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Drew Struzan, the legendary movie poster artist whose illustrations epitomized Hollywood blockbuster marketing art for generations, has died.
The artist died at age 78 on Monday, his official social media accounts announced. A cause of death was not immediately available.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that Drew Struzan has moved on from this world,” a post stated on Tuesday. “I feel it is important that you all know how many times he expressed to me the joy he felt knowing how much you appreciated his art.”
Owen Kolasinski/BFA.com/Shutterstock
Struzan’s wife, Dylan, announced in March that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago. “Drew has left a strong legacy of love and joy in the form of his work,” she wrote at the time. “It has always been a love letter of sorts. His aim was to make the earth a better place in which to live by creating something beautiful. But like a flower, his season is ending.”
Born in Oregon City, Ore., in 1947, Struzan trained at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles in the 1960s. He began his work in the entertainment industry as an illustrator at the Pacific Eye & Ear design studio, where he created album covers for records like Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare, the Bee Gees’ Main Course, and Roy Orbison’s Memphis.
Struzan began designing art for movie posters in 1975, working on B-movie projects like Squirm and Empire of the Ants. He broke into the mainstream when he helped design a poster for George Lucas‘ original Star Wars for its 1978 rerelease (a year after it originally premiered) alongside Charles White III.
Lucasfilm Ltd
The artist continued working on Lucas’ projects after that breakthrough, designing several posters for the Star Wars sequels (and, later, prequels) as well as the Indiana Jones franchise, which Lucas wrote and produced. Struzan also designed the logo for Industrial Light & Magic, the special effects company that Lucas cofounded during the production of Star Wars.
Struzan went on to design iconic posters for numerous other films directed and produced by Raiders of the Lost Ark director Steven Spielberg, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Back to the Future, The Goonies, and An American Tail.
The artist’s work extended far beyond Lucas’ and Spielberg’s projects, as Struzan also contributed poster art for films like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Blade Runner, The Muppet Movie, The Thing, Risky Business, First Blood, Coming to America,, Hocus Pocus, and Hellboy.
The Legacy Collection/THA/Shutterstock
Struzan contributed with Lucas and Spielberg again with his poster for 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, then announced his retirement that same year. He came out of retirement on a handful of occasions to craft posters for films like Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Struzan’s work came to be defined by his extensive use of the airbrush, creating a soft, warm glow that gave his style a grand, timeless quality. Outside of his poster work, Struzan also designed comic book covers, postage stamps, and a reissue of the board game Clue.
Frank Darabont, whose films The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile received Struzan posters, reportedly based Thomas Jane’s protagonist in The Mist on the poster artist. Struzan was also the subject of the 2013 documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster, which featured interviews with Lucas, Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Guillermo del Toro, and more.
