Drew Struzan, the acclaimed artist responsible for capturing the essence of adventure and wonder in approximately 200 movie posters, passed away on October 13th at his Pasadena, California residence. He was 78. His exceptional talent for realistic portraiture and imaginative compositions graced films by legendary directors such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Frank Darabont.
His wife, Dylan, confirmed that Alzheimer’s disease was the cause of his death.
Struzan’s iconic artwork promoted many of the most beloved films of the last fifty years. His portfolio includes seven “Star Wars” installments, four of the five “Indiana Jones” adventures, the entire “Back to the Future” trilogy, the heartwarming “E.T. the Extraterrestrial” (1982), “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001), and numerous “Muppet” films.
Known for his unique blend of airbrushed acrylics, expansive brushstrokes, and detailed colored pencil work, Struzan had a remarkable ability to capture a film’s spirit without revealing its plot twists.
“I look for the best pictures I can find of the actors and scenes,” Struzan explained in a 2021 interview. “I look for the color palette. Then I design a composition that is open-ended. Not closed-ended, saying, ‘This is what you have to think about this.’”
For “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), Struzan employed warm sepia tones, crafting side-by-side portraits of a nonchalant Indy (Harrison Ford) and his father, Henry (Sean Connery), who casts a curious glance at his son. Below them, a dynamic scene shows Indy in pursuit on horseback, while smaller portraits of distinct characters adorn each of the poster’s four corners.
“We’ve had to live up to Drew’s art,” commented Steven Spielberg, director of four Indiana Jones films and “E.T.,” in the 2013 documentary “Drew: The Man Behind the Poster.”
Spielberg recounted presenting an early rendition of Struzan’s artwork for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008) to his cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, with the directive: “Now you’ve got to make sure that Harrison looks as good as that picture.”
Struzan is widely celebrated as one of cinema’s most significant poster artists, standing alongside giants like Robert Peak, Bill Gold, and Renato Casaro (who passed away in September). His work also shares lineage with the anonymous masters who pioneered vibrant stone lithograph posters from the silent film era through the 1940s.
“What Struzan did that was so revolutionary was that he brought back painterliness to posters,” noted Dwight Cleveland, a renowned poster collector and author of “Cinema on Paper” (2019). Cleveland further explained that while Robert Peak was a talented painter from the comic book tradition, Struzan’s approach was distinctly more realistic.
For John Carpenter’s chilling 1982 film, “The Thing,” which depicted a shape-shifting alien tormenting researchers in Antarctica, Struzan recounted being commissioned for a poster on very short notice with minimal details. In the 2013 documentary, he recalled the only guidance given was, “Remember the movie ‘The Thing’ from the 1950s? That was it.”
“I couldn’t show an actor or a location or anything,” he elaborated.
His ingenious solution featured a faceless, parka-clad figure on a frozen expanse, emanating mysterious rays of light from its head. This striking visual was inspired by a photograph of Struzan himself, posed by his wife in a winter coat with outstretched arms.
“He’s obviously standing in the cold and the snow and he has some lights coming out of his face,” Struzan told SlashFilm. “And that’s the thing you can’t understand. Hopefully the response is, ‘I’ve got to go see this movie and find out what this is about.’”
Born Howard Drew Struzan on March 18, 1947, in Oregon City, Oregon, he relocated with his family to Northern California at the age of four. His father, Wayne, worked as a real estate broker, while his mother, Bette (Miller) Struzan, managed a See’s candy store in Palo Alto.
Drew’s extraordinary drawing talent was apparent from a very young age, even on unconventional canvases like toilet paper. By age five, his artistic prowess was so notable that researchers from Stanford University collected some of his early works for study.
“To this day, I don’t know what they were studying,” he later recounted to SlashFilm. “I guess I was unusual, but those of us who are freaks in this way still have a gift to give.”
