Does make one wonder who they might have attempted such a makeup in 1978-79 might have been achieved. Would they have attempted implanting hairs to make the face actually "furry" (as was done with the Sisters of Plenitude in Doctor Who), or would they have gone the more traditional route of "bare" foam latex appliences (like Oz's Cowardly Lion) merely "painted" to suggest fur? Given the odds such a character would have been little more than a "cameo", I suspect the latter.
Oh, I nearly forgot Chewbacca possessed an actual "furry" face, and he was designed almost 5 years earlier. But I suspect the length of the hair fibers helped with the effect. If it were shorter, I wonder if it would have resulted in a phony, plush doll look? (Wasn't Chewy designed by Stewart Freeborn, the man who created the proto-homonids for "2001"?)
Sincerely,
Bill