Douglas Trumbull, VFX Pioneer on ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Star Trek,’ Dies at 79

Trumbull was a three-time Oscar nominee and won an honorary award from the Academy in 2012

Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Trumbull in 2013/Getty Images

Douglas Trumbull, a legendary film pioneer of visual effects who worked on “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Blade Runner” and the first “Star Trek” movie, has died. He was 79.

Trumbull’s death was announced by his daughter in a Facebook post. He died Monday night after “a two-year battle with cancer, a brain tumor and a stroke,” she said.

“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,” Amy Trumble wrote. “My sister Andromed and I got to see him on Saturday and tell him that he [sic] love him and we got to tell him to enjoy and embrace his journey into the Great Beyond.

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