Drew Struzan is responsible for some of the most iconic movie posters in history including John Carpenter’s “The Thing” and the “Star Wars” films…
Drew Struzan, arguably the most famous and influential movie poster artist in history, has sadly died at 78.
A post on his official social media account confirmed the news on Tuesday. Read the statement below:
“It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that Drew Struzan has moved on from this world as of yesterday, October 13th. 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.”
A native of Oregan, Struzan moved to Los Angeles to attend college where he intended to get into fine art or illustration but ultimately chose the latter because it provided more financial stability. From there, Struzan started designing album covers for numerous notable musicians including The Beach Boys, Iron Butterfly and Earth, Wind & Fire.
He also designed the cover art to Alice Cooper’s album “Welcome to My Nightmare,” which Rolling Stone named as one of the top 100 classic album covers of all time.
In 1977, Struzan was contacted by fellow artist Charles White III asking for assistance designing a poster for the re-release of “Star Wars,” which was heading back to theaters in 1978. The design of the poster was so popular that Struzan started receiving even more requests for his work.
He went onto design some of the most famous posters in film history including the rest of the movies in the “Star Wars” series as well as the “Indiana Jones” films, “Back to the Future,” “The Goonies” and the poster for John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” which he created in just 48 hours time.
Struzan also designed posters for a pair of Stephen King based films — “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile” — which introduced him to director Frank Darabont.
Darabont became such a fan of the artist’s work that when he was developing “The Mist,” which is based on King’s novella of the same name, he loosely based the lead character of David Drayton on Struzan. in the film, David Drayton — as played by Thomas Jane — is a famed film poster artist and the work scene in his studio at the start of the film was actually designed by Struzan.
Struzan even coached Jane on how to look more convincing as a painter during some brief glimpses of his work in the film.
Struzan retired from full time artwork in 2008 but remained an active member of the film community while also spending time at home with his grandchildren.
Back in March, Struzan’s wife revealed that he was battling Alzheimer’s disease and sadly he passed away on Oct. 13 at the age of 78. You can see some of Struzan’s most iconic work below
