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IMDbPro

Ron Cobb(1937-2020)

  • Additional Crew
  • Art Department
  • Production Designer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Ron Cobb
Post
Play trailer1:24
The Alien Legacy (1999)
1 Video
2 Photos
Artist, writer, film conceptual designer, and cartoonist Ron Cobb was born in 1937 in Los Angeles, California. Cobb began his career in the mid-1950's as an inbetweener/breakdown artist on the classic Walt Disney animated feature "Sleeping Beauty." Ron was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1960 and served in the Signal Corps during the Vietnam war in 1963. Following his tour of duty Cobb became a political cartoonist for the L.A. Free Press, which lasted from 1965 to 1970. He designed the cover for the Jefferson Airplane album "After Bathing at Baxter's." In 1969 Ron designed the international symbol for Ecology. In 1972 he moved to Sydney, Australia. Cobb's first film assignment was designing the spaceship exterior for John Carpenter's science fiction cult comedy "Dark Star." Ron was the production designer on the movies "Conan the Barbarian" (Cobb also has an uncredited bit part in this particular picture), "The Last Starfighter," and "Leviathan." Among the films Cobb made conceptual contributions to are "Star Wars," "Alien," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Special Edition," "Back to the Future," "Real Genius," "Aliens," "The Abyss," "Total Recall," "True Lies," "Space Truckers," "The Sixth Day," "Titan A.E.," and "Southland Tales."

Moreover, Ron designed the opening credits sequence for the anthology TV series "Amazing Stories" and wrote the "Shelter Skelter" episode of the mid-1980's revival of "The Twilight Zone." In addition, Cobb originated the story for "Night Skies," a darker earlier version of "E.T." which alas never got made. He directed the comedy "Garbo" in 1990. Outside of his film and television work, Ron did designs and wrote scenarios for several video games. His illustrations were published in the books "RCD-25," "Mah Fellow Americans," "Raw Sewage," "The Cobb Book," "Cobb Again," and "Colorvision." Cobb lived in Sydney, Australia with his wife Robin Love and son Nicky. He died at age 83 from lewy body dementia on September 21, 2020.
BornSeptember 21, 1937
DiedSeptember 21, 2020(83)
BornSeptember 21, 1937
DiedSeptember 21, 2020(83)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 2 wins

Photos

Ron Cobb

Known for

Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Conan the Barbarian
6.9
  • Production Designer
  • 1982
Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens (1986)
Aliens
8.4
  • Art Department
  • 1986
The Abyss (1989)
The Abyss
7.5
  • Art Department
  • 1989
The 6th Day (2000)
The 6th Day
5.9
  • Art Department
  • 2000

Credits

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IMDbPro

Additional Crew

  • The Alien Legacy (1999)
    The Alien Legacy
    • archival material
    • Video
    • 1999
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies (1994)
    True Lies
    • logo designer: Omega Sector
    • 1994
  • PoV (1990)
    PoV
    • concept development
    • Video
    • 1990
  • Kevin Costner, Harvey Keitel, Charlie Sheen, Christopher Lloyd, and John Lithgow in Amazing Stories (1985)
    Amazing Stories
    • title designer
    • TV Series
    • 1985–1987
  • Val Kilmer in Real Genius (1985)
    Real Genius
    • laser technology
    • 1985
  • Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (1985)
    Back to the Future
    • consultant: DeLorean time travel
    • 1985

Art Department

  • District 9 (2009)
    District 9
    • Concept artist (uncredited)
    • 2009
  • Bai Ling, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jon Lovitz, Wallace Shawn, Seann William Scott, Justin Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson, Mandy Moore, and Cheri Oteri in Southland Tales (2006)
    Southland Tales
    • conceptual artist
    • 2006
  • Adam Baldwin, Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, Jewel Staite, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, and Summer Glau in Firefly (2002)
    Firefly
    • conceptual artist
    • TV Series
    • 2002
  • The 6th Day (2000)
    The 6th Day
    • assistant art director
    • 2000
  • Drew Barrymore and Matt Damon in Titan A.E. (2000)
    Titan A.E.
    • conceptual artist
    • 2000
  • Space Truckers (1996)
    Space Truckers
    • conceptual artist
    • 1996
  • The Gate to the Mind's Eye (1994)
    Enertopia Symphony
    • concept designer
    • Short
    • 1993
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)
    Total Recall
    • conceptual artist
    • 1990
  • The Rift (1990)
    The Rift
    • conceptual artist (uncredited)
    • 1990
  • Robot Jox (1989)
    Robot Jox
    • conceptual designer (uncredited)
    • 1989
  • The Abyss (1989)
    The Abyss
    • conceptual designer
    • 1989
  • Meet the Hollowheads (1989)
    Meet the Hollowheads
    • conceptual designer
    • visual consultant
    • 1989
  • Kevin Costner, Harvey Keitel, Charlie Sheen, Christopher Lloyd, and John Lithgow in Amazing Stories (1985)
    Amazing Stories
    • main title design
    • TV Series
    • 1986
  • Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn in Aliens (1986)
    Aliens
    • conceptual designer
    • 1986
  • Fisher Stevens, John Stockwell, Raphael Sbarge, and Danielle von Zerneck in My Science Project (1985)
    My Science Project
    • gizmo design
    • 1985

Production Designer

  • Bai Ling, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jon Lovitz, Wallace Shawn, Seann William Scott, Justin Timberlake, Dwayne Johnson, Mandy Moore, and Cheri Oteri in Southland Tales (2006)
    Southland Tales
    • Production Designer (production design)
    • 2006
  • Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jon Lovitz, Tobey Maguire, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sean Hayes, Glenn Ficarra, Danny Mann, and Billy West in Cats & Dogs (2001)
    Cats & Dogs
    • Production Designer (production design)
    • 2001
  • The Space Bar (1997)
    The Space Bar
    • Production Designer
    • Video Game
    • 1997
  • Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine (1994)
    Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine
    • Production Designer
    • Video Game
    • 1994
  • Leviathan (1989)
    Leviathan
    • Production Designer
    • 1989
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man (1987)
    The Running Man
    • Production Designer (production design)
    • 1987
  • Lance Guest in The Last Starfighter (1984)
    The Last Starfighter
    • Production Designer
    • 1984
  • Conan the Barbarian (1982)
    Conan the Barbarian
    • Production Designer
    • 1982

Videos1

Alien
Trailer 1:24
Alien

Personal details

Edit
  • Official site
    • Official Site
  • Born
    • September 21, 1937
    • Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Died
    • September 21, 2020
    • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia(lewy body dementia)
  • Spouse
    • Robin Love1973 - September 21, 2020 (his death, 1 child)
  • Children
    • Child
  • Other works
    Book: "Colorvision" (1981)
  • Publicity listings
    • 4 Interviews
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Was actually slated to direct E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) when the name was "Night Skies." However, Steven Spielberg got the script rewritten in a more personal format and chose to direct it himself. Cobb was paid $400,000 at the time of "E.T"'s release.

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