Roger Kastel, Poster Artist for The Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, and More, Has Passed Away

SWNN Probe · Nov 15, 2023

Roger Kastel, the creative genius behind such iconic movie posters as The Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, The Invisible Man, and many more, has passed away aged 91. While Kastel is most notably remembered for his Jaws movie poster design, he was also a prolific illustrator whose career spanned advertising, freelance, and book covers. He worked extensively with the publishing houses in New York, and this experience ultimately led him to his work in Hollywood.

Roger Kastel's poster for Empire Strikes Back

For more detail on Kastel's career, check out his biography below:

While still a student Roger had his first paperback book cover published in the 1960’s by Pocket Books (Simon Schuster). All told, Roger estimates that he has done over a 1,000 illustrations for various publishers. Also in the 1960’s, a painting of Roger’s won first prize from the National Fire Underwriters. This painting was made into a fire safety poster that was used for many years and had high visibility.

By the 1970’s Roger Kastel hit full stride as an artist, becoming one of the most well respected illustrators in the business, working for every major publishing house in New York.

If his work was not yet recognized globally that was about to change in a big way when he accepted the challenge of illustrating the paperback cover of Peter Benchley’s bestselling classic JAWS for Bantam Books. Universal Studios, so impressed by the work, purchased the right to use this image as the poster for the movie. This was the first time that a poster image became a merchandising product in itself. Forty years later Roger’s illustration is still as instantly recognized throughout the world as when it first exploded onto the scene.

Roger’s reputation as a top flight illustrator now made its way to Hollywood, and he was asked to paint the movie poster for George Lucas' highly anticipated sequel to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. This poster also became an instant classic and is considered one of the most influential movie posters every produced.
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Roger Kastel next to his famous poster for Jaws

Artist, Drew Struzan, who worked on posters for Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Back to the Future, and more, posted to X about his friend and colleague's passing:

https://twitter.com/DrewStruzan/status/1724819908192804941

Kastel was a native of White Plains, New York and worked in fine art and commissioned portraits towards the end of his career.

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Roger Kastel, Poster Artist for The Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, and More, Has Passed Away

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Roger Kastel, Poster Artist for The Empire Strikes Back, Jaws, and More, Has Passed Away

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