Greg Hildebrandt, Famed ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and Marvel Artist, Dies at 85
Greg Hildebrandt, the admired artist and illustrator who created movie posters for the original Star Wars and Clash of the Titans, drew Marvel characters and designed iconic 1970s calendars that celebrated the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has died. He was 85.
Hildebrandt died in Denville, New Jersey, his son, Greg Jr., told The Hollywood Reporter. For the past five months, he had been dealing with a serious side effect from a heart medication.
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The artist, who frequently partnered with his late twin brother, Tim Hildebrandt, also illustrated covers for DC Comics and trading cards for an epic 1994 Marvel Masterpieces set; painted artwork for Dungeons & Dragons calendars; and designed covers for the 1981 Black Sabbath album Mob Rules and many LPs from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Without having access to film stills and publicity photos and given a very tight deadline by 20th Century Fox, the brothers painted the “Style B” poster for the U.K. release of Star Wars (1977), with Greg’s first wife, Diana Stankowski, serving as the model for Princess Leia.
“Incredibly, the first version of it — without the droids — was created in a feverish, nonstop effort over just 36 hours!” Greg told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. “George Lucas asked for the droids to be added and for our signatures to be larger. We made those changes at the ad agency, and off it went!”
A promotional poster for the U.S. release had already been created by Tom Jung, but execs thought it was too dark and asked the Hildebrandts for a revision.
Greg and Tim Hildebrandt were born in Detroit on Jan. 23, 1939. Their father, George, was a Chevrolet division chief, and their mother, Germaine, a homemaker. They started drawing comic books when they were 6.
“We had our own stories we would write,” Greg said in a 2017 interview. “Thankfully, our mother from an early age used to hammer into our heads that your imagination is the most valuable thing you have.”
They took a six-month class at the Meinzinger Art School in their hometown, began painting professionally in 1959 and worked for the Jam Handy Organization, an industrial film company in Detroit. There, they combined live-action and animation to tell the story of a medical relief ship in the award-winning film Technique for Life.
In 1963, the brothers moved to New York to work for Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and made documentary films chronicling world hunger and created art for Sheen’s weekly TV series, Life Is Worth Living.
For the Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy calendars that were published by Ballantine Books from 1976-78, “Tim would do some thumbnails and I would do some thumbnails or we would do them together and talk over each other’s shoulders,” he explained. “Then we would end up with a final drawing set-up and composition. We would then do a photo shoot with models and costumes. Then we did the final sketching.
“Tim would probably start one and I would start another final sketch. Then when it came to the painting phase, we literally both sat together on two sides — he would sit on one side and I would sit on the other, and we would paint at the same time on the same painting.”
After their success with the calendars, with Star Wars and with their poster for Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans (1981), the brothers opted to work separately.
Greg illustrated his own 1984 book, Greg Hildebrandt’s Favorite Fairy Tales; worked on cover artwork for Heavy Metal magazine; and illustrated Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Edgar Allan Poe, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Dracula and Phantom of the Opera books.
In 1999, he began work on a series of 1940s-’50s-style pin-up paintings — think women in retro clothes and settings — that he dubbed “American Beauties.”
After more than a decade working independently, the brothers reunited and created the 158-card Marvel Masterpieces set that depicted heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe. They continued together until Tim’s death in June 2006 at age 67.
Greg also painted Deadpool, Captain America vs. Hitler, Black Panther, Thor and other characters for Marvel.
One of his biggest fans was Michael Jackson; he once spent two weeks with the singer at his Neverland Ranch.
Hildebrandt’s last commercial painting will be published in the program for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s upcoming winter tour. He served as TSO’s exclusive artist for its album covers, tour programs and merchandise since 2003.
In addition to his son, survivors include Jean Scrocco, his wife of 15 years and partner for 33 (she started out as his agent in 1979); his daughter, Mary; his daughter-in-law, Jane, and son-in-law, David; his sister, Jane; and his kittens, Bonnie, Clyde, Katie and Charlie.
Hildebrandt “led a life of creative discipline and was the consummate professional,” his family said in a statement. “Every job was treated with the same level of professionalism. Greg lived his life in the pursuit of ‘getting it right.’”
Rhett Bartlett contributed to this report.
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