Colin Cantwell, Star Wars Spacecraft Designer, Passes
Colin Cantwell, the Star Wars spacecraft designer, passed away at 90 years old. Cantwell died on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at his home in Colorado. He is survived by Sierra Dall; Sierra was his partner for 24 years.
Photo: Disney
Professional Work
Cantwell designed several iconic Star Wars spacecraft including the X-wing Starfighter, TIE fighter, and Death Star; therefore, his most notable work was with George Lucas. In addition, Colin Cantrell created special photographic effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), technical dialogue for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and was a computer graphics design consultant for WarGames (1983).
Photo; Kent Phillips
Personal Life
Cantwell was born in San Francisco in 1932; however, he had medical conditions as a child. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis and partial retinal detachment.
Hence, the doctors confined him to a dark room while wearing a heavy vest in order to stop his coughing fits. Cantwell said, “I spent nearly two years of my childhood immobilized in this dark room. Suffice to say, nothing else could slow me down after that!”
Young Adulthood and Early Work
Cantwell earned a degree in animation from the University of California, Los Angeles. Also, Frank Lloyd Wright invited him to his School of Architecture.
In the 1960s, Colin Cantwell worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. There, he created educational programs to teach others about flights.
In addition, Colin Cantwell wrote two science fiction novels. He titled the novels CoreFires 1 and CoreFires 2.
Photo: Marvel/Flickering Myth
Fun Facts
Impressively, Cantwell worked on the communications line between NASA and astronauts during the 1969 moon landing broadcast. Cantwell provided updates to Walter Cronkite, and Cronkite informed the public on live TV.
Photo: nasa.gov
Another interesting fact is that Cantwell’s programming on WarGames led him to programming software. Therefore, this software allowed Hewlett Packard to transition from only a few colors to 5,000 colors.
Photo: NASA
Our Condolences
MickeyBlog is sad to hear about the loss of this iconic individual who made such an impact on space education, architecture, and entertainment. Indeed, Colin Cantwell will be missed!
Article Information: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/
Photo: Jerod Harris
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