Bill Gold dead at 97. The film poster is one of the only original forms of marketing still employed by movie studios and distribution companies, and this past weekend we lost one of the greats. Bill Gold, the creator of some of the iconic movie posters of the last eight decades, passed away at the age of 97.
Bill Gold dead at 97
Legendary poster designer Bill Gold dead at 97.
Gold started his career at Warner Bros. in the 1940s and over the many decades that followed, created some of the most iconic works ever to grace the front of movie houses around the world. Gold, who passed away peacefully in his home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, was the man behind the likes of Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, 1955’s East of Eden, Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch), Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Martin Scorsese modern classic GoodFellas.
Bill Gold dead at 97
He’s the man who also consistently worked with Clint Eastwood, making the one-sheet posters for many of his films, including Dirty Harry(1971), The Enforcer (1976), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), The Gauntlet(1977), Pale Rider(1985) and Unforgiven(1992). His later works for Eastwood included Mystic River in 2003, and then J.Edgar (2011), his last work before he officially retired.
Related: Two new posters for Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar released
“With Bill, I knew he would bring great ideas, and the poster he created would be one less thing we had to think about,” Eastwood said in the 2010 book ‘Bill Gold PosterWorks’ (via The Hollywood Reporter). “He respected the film, he respected the story, and he always respected what we were trying to accomplish.
“Four of the films he worked on won best picture Oscars, including Unforgiven. The first image you have of many of your favorite films is probably a Bill Gold creation.”
Bill Gold dead at 97
Other works include Casablanca, A Clockwork Orange, and The Exorcist.
