When director George Lucas set out in 1974 to sell his script for an intergalactic war movie that three years later would be released as “Star Wars,” the first person he hired was illustrator Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie later told an interviewer that although he agreed to help Lucas envision the film, he doubted that it would ever be made because at the time, he thought, it was both too complicated and too expensive. The one-time technical artist for Boeing went on to create the look of Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, the Stormtroopers and many other “Star Wars” characters. He died Saturday at his home in Berkeley. He had Parkinson’s disease and recently had been in declining health. Obit: LA Times
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When director George Lucas set out in 1974 to sell his script for an intergalactic war movie that three years later would be released as “Star Wars,” the first person he hired was illustrator Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie later told an interviewer that although he agreed to help Lucas envision the film, he doubted that it would ever be made because at the time, he thought, it was both too complicated and too expensive. The one-time technical artist for Boeing went on to create the look of Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, the Stormtroopers and many other “Star Wars” characters. He died Saturday at his home in Berkeley. He had Parkinson’s disease and recently had been in declining health. Obit: LA Times
Berkeley’s Ralph McQuarrie, 82, created look for ‘Star Wars’
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
When director George Lucas set out in 1974 to sell his script for an intergalactic war movie that three years later would be released as “Star Wars,” the first person he hired was illustrator Ralph McQuarrie. McQuarrie later told an interviewer that although he agreed to help Lucas envision the film, he doubted that it would ever be made because at the time, he thought, it was both too complicated and too expensive. The one-time technical artist for Boeing went on to create the look of Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2, the Stormtroopers and many other “Star Wars” characters. He died Saturday at his home in Berkeley. He had Parkinson’s disease and recently had been in declining health. Obit: LA Times
