The Return of the Classic Films Obituary Thread

[Staph]

30. Visual effect guru Douglas Trumball has passed away.

Visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, one of the masterminds behind the visual effects on some of the most visually audacious science fiction films of all time, including “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Blade Runner,” died Monday from complications from mesothelioma. He was 79.

He shared Oscar nominations for best visual effects for “Close Encounters,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and “Blade Runner.” Trumbull also oversaw the visual effects on “Silent Running,” “The Andromeda Strain” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and he directed eco-sci-fi film “Silent Running” and Natalie Wood-starring “Brainstorm.”

In addition to doing effects work on the classic sci-fi films for which he’s known, Trumbull also invented and patenting dozens of film tools and techniques, from motion-control photography to miniature compositing.

In 1993 he shared an Academy Scientific and Engineering Award “for concept (Trumbull), the movement design (Williamson), the electronic design (Auguste) and the camera system (DiGuilio) of the CP-65 Showscan Camera System for 65mm motion picture photography, the first modern 65mm camera developed in 25 years.” In 2012 he won the Academy’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award, which is a special Oscar presented to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.”

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/douglas-trumbull-dead-visual-effects-1235174814/