Ron Cobb, cartoonist and creator of some of cinema's most iconic designs, had died at the age of 83. His wife of 48 years, Robin Love, broke the news that Cobb passed away on Monday, Sept 21 (his 83rd birthday) in his adopted hometown of Sydney.
Born in Los Angeles in 1937, Ron Cobb started as an inbetweener animator for Disney at the age of 18, progressing to breakdown artist for Sleeping Beauty in 1959. In 1960, Cobb was drafted into the US Army where he served as a draughtsman for the Signal Corps in Vietnam.
On his return to the U.S. in 1965, Cobb worked as a freelance artist contributing political cartoons to the Los Angeles Free Press underground paper and designing album covers for Jefferson Airplane before emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 1972. Eventually Cobb was enlisted to design the alien patrons for Star Wars' cantina scene and soon became one of the most demanded production designers with a string of credits that included Alien, Conan the Barbarian, The Last Starfighter, Total Recall and True Lies among others. But it was his preliminary work on the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future that remains his most recognizable work, helping shape the iconic look of one of cinema's coolest cars ever.
Along with his production design work, Ron Cobb also wrote an episode of the 1987 Twilight Zone revival and the FMV science fiction game Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine. Cobb also directed the 1992 Australian comedy Garbo, written by and starring comedians Neill Gladwin and Steve Kearney.
Though his work was often uncredited or just at the early stages of production, it's impossible to imagine cinema without some of Ron Cobb's designs, which were so vivid and awe inspiring.
For more info on Ron Cobb and his work, visit his website.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter