Oscar-nominated effects artist Richard Alan Greenberg, who designed the main titles for 1978’s Superman: The Movie, has died. He was 71 years old.
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According to THR, Greenberg died on Saturday following a bout of appendicitis.
Greenberg, along with Stan Winston, Joel Hynek and his brother, Robert Greenberg, was Academy Award-nominated in 198 for best visual effects for the original Predator. He would build relationships and work with the same people repeatedly over the years, tackling Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero as well, and Superman: The Movie filmmaker Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon and Ladyhawke.
Greenberg’s iconic titles for Superman: The Movie have been endlessly imitated and parodied in the years since 1978, including within the DC Universe as some films have attempted to recapture the magic of those credits and failed.
In 1977, Greenberg and his brother started R/Greenberg Associates, and their first gig was those iconic Superman titles. The idea itself came easy, but execution with the limited technological resources of the time was a little trickier.
“We had no idea how to do it,” Greenberg told Art of the Title in a 2013 interview. “For about two weeks, we kept trying to figure it out.”
He figured it out quickly enough, though, and became one of the most sought-after resources for movies looking to make a statement with their opening credits, including Ridley Scott’s Alien and Altered States. He would continue to work on them for years, with notable hits including The Matrix and Edge of Darkness.
Greenberg also directed Little Monsters, a dark comedy for children starring Fred Savage and Howie Mandel, as well as a 1990 episode of HBO’s Tales From the Crypt, another comics property.
