Roger Kastel Dies: Illustrator Behind Iconic ‘Jaws,’ ‘Empire Strikes Back’ Movie Posters Was 92
deadline.comRoger Karl Kastel, the illustrator behind some of the most memorable movie poster images of all time, has died. He passed away November 8, at age 92 in Worcester County, MA, according to the post on his official web site.
Kastel’s best-known work included imagery central to the posters for Jaws and The Empire Strikes Back. He also illustrated vivid book covers for the likes of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Jackie Collins’ Hollywood Wives and W.G Wells’ The Invisible Man.
His Jaws illustration was originally created for Peter Benchley’s novel on which the film was based. Describing the process of its creation, Kastel remembered, “I did a very rough sketch, and [the publisher] said, ‘That’s great, just make the shark realistic and bigger.
Make him very much bigger!'” It worked. Benchley’s book was a bestseller and Universal execs, knowing a good thing when they saw it, used Kastel’s art in the movie poster.
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