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington each April," said Paul O'Shaughnessy of Lexington, current commander of the 10th Regiment, "one must credit Vincent Kehoe for having created the authentically attired, drilled, and polished British regiment that takes the field."

Michael Coppe, a Lexington dentist, said he was a Minuteman but was so impressed with what Mr. Kehoe had done for the British that he switched sides in reenactments. "There is not another regiment in New England with so much spit-and-polish," Coppe said.

Though not a robust man himself, Mr. Kehoe carried himself with military bearing. His piercing hazel eyes, scar on upper lip, and neckerchief instead of tie made him look distinguished, Bigham said.

The faults Mr. Kehoe saw in the sartorial sense of the British reenactors inspired him to make the first of some 15 trips to England over 30 years to search archives and confer with military sources to raise an authentic regiment. With the permission of the Royal Lincolnshire Regimental Association in England, which made Mr. Kehoe an honorary colonel in the regiment, he returned home and formed the 10th Regiment. Bigham was his first recruit and captain.

Word of Mr. Kehoe's work had spread around England, and when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Boston during the country's bicentennial in 1976, they met with him and reviewed the regiment near the Old State House.

Richard Amsterdam of Andover, who joined the 10th Regiment in 1975 and is a captain, said the accurate garb of the contingent was "typical of British regiments of the 18th century."

"Vin was a powerful man, charismatic and a tremendous stickler for accuracy," Amsterdam said.

Before Mr. Kehoe founded and dressed the 10th Regiment, he had spent many years making theater and television personalities look better. He oversaw makeup for more than 3,000 major television, film, and stage productions, Amsterdam said.

He had led the makeup department of CBS-TV in New York, as well as for the NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame series. He was president and director of research for the Research Council of Make-up Artists.

Among the stars he made up were Cliff Robertson, Roddy McDowell, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum, and Steve McQueen, according to a 1999 Associated Press report. The story quoted him as saying that while he was initially interested in acting, he found "makeup more lucrative."

Mr. Kehoe was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., of Irish and French Canadian parentage and was brought up in Lowell, friends said. After graduating from high school in Lowell, he attended MIT from 1940 to 1941 and attended Boston University in 1942, when he enlisted in the US Army.

He served as a ski instructor in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, as well as in the 70th Division of the Third Army in France and Germany. He was badly wounded by artillery fire in Germany, Bigham said, and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

After his discharge in 1945, Mr. Kehoe attended the American Theatre Wing Professional Training Program for veterans and graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor of fine arts degree in motion picture and television production, Amsterdam said.

In the early 1960s, he met Gena Marino in New York. "He asked me for my name at the checkout counter" of a grocery store, she said.

Mrs. Kehoe, a former actress from California, said she was surprised to learn that Mr. Kehoe was the author of two of her favorite books, "Wine, Women, and Toros" and "Aficionado," both about bullfighting.

Fascinated by bullfighting, Mr. Kehoe had gone to Mexico for a year to learn about the sport. His other books were about history and makeup artistry.

The couple married in 1966, lived in Lowell briefly, and settled in Chelmsford. They resettled in California more than 20 years ago.

As a professional photographer, Mr. Kehoe had work published in Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Argosy, and Popular Photography, Amsterdam said.

Until recently, friends and family said, Mr. Kehoe remained active in a California makeup artistry business and collaborating on another book on the subject.

Though retired from the 10th Regiment in 1978, he had kept up with its program.

He visited it one last time to participate in a reenactment in 2000.

On the day Mr. Kehoe died, the regiment was on Boston Common reenacting the encampment of British soldiers there from 1774 to 1776.

In addition to his wife, he leaves a son, Tyler of Somis, Calif. and two grandsons.

A service has been held. Burial was in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Chelmsford.