Television

Creator of ‘Star Wars’ X-wing and Death Star dies at 90

Ben - June 8, 2022

Colin Cantwell, the guy of the “Star Wars” spaceship, has passed away. He was 90 years old.

Sierra Dall, Cantwell’s partner, confirmed his death at his home in Colorado on Saturday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cantwell created the X-wing Starfighter, TIE fighter, and Death Star prototypes.

“2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and “WarGames” were among the films on which he worked.

Cantwell was born in 1932 in San Francisco. Cantwell earned a degree in animation from the University of California, Los Angeles, before working on Hollywood films. He also studied architecture at Frank Lloyd Wright’s school.

He worked on instructional programs about flights at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA in the 1960s. During the 1969 moon landing, Cantwell collaborated with NASA to provide information to Walter Cronkite.

Cantwell is the author of two science fiction books. Sierra Dall, his companion of 24 years, survives him.

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