The sci-fi world has lost a great mind. Concept artist, Colin Cantwell, has passed away at the age of 90. His longtime partner, Sierra Dall reported the news following Cantwell’s passing in his Colorado home on Saturday. While Cantwell’s work can be seen across productions including his special photographic effects in 2001: A Space Odyssey, technical dialogue in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and computer graphics for WarGames, it may be his work with famed director George Lucas on his legendary Star Wars films that Cantwell is most known for. Specifically, the creative worked on designing and building the prototypes for big-ticket pieces including the X-wing, TIE fighter, Star Destroyer, and even the Death Star.
Cantwell’s climb to becoming one of the most recognized names in concept artist history began with an interesting and unlikely backstory. Born in 1932 in San Francisco, the young Cantwell would contract tuberculosis and suffer from a partial retinal detachment. To clear him of his ailments, the young boy was put into a dark room with a weighted vest strapped across his chest to suppress his bouts of coughing, Cantwell revealed in a Reddit "AMA" in 2016. After two years of this, Cantwell made a comeback and was inspired to make the most of his life. Animation was always a love of his and he pursued a degree from UCLA which led him to earn a personal invite from Frank Lloyd Wright to attend the legendary architect’s School of Architecture.
Adding more of an unbelievable spin to this true story, Cantwell first held down a job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA during America’s bid to get to space before the Russians. But wait, it gets crazier. It turns out that Cantwell was such a brainy mind and revered NASA employee that he was put in charge of listening to the correspondence between NASA’s base and the astronauts, which he was then tasked with relaying to the famous reporter, Walter Cronkite who was breaking the news to Americans as it was happening.
After he was ready for a career change, Cantwell took what he learned from NASA and headed to Hollywood to work on space-based productions with his breakout serving alongside Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey. In fact, Cantwell has revealed that it was his idea for the now-iconic space-themed opening the film is known for — something Kubrick initially planned to make a 20-minute table conference. From here, Cantwell’s career continued to skyrocket as he became the go-to guy that filmmakers would want on their teams, specifically for all things space-themed.
With a childhood filled with sickness and setbacks, Cantwell’s rise to fame and recognizability is truly one of a kind. He’ll be remembered as America’s voice of the moon landing and the creator of the biggest space centered productions of our time.