The world lost another legend in the world of genre film. Douglas Trumbull, director, visual effects artist, and three-time Oscar nominee has passed away at the age of 79. This news comes to us from his daughter, Amy, who wrote a tribute on her Facebook page.

My dad, Doug Trumbull died last night after a major two year battle with cancer, a brain tumor and a stroke. He was an absolute genius and a wizard and his contributions to the film and special effects industry will live on for decades and beyond.

If you’re a fan of science fiction in film, chances are you’ve come across Trumbull’s work. He was the son of Donald Trumbull, who developed the special effects for the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. Douglas had a skilled hand like his father and ended up landing his first job at Graphic Films, and his first visual effects credit is for a documentary short called To the Moon and Beyond. The film covered spaceflight for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The film caught the eye of Stanley Kubrick, who hired members of Graphic Films to work on his newest project. But when production moved to England, the contract had to be broken. Trumbull, however, wanted to keep working on the film. He contacted Kubrick personally, convincing the director to keep him on the project. That film ended up becoming 2001: A Space Odyssey. His responsibilities started with the animations for the data screens, which were created without the use of a computer. His most famous contributions to the film, however, were for the Star Gate sequence. Trumbull got the idea to use slit-scan photography from his background in street photography.

From Kubrick to Beyond

The Star Gate from MGM

Trumbull’s contributions to the film would essentially kickstart his career in special effects, leading him to his next project, The Andromeda Strain. The film followed a team of scientists as they investigated a mysterious deadly organism that may or may not be from this world. Trumbull’s work with the film perfected the techniques he developed from 2001.

Trumbull’s next step would be to step into the directing chair for 1971’s Silent Running. The film was based on an original idea. A botanist piloting a ship carrying the last of planet earth’s forests learns from bureaucratic higher-ups that the ships are to be destroyed; instead of following orders the botanist goes rogue and steers them into hiding. The project was shot on a shoestring budget of one million dollars, one-tenth of the budget of 2001. Again, Trumbull utilized a number of special effects he had developed over the years. The film achieved praise but was a flop at the box office, but Trumbull looked back fondly on the experience. The film has since gained a cult following.

After Silent Running, Trumbull’s career involved multiple contributions. In 1977 he worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where he is credited as Special Photographic Effects. His next project would be in 1979 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, for which he is credited with Special Photographic Effects Director.

At this point, Trumbull was getting a bit tired of dull grey spaceships. This helped director Ridley Scott lure him into working on Blade Runner, which features an iconic futuristic Los Angeles. The film follows a tired cop who agrees to hunt down a group of renegade androids that have gone into hiding. Many of the effects that were developed from Close Encounters were utilized for this film, which earned lots of praise from audiences and critics alike.

Trumbull’s career would shift from special effects to producer for the next few years, contributing to projects such as 1983’s Brainstorm. He would also direct numerous short films throughout the 80’s and 90’s for theme park rides, his most famous project from this era would be the Back to the Future Ride at Universal Studios. He wouldn’t step back to filmmaking until 2011, where he contributed to the special effects work on The Tree of Life. Director Terrence Malick was a fan of Trumbull’s work and approached him in the hopes of utilizing traditional, non-computer-generated effects for the project. While some corners were cut thanks to the use of a computer, the majority of the special effects were achieved from such techniques as filming chemical reactions in Petri dishes.

In his later years, Trumbull continued experimenting with new programs and techniques. His final special effects credit would be 2018’s The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot. He would also participate in the documentary Trumbull Land that same year.

There’s little that hasn’t already been said about the impact Trumbull has made on science fiction in cinema. Some of the most highly regarded of the genre wouldn’t have been the same without his contributions. Whether it’s an android hiding in plain sight, an alien ship blending into the night sky, or flying off into the unknown, Douglas Trumbull had a hand in making generations of audiences believe it could be true.