The “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” artist was 85 years old

Greg Hildebrandt, the admired artist and illustrator who created the movie posters for the original Star Wars AND Clash of the Titanshe designed marvel characters and designed iconic 70s calendars celebrating the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is dead. He was 85 years old.

Hildebrandt died in Denville, New Jersey, his son, Greg Jr., said. The Hollywood journalist. For the past five months he had been dealing with a serious side effect of a heart medication.

The artist, who frequently collaborated with his late twin brother, Tim Hildebrandt, also illustrated covers for DC Comics and trading cards for an epic 1994 Marvel Masterpieces set; works of art painted for Dungeons and dragons calendars; and designed the covers for Black Sabbath's 1981 album Mafia rules and many Trans-Siberian Orchestra LPs.

Without 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 UK release of Star Wars (1977), with Greg's first wife, Diana Stankowski, serving as the model for Princess Leia.

“Amazingly, the first version, without the droids, was created in a feverish, non-stop effort in just 36 hours!” Greg told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. “George Lucas asked that the droids be added and that our signatures be bigger. We made these changes at the ad agency and off we went!”

A promotional poster for the US release had already been created by Tom Jung, but executives thought it was too dark and asked the Hildebrandts for a revision.

The Hildebrandt brothers' “Style B” poster for the 1977 UK release of Star Wars.

20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./Courtesy of Everett Collection

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt were born in Detroit on January 23, 1939. Their father, George, was a Chevrolet division chief and their mother, Germaine, a homemaker. They started drawing comics at the age of 6.

“We had our own stories that we would write,” Greg said in a 2017 interview. “Thankfully, our mother from an early age hammered into our heads that your imagination is the most precious thing you have.”

They took a six-month course 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 rescue 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 artwork for Sheen's weekly TV series, Life is worth living.

For Tolkien The Lord of the Rings trilogy calendars published by Ballantine Books from 1976 to 1978, “Tim would do some miniatures and I would do some miniatures or we would do them together and talk about them over each other's backs,” he explained. “Then we would end up with the setup and composition of the final drawing. Then we will do a photo shoot with models and costumes. Then we made the final sketch.

“Tim would probably start one and I would start another final sketch. Then, when the painting phase came, we literally both sat on two sides: he would sit on one side and I would sit on the other, and we would paint on the same painting at the same time.

After the success with calendars, with Star Wars and with their poster for Ray Harryhausen Clash of the Titans (1981), the brothers chose to work separately.

A poster for the 81s Clash of the Titanswith Harry Hamlin and Judi Bowker.

MGM/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Greg illustrated his 1984 book, Greg Hildebrandt's Favorite Fairy Tales; worked on the cover of Heavy metal magazine; and the illustrated books of The Wizard of Oz, Aladdin, Robin Hood, Edgar Allan Poe, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera.

In 1999, he began working on a series of '40s- and '50s-style pin-up paintings — think women in retro clothing and settings — that he dubbed “American Beauties.”

After more than a decade of independent work, the brothers reunited and created the 158-card Marvel Masterpieces set featuring heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. They continued together until Tim's death in June 2006 at the age of 67.

Greg has also painted Deadpool, Captain America vs Hitler, Black Panther, Thor and other Marvel characters.

One of his biggest fans was Michael Jackson; once spent two weeks with the singer at his Neverland Ranch.

Hildebrandt's latest commercial painting will be released in the program of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's upcoming winter tour. Since 2003 he has been TSO's exclusive artist for album art, tour programs and merchandise.

In addition to his son, surviving are Jean Scrocco, his wife of 15 years and partner of 33 (she started as his agent in 1979); his daughter, Mary; his daughter-in-law, Jane, and son-in-law, David; his sister, Jane; and her kittens, Bonnie, Clyde, Katie and Charlie.

Hildebrandt “led a life of creative discipline and was a consummate professional,” his family said in a statement. “Every job was treated with the same level of professionalism. Greg lived his life trying to “do things right.”

Rhett Bartlett contributed to this report.

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