RIP Roger Kastel

I have a sweet hardback copy of Jaws by Peter Benchley on my bookshelf. I've never read it. I don't know why I cherish it so much. I love the artwork though. I ought to turn it around so I can always see the cover instead of the spine.

The art may be why I have it. I surely have it because Jaws is one of my favorite movies. It's my favorite Steven Spielberg movie. And it's my third-favorite movie of all time period.

The art is truly awesome, but wait, the book I have is the version with the black cover, which is much less cool than the art that evenatually came around for the paperback version. That is the art that is legendary and legendarily terrifying and what would go on to be the movie poster, created by Roger Kastel, who has died at age 92. 

Kastel also created the movie poster art for The Empire Strikes Back, which places Han Solo and Princess Leia in the same pose as the leads in the poster for Gone With the Wind. Kastel also created paperback artwork for the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Judy Blume.

I really should still read that book. Or amybe I should grab the paperback and read that.

RIPs also go out to George Brown (the drummer of Kool & the Gang. I can't tell you how many times I spun my 45 of "Celebration" when I was a kid) and Dana Carvey's 32-year-old son Dex Carvey (who I don't know anything about but I sure appreciate his dad's comedy over the years, including the excellent podcast he currently does, Fly on the Wall, with David Spade).