Designer Drew Struzan, known for some of the most iconic movie posters of all time, has died aged 78.
His work included posters for films such as Back to the Future, The Empire Strikes Back, The Goonies, The Shawshank Redemption, The Thing and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
“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,” a statement on his official Instagram account read. “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.”
Struzan began his career designing album covers for artists including the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, Earth, Wind & Fire, Liberace and Black Sabbath. His cover for Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare was named one of the greatest ever by Rolling Stone.
He started work on film posters in the 1970s with mostly B-movies before he created a secondary poster for the theatrical re-release of Star Wars. He then became one of the most sought-after designers of the decade and by the 1980s he was working on about 10 a year.
“I had to do something different, and I think that the trouble with a lot of early movie posters is that they looked too much like classic illustration, which feels like it’s telling the whole story,” he said in a 2021 interview. “I didn’t want to do that. I felt that art was more than just telling the story. In fact, telling the story in a poster is wrong for a movie. I wasn’t looking to tell a story. I’m looking to give a person a feeling about something they could hope for.”
He often worked with Steven Spielberg creating the designs for ET: The Extra Terrestrial, Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom and Hook among others.
He also designed posters for Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China, Coming to America, First Blood, Hellboy and the American poster for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
In March of this year, his wife shared that he had Alzheimer’s in a Facebook post. “Drew can no longer paint or sign things for you,” she wrote. “He is not enjoying a well-deserved retirement but rather fighting for his life.”
Tributes are pouring in from the industry, including the DC Comics chief Jim Lee who called him “a giant among giants” and added: “His work captured the humanity, power and emotion of his subjects in ways not seen since. Thank you for bringing to life all the tentpole moments of my childhood and beyond.”
