He was a by God pro. He elevated everything he was ever in. Great actor, equally skilled at comedy and drama.
He was a good man, a kind man... he was one third of Darth Vader. Strange epitaph. It was nice that Mark Hamill came forward some years ago and mentioned, in interviews, who Bob Anderson was, and the contributions he made to the original STAR WARS films. As if David Prowse ever would...
This guy was super-knowledgeable; a real expert on his chosen subject and he's the major reason any action sequence with swords that you love is worth loving. He'll be missed.
Already posted this in the other Mr. Anderson threads, BUT, since he had several acting roles and was a fencer, he should have played Dooku in the prequels. Watching the TESB duel invokes a whole new level of respect for him. Mr. Anderson was nearly sixty when he climbed into a hot, claustrophobic costume designed for a man several inches taller than him (and quite a lot heavier) ...and proceeded to establish Darth Vader as an incredible swordsman with far, far more ability with a blade than we'd given him credit for. The first few moves of that duel are just beautiful; Luke tries these two big, slashing baseball-bat swings...and Vader barely even moves and completely blocks both of them.
Bummer. I love The Final Countdown! I should have listed that in the guilty pleasure thread. Watching F-14s taking down Mitsubishi Zeros is deeply satisfying on a lizard brain level.
We also lost Nicol Williamson, one of the great cinematic Sherlock Holmes...es. And a fruity Merlin, to boot.
Ralph McQuarrie passed away today. From Steve Sansweet's facebook: "THE DEATH OF AN ICON: I?m sorry to report that RALPH McQUARRIE, the brilliant concept artist who brought George Lucas? ideas and story of Star Wars to amazing visual life, died earlier today (Saturday March 3) at his home in Berkeley, California, after a long illness. He was 82 years old. Plans for a memorial service are pending. Ralph was not only a superb artist, but a fascinating story teller. He was quiet and self-effacing, but became the perfect partner for Lucas to get his initial Star Wars movies look as striking as they did. Ralph is survived by the love of his life, his wife Joan, who was always his strongest champion. I met them both in the early 1990s when I was working on my first Star Wars book and I want to express my personal condolences to Joan and all of their many friends."
The loss of a true great. The importance of his role in bringing the SW galaxy to us cannot be underestimated. He defined so much of it's look and was instrumental in getting the film made. Plus, his work formed the basis of the ESB Teaser Trailer[/luink]. When has any concept art managed that before or since?
What an unfathomable influence that man had been on so many peoples' imaginations. Probably the greatest film artist ever. Even when you've seen what he designed realised on film, that original work still etches itself in your memory just as much as the film would or does. RIP.
The Art Of Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back/Return Of The Jedi books are just amazing to look at; the man had such an incredible eye for detail and movement. Truly a sad day.
A visionary artist who helped a visionary filmmaker. Lucas was smart. He knew 20th Century Fox wouldn't be able to visualize Star Wars from the screenplay so instead he hired McQuarrie to do some artwork. Lucas paid for the paintings out of his own pocket and it was a wise investment. The rest is history. With the passing of McQuarrie, I will make a prediction. There are four individuals involved with movies whose passing will evoke masssive, world-wide grief. Lucas, Spielberg, Harrison Ford and John Williams. Not that there aren't other people associated with filmmaking who will not cause a big reaction, but when each of these four men shake off this mortal coil, it's gonna be the biggest news story in the world.
I think Lucas is hugely unappreciated, so I don't think his death would be as big as Spielberg's or Harrison Foard's. For a start, a lot of people who have never seen Star Wars don't know who Lucas is, pretty much everyone has heard of Spielberg even if they aren't sure which films he made.
A lot of celebrities have passed away while we were on the Temp boards. Here are some that I can think of right now. Dick Clark (b. 1929) Donna Summer (b. 1948) Robin Gibb (b. 1949) Adam Yauch (b. 1964) Eduard Khil (b. 1934) Ray Bradbury (b. 1920) Tony Scott (b. 1944) Sally Ride (b. 1951) Sage Stallone (b. 1976) Ernest Borgnine (b. 1917) Phyllis Diller (b. 1917) Neil Armstrong (b. 1930) Jerry Nelson (b. 1934) Michael Clarke Duncan (b. 1957)
