Photo: Julian Herzog (Website) / CC BY 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Trumbull is, for me, one of the true visionaries of cinema, even if his name never carried the fame his images deserved. The Stargate sequence in 2001 alone would secure his place in film history, but then you remember he also shaped the look of Close Encounters and Blade Runner. He thought about the moving image as a sensory experience, not just a story delivery system, which is why he spent decades chasing higher frame rates and immersive formats. Silent Running proved he could direct, too. A relentless tinkerer who genuinely tried to expand what movies could do to your senses.
Overview
Douglas Trumbull (April 8, 1942 - February 7, 2022) was an American visual effects supervisor, director and inventor born in Los Angeles, California. A pioneer of cinematic special effects, he is best known for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Blade Runner. He also directed the films Silent Running and Brainstorm and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2010.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Douglas Trumbull
- Name (Japanese)
- ダグラス・トランブル
- Reading
- だぐらす・とらんぶる
- Born
- April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aries / Horse
- Origin
- Los Angeles, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- Film producer / Film director / Screenwriter
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2010 Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film producer — see all → · Film director — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.