Douglas Trumbull
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
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Special effects pioneer Douglas H. Trumbull (born 8 April 1942; age 66) from Los Angeles, California, was the director of special photographic effects on the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He served in the same capacity for the science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind (starring Teri Garr) and Blade Runner (starring Joanna Cassidy). He shared Academy Award nominations with the rest of his special effects team for all three films.
He first served as a special effects director on the 1968 sci-fi classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (starring Gary Lockwood) after working for NASA. In 1971, Trumbull directed the film Silent Running which built upon a number of special effects techniques developed for 2001. Silent Running though a critical success, was not a success at the box office ostensibly due to poor advertising. The plotline reflected the emerging ecology movement of the early 1970s, and is today regarded as a science fiction classic. Following Silent Running, he was a devloping partner in the Canadian sci-fi series The Starlost devised by writer Harlan Ellison, but eventually bowed out before the project went into production. In the mid 1970s he also served as a visual effects supervisor for The Towering Inferno (with a cast that included Gregory Sierra, Elizabeth Rogers, Paul Comi, George D. Wallace, and John Crawford).
In 1993, he won a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his concept of the first modern 65mm camera developed in 25 years, the CP-65 Showcase Camera System. He shared the award with three engineers. Turnbull also won a Saturn Award in 1980 for Best Special Effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. John Dykstra and Richard Yuricich shared that award with him.
He also produced and directed a few films, most notably the 1983 sci-fi thriller Brainstorm, starring Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actress Louise Fletcher and the aforementioned Silent Running.