Despite his prodigious talent, Struzan expressed feeling unloved by his parents, stating in the documentary, “they didn’t like me; they were afraid of me for some screwy reason.” He left home after high school. Although he attempted to return after one term at the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles (where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1970), he recalled, “they locked me out of the house so I never went back.”
During his college years, he supported himself by selling paintings to peers, often sacrificing meals to purchase art supplies. In 1968, while still a student, he married Cheryle Dylan Hubeart, whom he had met two years prior at a San Jose dance, finding enduring love.
Post-graduation, Struzan joined the design studio Pacific Eye & Ear, where he lent his artistic touch to album covers for notable artists like the Bee Gees and Alice Cooper. For Cooper’s 1975 album, “Welcome to My Nightmare,” Struzan famously depicted the shock rocker as a dapper figure in a tuxedo and tails, eschewing his typical ghoulish persona.
The album’s striking image, amplified into a billboard, caught the eye of film marketer Tony Seiniger. Seiniger sought out Struzan, offering him his first foray into movie poster design—a collaboration that would lead to a prolific career.
His extensive album cover work also included creations for Black Sabbath’s “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and Carole King’s “Fantasy” in 1973, as well as Iron Butterfly’s “Scorching Beauty” in 1975.
Struzan transitioned into movie posters that same year with “The Black Bird,” a comedic homage to “The Maltese Falcon.” His poster for the film featured a whimsical, Norman Rockwell-esque illustration of star George Segal, portraying Sam Spade Jr., being pursued by a motley crew of eccentric characters.
By 1976, Struzan was fully immersed in movie poster design, creating art for films like “Futureworld,” “Car Wash,” and “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.” However, his true breakthrough arrived with his collaboration with artist Charles White III on a poster for “Star Wars” (later retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope”).
The groundbreaking “Star Wars” poster prominently featured large depictions of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia “swinging across the Death Star Chasm,” as described by Lucasfilm, creators of the expansive “Star Wars” universe. Smaller, equally recognizable portraits of other key characters—Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2D2, and C-3PO—completed the dynamic composition.
Following the immense success of that initial poster, Struzan cemented his status as the preferred artist for subsequent “Star Wars” films and the “Indiana Jones” franchise, both productions of Lucasfilm.
“His illustrations fully captured the excitement, tone and spirit of each of my films his artwork represented,” George Lucas stated posthumously. “His creativity, through a single illustrated image, opened up a world full of life in vivid color … even at a glance.”
Struzan himself often modeled for his Indiana Jones paintings, donning the recognizable fedora and bullwhip. Harrison Ford expressed his satisfaction with the portrayals, noting in the documentary, “It looks like me, but it’s invested with the nature and the character of Indiana Jones.”
Struzan’s “Back to the Future” posters are celebrated as a cohesive triptych. The first poster captures Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, anxiously glancing at his watch with one foot in the iconic time-traveling DeLorean. The “Back to the Future II” (1986) poster echoes this pose, with McFly now accompanied by scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), both checking their timepieces.
For “Back to the Future III” (1990), set in 1885, McFly and Doc maintain similar stances, though now clad in Old West attire and consulting antiquated timepieces. They are joined by Mary Steenburgen, who portrays Clara Clayton, the schoolteacher who becomes Doc’s love interest.
“It’s not just an ad, you know,” Michael J. Fox reflected in the documentary. “It’s the first notes of the piece. It’s the beginning of the story.”
Beyond his artistic legacy, Struzan is survived by his wife, Dylan, who managed his business; his son, Christian; two grandchildren; his sister, April Miller; and his brother, Bruce.
Struzan’s posters also significantly promoted Frank Darabont’s critically acclaimed films, “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) and “The Green Mile” (1999). Darabont, who even based the main character in his 2007 film “The Mist” on Struzan, told The Los Angeles Times in 2008 that Struzan “crafts a piece of art that honors your film instead of just merely trying to sell it.”
He further emphasized, “Seriously, for a filmmaker who really appreciates what poster art means, Drew doing your poster is like getting an award.”