Legendary poster artist Drew Struzan has passed away. Best known for shaping the visual identity of modern blockbusters, Struzan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago and had since withdrawn from public life.
Dubbed the “one-sheet wonder,” he became the go-to illustrator for directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, crafting the timeless poster art for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Wars: Special Edition, The Goonies, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
“Drew made event art,” Spielberg reflected. “His posters made many of our movies into destinations … and the memory of those movies—and the age we were when we saw them—always comes flashing back just by glancing at his iconic photorealistic imagery. In his own invented style, nobody drew like Drew.”
For a deeper look at his extraordinary career, the 2013 documentary Drew: The Man Behind the Poster traces his process and influence.
, Coming to America (1988), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Hook (1991), Hocus Pocus (1993), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Green Mile (1999), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), and Tales of Halloween (2015)…
His influence extended far beyond cinema. Struzan illustrated album covers for artists such as The Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, Earth, Wind & Fire, Roy Orbison, and Tony Orlando and Dawn. His cover for Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare was later named one of Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Album Covers of All Time.
A master of painted realism and narrative atmosphere, Struzan didn’t just advertise films—he distilled their spirit into single, unforgettable images.
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