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Iconic film poster artist Drew Struzan, who drew and painted film lovers’ childhoods, has died aged 78.
His family revealed that he lost a battle to Alzheimer’s Disease.
They wrote: “Drew was a force of nature. Like a whirlwind, he could not be stopped nor tamed nor manipulated. His power never waned. This disease, this particular disease, took the wind out of him. He could no longer speak his language out loud. We respected this tenacity, his ability to hold on to the fire within that continued to rage.”
“Daily he tended the flame reviewing the paintings of those he long admired. Van Gogh. Gauguin. Cézanne. The Impressionists who fought diligently against the status quo. It was our honor to nurture that glow. Please take a moment to reflect on what he brought to you. Life should be full of love and beauty.”
Among the countless iconic hand-painted and drawn images Struzan created were the original Star Wars posters, as well as the Back To The Future trilogy, Blade Runner and the Indiana Jones posters.
Other renowned films that utilised his art include The Goonies, The Thing, The Shawshank Redemption, E.T., The Muppets films, Coming to America and Hellboy.
After completing the poster artwork for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Struzan announced his retirement in September 2008.
He came out of retirement in 2012, when he collaborated with Mondo for a cover of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower”. In 2015, he designed the poster for the documentary Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around The World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
His final poster was in January 2019, when Struzan designed three separate posters for the How To Train Your Dragon trilogy.
Upon hearing the news of his death, Star Wars creator George Lucas wrote in a statement on the Star Wars website: “Drew was an artist of the highest order. His illustrations fully captured the excitement, tone and spirit of each of my films his artwork represented. His creativity, through a single illustrated image, opened up a world full of life in vivid color… even at a glance. I was lucky to have worked with him time and time again.”
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Spielberg shared: “Drew made event art. His posters made many of our movies into destinations … and the memory of those movies and the age we were when we saw them always comes flashing back just by glancing at his iconic photorealistic imagery. In his own invented style, nobody drew like Drew.”
As for Guillermo del Toro, he wrote: “The world lost a genial man, a genius communicator and a supreme artist. I lost a friend – beloved Drew.”
RIP Drew Struzan 1947 – 2025