1. John Berkey was an American artist known for his space and science fiction themed works.
16 Facts About John Berkey
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John Berkey produced a large body of space fantasy artwork, producing utopian scenes of bubble-shaped, yacht-like spaceships.
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John Berkey has been described as "one of the giants in the history of science fiction art".
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John Berkey was born in Edgeley, North Dakota, in 1932.
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In 1950, John Berkey graduated from high school and went on to study at the Minneapolis School of Art.
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John Berkey made his mark in science fiction publishing with his cover art for Ballantine Books' 1972 reprint of the STAR Science Fiction series.
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John Berkey continued to paint space exploration subjects, including Skylab and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
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John Berkey declined an invitation from Stanley Kubrick to work on the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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In 1974, John Berkey was commissioned to render the key art for The Towering Inferno, which became the largest grossing film of 1974.
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John Berkey was commissioned by Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox in 1976 to provide some of the first poster art for Star Wars.
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John Berkey said of the poster in an interview, "It was the first time that I was asked to paint fictional space crafts not of my own design".
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John Berkey revisited the Star Wars universe in 1983 when he was commissioned to provide the cover artwork for the Atari video game, Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle.
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John Berkey nevertheless went on to design 15 other postage stamps, including the 1991 Christmas stamp featuring an illustration of Santa Claus.
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In 1999, John Berkey received the Spectrum Award for Grand Master.
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John Berkey was Artist Guest of Honor at Minicon 35 in 2000.
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John Berkey died of heart failure on April 28,2008, at his home in Excelsior, Minnesota.