Greg Hildebrandt

Greg Hildebrandt (January 23, 1939 - October 31, 2024)^[1] was an artist who commonly worked with his twin brother, Tim Hildebrandt. Together, they are usually known as the Brothers Hildebrandt. They are perhaps best known for their design of one of the earliest theatrical release posters for Star Wars in 1977.

Greg differed from his identical twin brother by growing moustache and beard.^[3]

Biography[]

In 1977 the Hildebrandt brothers were approached by 20th Century Fox to produce poster art for the British release of Star Wars, only ten days before the opening.^[3] A promotional poster had already been produced in US by the artist Tom Jung, but Fox executives considered this poster "too dark". The twins had to work to a very tight deadline, and worked together in shifts to produce a finished product in 36 hours. Their version of the poster, referred to as Style B, was distributed to be used on British cinema billboards for the UK release, and became possibly their best known work. Using the same layout as Jung's Style A poster, it depicts Luke Skywalker standing in a heroic pose brandishing a shining lightsaber above his head, with Princess Leia standing below him, and a large, ghostly image of Darth Vader's helmet looming behind them. The central figures are surrounded by smaller depictions of other characters and a montage of starfighters in combat amid a sea of stars. Both Jung and the Hildebrandts had worked on their posters without reference to photographs of the actual cast, and Fox and Lucasfilm subsequently decided that they wanted to promote the new film with a less stylised and more realistic depiction of the lead characters. Producer Gary Kurtz commissioned the film poster artist Tom Chantrell to paint a new version from film stills and publicity photos. Star Wars opened in British theatres on 28 November 1977, and the Hildebrandts' poster was displayed in UK cinemas for about two months before it was replaced by Chantrell's Style C poster.^[4][5]

The Hildebrandts were present at the San Diego Comic-Con 1995, marking their return to the Star Wars universe, with the illustration of a cover for Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 5 and the 1996 Topps Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire series of trading cards, part of the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project.^[3] His children Gregory and Mary Hildebrandt, and his daughter-in-law Olga, posed in various production photos for the card set.^[6]

During the Shadows project, the brothers visited LucasArts, where Jon Knoles demonstrated for them the video game adaptation.^[7]

Sources[]

• The Star Wars Album
• The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
• Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt
• "Blaster" · — Star Wars Insider 152

Notes and references[]

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