Special Effects Artist
3 April 1932 to 21 May 2022
An American special effects artist, whose work in film, while limited, will never be forgotten. After earning a degree in animation and a stint working for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cantwell turned to cinema, starting with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). From there, he joined George Lucas on the original Star Wars (1977), creating iconic designs for many of the spacecraft in the space saga, including the X-Wing, TIE Fighter and Death Star. He then worked on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) and WarGames (1983), the latter earning him a BAFTA nomination as part of the Special Effects team.
Read Colin Cantwell's Guardian obituary
Read Colin Cantwell's Times obituary
