Tom Chantrell
Tom Chantrell | |
---|---|
Brighton Rock (1947) The King And I (1956) Carry On Cleo (1964) The Sound of Music (1965) One Million Years B.C. (1966) Far From The Madding Crowd (1967) Star Wars (1977) | |
Spouse(s) | Alice Chantrell; Shirley How Har Lui |
Website | www |
Thomas William Chantrell (20 December 1916 – 15 July 2001) was a British illustrator and
Born the son of a circus performer in
Early life
Tom Chantrell was born in Ardwick, Manchester, the son of Emily and James Chantrell, 64-year-old trapeze artist and jazz musician. James had toured music halls around the world performing in a trapeze act called "The Fabulous Chantrells". Chantrell grew up in a family of girls, the youngest of nine children.[1][2][3]
Chantrell displayed an aptitude for commercial illustration when, at the age of five, he was asked by his teacher at Armitage Street School to paint a picture of the character Tom from Charles Kingsley's book The Water Babies; the teacher was so impressed by the young Chantrell's artwork that she paid him one penny for the painting.
At grammar school, Chantrell's artistic skills were fostered by his art teacher, and at the age of 13 he won a national competition run by the League of Nations to design a poster promoting disarmament. He left school aged 15 and went to Manchester Art College, but quickly became disillusioned and left soon after to enter employment.[1][4]
Career
Within days of leaving college in 1933, Chantrell found a position at a local advertising agency, Rydales, leaving a few months later to join another agency where he worked for about year. Chantrell's position ended after he was wrongly blamed for a substandard piece of work; after a violent disagreement with his manager, Chantrell was fired. Unable to find any more work in Manchester, Chantrell moved to London in 1934 to live with one of his sisters, Phyllis, in Hampstead.[4]
He took up work at a printing company, where he developed his skills in
Allardyce Palmer had just won accounts with two emerging
Military service
He continued with posters until
In the army, Chantrell developed a disdain for authority after one notable assignment to defuse a
1950s and 60s
In 1950 Batemans was bought out by Allardyce Palmer, and the merged agency continued to receive a lot of work through Warner Brothers' film distributor,
Chantrell worked for two leading
Chantrell designed many posters for the
In the 1960s Chantrell was often drawing artwork for 5 different films or double bills at one time.[10]
Among other films he designed the artwork for were Von Ryan's Express and The Anniversary.[citation needed]
Star Wars
In 1977 Chantrell was commissioned by
Chantrell was invited with his family to the
Chantrell's poster depicts a trio of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford's characters brandishing blaster guns, in a style that was inspired by Frank McCarthy's poster for The Dirty Dozen (1967).[13] Behind them, a large image of Darth Vader looms holding a lightsaber, surrounded by smaller characters and a montage of starfighters in combat. The poster is noted because Hamill points his weapon and looks directly towards the viewer.[14] Because of Chantrell's long association with Hammer productions, he included Peter Cushing on his poster; this was the only Star Wars theatrical poster that ever featured Cushing's likeness.[15]
Chantrell's posters were often produced prior to the film being made to raise money from investors, and he did not see the films he drew for; he would receive a plot line and a handful of stills and use friends and family for poses.[2] Examples of this were taking photographs of himself trying to look like a vampire for Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. In his work for Star Wars, although he had seen the film and had photographic references of the actors, he asked his wife Shirley to pose as a body model for Princess Leia in their back garden, wearing a dressing gown and holding a toy plastic sword.[5][16][17]
Chantrell's poster art for international releases of Star Wars featured in the Carol Titelman's 1979 book The Art of Star Wars, where he is credited as "Tom Cantrell".[18]
Later career
Chantrell's career dwindled from the early 1980s. His portfolio had mostly been built up working on posters for
In his later years his work found new appreciation with the growing interest in collecting film memorabilia.[2]
Personal life
Tom Chantrell married his first wife, Alice, shortly before the start of his military service in 1940. Together they had two children, Stephen and Sue. In 1962, while he was attending life drawing classes in
Chantrell died in hospital aged 84 on 15 July 2001 after suffering a heart attack.[20]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Branaghan, Sim (November 2011). "Biography: Tom Chantrell and the World of British Film Posters". Tom Chantrell Posters. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d Branaghan, Sim (27 July 2001). "Obituary: Tom Chantrell". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ Branaghan & Chibnall 2006, p. 135.
- ^ a b c Branaghan & Chibnall 2006, p. 136.
- ^ a b Branaghan, Sim. "Transcript of audio download of the British Film Posters lecture". National Museums Liverpool. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2017. (Audio recording of lecture)
- ISBN 9780786452064. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ Wigley, Samuel (23 November 2016). "Amicus and the art of the film poster". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-7407-5118-9. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
- ^ Gayomali, Chris (5 July 2011). "Top 10 Bikinis in Pop Culture". Time. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ a b tomchantrell
- ^ Dass, William (14 December 2016). "The History of Star Wars Posters". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ "A short history of the first British Star Wars posters". sci-fimovieposters.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
- ^ Branaghan & Chibnall 2006, p. 143.
- ISBN 9781599670041. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ISBN 9780810949683.
- ^ "Evolution of the Star Wars Poster". PhotoSecrets.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ Shannon, Eddie. "An interview with Shirley Chantrell". Film on Paper. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ISBN 9781852865832.
- ^ Branaghan & Chibnall 2006, pp. 142–144.
- ^ Branaghan & Chibnall 2006, p. 9.
- General sources
- Branaghan, Sim; Chibnall, Steve (2006). British film posters : an illustrated history. London: ISBN 9781844572212.
External links
- Official website
- Tom Chantrell at Brit Posters
- Tom Chantrell on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki