Audrey Piehl
Arts & Entertainment Editor
As any Sweet Charity stagehand could probably attest, it’s all about the people making strides behind the scenes. Silent to the audience but always evident within the creations they influence, these invisible inspirations are the driving force behind any imaginative work. One such under-appreciated muse was Ralph McQuarrie, a conceptual painter who designed some of the most iconic figures in cinema. Having sadly passed away on Mar. 3, I hope to honor his quiet genius, and by extension all those working diligently behind the curtains.
Born in 1929, he grew up on a farm in Montana before enlisting in the military during the Korean War. Fate served McQuarrie a second chance when he survived a shot to the head, and upon returning from the war, moved to California to study art. After a series of odd jobs including drawing for a dentistry firm, he was discovered to have a knack for concept art for film.
It was 1975 when George Lucas, a young filmmaker impressed by McQaurrie’s previous
work, approached him to illustrate certain scenes from the brutally rejected screenplay, Star Wars. What McQuarrie painted became the foundation for the first Star Wars film, from the character design of Darth Vader, to the majestic set design, to the Millennium Falcon’s trademark shape. “I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like. I really liked the idea, [but]I didn’t think the film would ever get made,” McQuarrie said in 1999.
After an enthusiastic new pitch of the film that incorporated McQuarrie’s far-seeing vision, 20th Century Fox took on the Star Wars saga. The entire world knows what happened next to Lucas’ story, but few know what happened to the artist behind its success. He continued to work on the next two Star Wars features, and many other movies including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, and Cocoon, the last of which earning him an Oscar in 1985.
His paintings depicted gritty future civilizations, contrasting sharply with the early 20th century, super-stylish view of the same thing. It was this sense of worldliness that not only gave Star Wars its distinctive look, but also acknowledged an imperfect 1970’s society, one tarnished by a publicly denounced Vietnam War.
A tragic struggle with Parkinson’s disease put an end to McQuarrie’s career, and though it eventually took his life at the age of 82, his legacy will live on through his revolutionary art that impacts culture around the globe.
