Mitchell Hooks (1923-2013)
22nd March 2013
American illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who introduced Sean Connery to the world as 007 with his poster designs, has died aged 89
By MI6 Staff
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American artist and illustrator Mitchell Hooks, who gave the world their first look at a stylized Sean Connery as 007 on the 1962 'Dr. No' poster, died this week at the age of 89.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1923, Hooks served in the U.S. Military during the occupation of Germany post World War II before beginning his career as a freelance illustrator in New York City.
His work included painted paperback covers for Avon, Bantam Books, Dell Books, Fawcett Publications and others, and illustrations for magazines including Cosmopolitan, The Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's, and Woman's Day. He also illustrated romance novels, science fiction and crime fiction, such as the Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer, Peter Corris's Cliff Hardy and B.B. Johnston's Superspade series.
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Perhaps his best known work worldwide are his movie poster designs, especially his series of quad posters for the first James Bond film, 'Dr. No'. As well as creating a stylized illustrations of Sean Connery as James Bond for the UK quad poster, which would be used again for the later US theatrical campaign, he also drew the line-art illustrations that feature behind the colourful character poses. A lot of his work would be repurposed for the international posters.
Mitchell Hooks was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1999.
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