John Alvin, the legendary poster designer for such films as Aladdin, Blade Runner, Enchanted, Blazing Saddles, Beauty and the Beast, and E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, died February 6th in Rhinebeck, New York, of a sudden heart attack. He was 59 years old.
Alvin was born November 24th, 1948 in Hyannis, Massachusetts. An Army child, his family moved many times before finally settling down in Monterey, California. Alvin's interest in movie art was evident even as a child, when he would look through the Sunday newspapers to check out the ads.
John Alvin's First Poster Was For Blazing Saddles
In 1971, he graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He worked as a freelance animator for three years before getting his big break, when he was invited to design the poster for Mel Brooks' 1974 hit, Blazing Saddles.
Alvin depicted of Brooks as a Yiddish Indian Chief (with "Kosher for Passover" on his headdress) against a penny with the words, "Hi, I'm Mel. Trust Me." The image was an instant hit with both moviegoers and the industry. Brooks loved the painting so much that he immediately commissioned Alvin to design the poster for his other 1974 comedy, Young Frankenstein.
Alvin immediately shot to the first rank of poster designers, creating concept art for such films as Blade Runner, Cocoon, The Lost Boys, Predator, The Princess Bride, Gremlins, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Jurassic Park. He created posters for more than 135 films, spread out over 3 decades.
In 1983, Alvin won the Saturn Award for his iconic poster for Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Spielberg suggested the design for the image, which was based on Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Alvin used his daughter Farah as the model for the human hand in the poster.
Alvin received another kudo when his poster for Brian De Palma's 1974 flop The Phantom of the Paradise was exhibited in the Smithsonian Museum. It was called one of the best posters of the Twentieth Century.
Alvin Created Iconic Images for Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast
He worked a lot with Walt Disney Animation, creating poster art for films like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Mulan.
"There was a reason why The Lion King did the numbers that it did," John Sabel, then the executive vice president of creative print advertising at Walt Disney Pictures, told the Los Angeles Times. "There was a reason why The Hunchback of Notre Dame became a big success. It's because of the images that were produced, and a lot of those were John Alvin's paintings."
Towards the end of his career, Alvin's work shifted from posters to cinematic fine art, as posters as advertising was usurped in favour of Internet campaigns. However, he was still active, designing posters for the first two Harry Potter films, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and all three Lord of the Rings movies. One of his last jobs was designing the concept art for Walt Disney's Enchanted.
John Alvin is survived by his wife Andrea, their daughter Farah (a Broadway actress), and his sister Suzanne.
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