Marc Thorpe, ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Star Wars’ VFX Artist, Dies at 77
variety.comMichaela Zee Marc Thorpe, the visual effects artist who worked on several “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” films before launching the bot battling competition Robot Wars, has died.
He was 77. Thorpe died Friday of complications related to Parkinson’s Disease, his daughter Megan Feffer shared on Facebook. “For him, early onset Parkinson’s disease started out with relatively mild tremors and then over time progressed toward less and less bodily autonomy — something particularly torturous for a fiercely independent artist like my dad whose joy in life was to create things with his hands,” Feffer wrote. “While the disease itself is not technically considered terminal, it does eventually remove crucial functions like movement and swallowing – functions essential for life,” she continued. “To say the last few months, and especially the last few weeks, were challenging for my dad would be an understatement, and I am grateful that he is finally at peace.” Thorpe joined George Lucas’ visual effects company, Industrial Light and Magic, in 1979 as a model maker and animatronic designer, and served as a member of the optical effects unit on the 1980 “Star Wars” film, “The Empire Strikes Back.” Thorpe worked on visual effects for “Return of the Jedi” (1983), as well as the first three “Indiana Jones” movies: “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), “The Temple of Doom” (1984) and “The Last Crusade” (1989).
He also contributed to such films as “Dragonslayer” (1981), “Poltergeist” (1982), “Explorers” (1985), “Howard the Duck” (1986) and “The Hunt for Red October” (1990).
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