Grant McCune
| Grant McCune |
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| Born |
(1943-03-27)March 27, 1943 |
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| Died |
December 27, 2010(2010-12-27) (aged 67)
Hidden Hills, California |
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| Occupation |
Special effects designer |
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Grant McCune (March 27, 1943 – December 27, 2010) was an American special effects designer whose entry into Hollywood was the uncredited creation of the great white shark in the 1975 film Jaws. His efforts there led to work on a series of major films, including his design of the robots in the Star Wars films, winning an Oscar in 1977 for his efforts in the first film in the series.
Biography
McCune was born on March 27, 1943, He attended California State University, Northridge where he earned his undergraduate degree in biology and met his future wife.[1][2] McCune was able to use his scientific training when he and Bill Shourt were hired in 1975 to work on creating the iconic shark in the movie Jaws, marking his start in Hollywood, though he was uncredited.[1] He was subsequently hired to work on the Star Wars movies as the franchise's chief model maker, responsible for the design details of the robots (such as R2-D2[3]) and alien characters in the films. He and his team earned an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 50th Academy Awards for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.[1] He received a second Oscar nomination for his work on the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. As a partner at Apogee Productions, McCune's work was featured in such films as Caddyshack and Die Hard before founding his own firm, which was hired to work on such movies as Speed and Spider-Man.[3]
Interviewed by Popular Mechanics magazine in 2009, McCune described how one uses a photographer's eye in designing miniatures, using perspective and surface details to make the objects appear as realistic as possible.[4]
A resident of Hidden Hills, California, McCune died at his home there of pancreatic cancer at the age of 67 on December 27, 2010. He was survived by his wife, Katherine, as well as by a daughter and a son.[1][3][5]
Filmography
- Star Wars (1977) - Death Star Gunner (uncredited)
References
- 1 2 3 4 Nordyke, Kimberly (December 29, 2010). "'Star Wars' Visual Effects Artist Grant McCune Dies". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Staff. "PASSINGS: Grant McCune, Roger Milliken: Grant McCune, a special effects artist who shared an Oscar for 'Star Wars,' dies at 67; Roger Milliken, a textile magnate who was among the richest in the U.S., dies at 95", Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- 1 2 3 Staff. "R2-D2 creator Grant McCune dies", CBC News, December 30, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Porges, Seth. "4 Questions for Star Wars Modelmaker Grant McCune", Popular Mechanics, October 1, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ↑ Staff (December 29, 2010). "Star Wars visual effects artist dies". Variety. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
External links
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| 1963-1980 |
- Emil Kosa, Jr. (1963)
- Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett, and Hamilton Luske (1964)
- John Stears (1965)
- Art Cruickshank (1966)
- L. B. Abbott (1967)
- Stanley Kubrick (1968)
- Robbie Robertson (1969)
- L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers (1970)
- Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett, Danny Lee (1971)
- L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers (1972)
- no award given (1973)
- Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, and Albert Whitlock (1974)
- Glen Robinson and Albert Whitlock (1975)
- Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, and Frank Van der Veer (1976)
- John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, and Robert Blalack (1977)
- Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, and Zoran Perisic (1978)
- H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling (1979)
- Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Bruce Nicholson (1980)
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| 1981-2000 |
- Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, and Joe Johnston (1981)
- Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren, and Kenneth F. Smith (1982)
- Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett (1983)
- Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Lorne Peterson, and George Gibbs (1984)
- Ken Ralston, Ralph McQuarrie, Scott Farrar, and David Berry (1985)
- Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, and Suzanne Benson (1986)
- Dennis Muren, William George, Harley Jessup, and Kenneth F. Smith (1987)
- Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones, and George Gibbs (1988)
- John Bruno, Dennis Muren, Hoyt Yeatman, and Dennis Skotak (1989)
- Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, and Alex Funke (1990)
- Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren, Jr., and Robert Skotak (1991)
- Ken Ralston, Doug Chiang, Doug Smythe, and Tom Woodruff, Jr. (1992)
- Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993)
- Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, and Allen Rall (1994)
- Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson, Neal Scanlan, and John Cox (1995)
- Volker Engel, Douglas Smith, Clay Pinney, and Joe Viskocil (1996)
- Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, Michael Kanfer (1997)
- Joel Hynek, Nicholas Brooks, Stuart Robinson, and Kevin Mack (1998)
- John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, and Jon Thum (1999)
- John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, and Rob Harvey (2000)
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| 2001-present |
- Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor, Mark Stetson (2001)
- Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2002)
- Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003)
- John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier (2004)
- Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor (2005)
- John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006)
- Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood (2007)
- Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron (2008)
- Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
- Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb (2010)
- Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning (2011)
- Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, and Donald R. Elliott (2012)
- Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013)
- Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher (2014)
- Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, and Andrew Whitehurst (2015)
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