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[R.I.P.] Legendary Artist Bill Gold Designed the Posters for ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘Clockwork Orange’
The image of Father Merrin arriving at the MacNeil home is one of the most enduring in horror cinema, first seen on The Exorcist‘s original poster. That poster was designed by Bill Gold, whose art for The Exorcist and films like Deliverance, Casablanca, Dirty Harry, and A Clockwork Orange is as iconic as the films themselves.
Today we’re sad to report that Gold, one of the most legendary movie poster artists of all time, passed away at his home in Connecticut yesterday. Gold was 97.
Just a couple years back, Gold talked to AFI about The Exorcist‘s iconic poster, noting that he was specifically instructed to be as vague and spoiler-free as possible with the art.
“I’d been specifically told by William Friedkin and Warner Bros. that we must not use an image of the girl possessed, or show anything that had any hint of religious connotation,” Gold explained. “They were very concerned about that. Friedkin was very involved, and he and Warners rejected all our other comps. They knew what they wanted and certainly picked the right image, which was used all over the world. And the movie, at the time, became the biggest hit in Warners’ history.”
He continued, “I picked the still of the priest, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), arriving at the house in Georgetown for the exorcism with a briefcase in his hand because it struck a chord with me. When you looked at this still, you knew somehow that whatever is about to happen inside that house is not going to be good! I adapted it by taking a lot of the detail out of the photo and turning it into a design, and after that no one wanted to see anything else.”
Learn more about Gold’s life and prolific career over on THR.
We have learned the sad news this week that prolific horror author Ray Garton, who wrote nearly 70 books over the course of his career, has passed away after a battle with lung cancer.
Ray Garton was 61 years old.
Stephen King tweets, “I’m hearing that Ray Garton, horror novelist and friend, died yesterday. This is sad news, and a loss to those who enjoyed his amusing, often surreal, posts on Twitter.”
Ray Garton’s novels include Seductions, Darklings, Live Girls, Night Life, and Crucifax in the 1980s, followed in later decades by output including A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting, Trade Secrets, The New Neighbor, Lot Lizards, Dark Channel, Shackled, The Girl in the Basement, The Loveliest Dead, Ravenous, Bestial, and most recently, Trailer Park Noir.
Garton also wrote young adult novels under the name Joseph Locke, including the novelizations for A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master and The Dream Child. He also wrote the novelizations for Tobe Hooper’s Invaders from Mars and Warlock, as well as several books for the Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises.
Other young adult horror novels you may remember the name Joseph Locke from include Petrified, Kiss of Death, Game Over, 1-900-Killer, Vengeance, and Kill the Teacher’s Pet.
You can browse Ray Garton’s full bibliography over on his official website.
He wrote on his website when it launched, “Since I was eight years old, all I’ve wanted to be was a writer, and since 1984, I have been fortunate enough to spend my life writing full time. I’ve written over 60 books—novels and novellas in the horror and suspense genres, collections of short stories, movie novelizations, and TV tie-ins—with more in the works.”
“My readers have made it possible for me to indulge my love of writing and I get a tremendous amount of joy out of communicating with them,” Garton added at the time.
Ray Garton is survived by his longtime wife, Dawn.
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