Colin Cantwell, Concept Artist Behind the Iconic ‘Star Wars’ Passed Away at the Age of 90

Colin Cantwell, the concept artist who created classic Star Wars ships such as the X-wing Starfighter, TIE fighter, and Death Star, died Saturday at his Colorado home, according to Sierra Dall, his long-time companion. He was 90.

Special photographic effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), technical dialogue for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and computer graphics design consultant for WarGames are among Cantwell’s cinematic credits (1983).

He was most known for his work on Star Wars alongside George Lucas, developing and building prototypes for the X-wing, TIE fighter, Star Destroyer, and Death Star, among other things.

Cantwell, who was born in San Francisco in 1932, was diagnosed with TB and a partial retinal detachment as a child. He claimed that the remedy was to be confined to a dark room with a thick garment around his chest to prevent coughing episodes during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” interview in 2016.

He said, “I spent nearly two years of my childhood immobilized in this dark room. Suffice to say, nothing else could slow me down after that!”

Cantwell earned a bachelor’s degree in animation from the University of California, Los Angeles before being asked to join Frank Lloyd Wright’s School of Architecture.

Cantwell had a remarkable history before making his way to Hollywood, as he documented on his website bio. Cantwell worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA during the famous 1960s space race, developing educational initiatives for the public to better comprehend the flights.

Cantwell’s love of architecture and interest with space made him the ideal candidate for a career in Hollywood, where he worked on many space projects, the first of which was 2001:

A Space Odyssey. During his AMA, he remarked, “I worked closely with Stanley Kubrick and persuaded him not to start the movie with a 20-minute conference table discussion,” The dramatic space opening that followed the dawn of man and bone flung into the air was produced by Cantwell.

Also Read

After Pete Davidson’s farewell appearance on SNL, Kim Kardashian pays appreciation to his work.

To commemorate Pete Davidson's farewell appearance on Saturday Night Live, his girlfriend...