I learned the sad news at the grocery store. My son and I stopped by after his swim lesson with him still in his Star Wars-themed suit and rash shirt. (It was over 60F, he’s fine.) A sacker we know saw the shirt and asked if we’d heard the sad Star Wars news. The designer of the Death Star and the X-Wing had died.
I looked it up on getting home. Colin Cantwell had died at the age of 90. According to that Guardian article:
Cantwell was introduced [in 1974] by friends who worked on American Graffiti to a director, George Lucas, who invited him to work on his next film, Star Wars. Cantwell designed the prototypes for several ships in the Star Wars franchise, including the X-wing, TIE Fighter and the landspeeder, as well as the film’s iconic Death Star. He also created the design of the Tantive IV, the ship which Leia is attempting to outrun Vader in at the beginning of the first movie, which was originally intended to be the Millennium Falcon.
He also worked on models and effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
CNN noted that the designer’s website said he’d received the first Animation degree awarded by UCLA after convincing the institution to offer the program. From the CNN obit.:
Before Hollywood came calling he fulfilled his childhood passion for space by working at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, creating educational programs on recent developments in space exploration.
Cantwell began working with George Lucas in November 1974 — likely only days ahead of concept artist Ralph McQuarrie — on what would become Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). He was, quite possibly, the first employee hired on the Star Wars project. Coming from a varied design and space background, Cantwell was tasked with bringing Lucas’ ideas for various ships to life. His staggering number of designs and prototype models essentially formed the visual Star Wars starship lexicon, and include the X-wing, Y-wing (the first approved design, according to The Making of Star Wars), TIE fighter, Star Destroyer, Death Star, landspeeder, sandcrawler, and blockade runner (a design originally intended for the Millennium Falcon).
Cantwell is survived by his partner of 24 years, Sierra Dall.