Bruce Logan, an English cinematographer and effects artist on Star Wars: A New Hope and other Hollywood films, at 78 years old.
In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Logan’s wife Mariana Campos-Logan revealed he passed on April 10 following a “short illness.” Last week, Logan’s daughter Mary eulogized him on Instagram, remembering him as “a rebel with a camera, a pioneer with a story, and my personal hero. He was a visionary cinematographer, director, and visual effects pioneer. My dad didn’t just work on movies—he made magic.”
Born May 15, 1946, Logan began making animated films at 14 years old, which grew into visual effects by the time he was 19. In 2014, he credited his father Campbell, who directed several classical dramas for BBC, with teaching him how to employ a spilit-screen, his first-ever special effect. “My father told me that every frame of a film should be a perfect picture,” said Logan at the time. “He’s responsible for all my knowledge of film history and for introducing me to the films of all the great directors of the day, including Stanley Kubrick.”
Funnily enough, Kubrick was the first director to give Logan his first screen credit. At 19, he was brought on as a visual effects artist for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and worked under VFX supervisor Doug Trumbull. Across his 50-year career, Logan did VFX work for Batman Forever, Airplane, and the aforementioned Star Wars, where he was part of the second unit team that filmed the explosion of the Death Star. (He’s even technically part of Blade Runner, as his work on the unreleased Zabriski Pointe appeared in the opening titles for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi film.) His cinematography career includes the first Tron and The Incredible Shrinking Woman, plus music videos for Prince and Madonna. He also briefly tried his hand at film directing with 1986’s Vendetta.
Along with his wife and daughter, Logan is further survived by another child, Campbell.
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