Kit West

British special effects artist (1936–2016)

Kit West
Born	(1936-02-06)6 February 1936 London, England
Died	17 April 2016(2016-04-17) (aged 80) England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Special effects artist
Notable work	Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi

Kit West (6 February 1936 – 17 April 2016) was a British special effects artist who was most known for his work in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and Dune.

Early life

Born in London, his early films were government and military training films produced by Realist Film Unit.^[1] He served two years in the British Army, where he gained experience in pyrotechnics.^[2]

Oscar history

All these were for Best Visual Effects.

1981 Academy Awards-Raiders of the Lost Ark, award shared with Richard Edlund, Joe Johnston and Bruce Nicholson. Won the Oscar.^[3]
1985 Academy Awards-Young Sherlock Holmes, nomination shared with David W. Allen, John R. Ellis and Dennis Muren. Lost to Cocoon.^[4]
1996 Academy Awards-Dragonheart, nomination shared with Scott Squires, James Straus and Phil Tippett. Lost to Independence Day.^[5]

BAFTA award

1983–Return of the Jedi-for Best Special Effects-Won, shared with Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Ken Ralston.^[6]

Death

West died on 17 April 2016^[7] and was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium.^[8]

References

^ Mike Barnes (20 April 2016). "Kit West Dead: 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' Visual Effects Artist Was 80". The Hollywood Reporter.
^ "Kit West profile". Kit-west-spfx.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ "The 54th Academy Awards (1982) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
^ "The 58th Academy Awards (1986) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
^ "The 69th Academy Awards (1997) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
^ "BAFTA Awards". Awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
^ "Kit West, CGI expert – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 8 May 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
^ Ben Weich (30 April 2016). "Oscar-winning special effects guru and East Sheen native Kit West dies aged 80". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 11 June 2016.

External links

Kit West at IMDb

Awards for Kit West
v t e Academy Award for Best Visual Effects
1963–1980	Emil Kosa Jr. – Cleopatra (1963) Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett, and Hamilton Luske – Mary Poppins (1964) John Stears – Thunderball (1965) Art Cruickshank – Fantastic Voyage (1966) L. B. Abbott – Doctor Dolittle (1967) Stanley Kubrick – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Robie Robertson – Marooned (1969) A. D. Flowers and L. B. Abbott – Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett, and Danny Lee – Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers – The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, and Albert Whitlock – Earthquake (1974) Albert Whitlock and Glen Robinson – The Hindenburg (1975) Carlo Rambaldi, Glen Robinson, and Frank Van der Veer – King Kong (1976) John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, and Robert Blalack – Star Wars (1977) Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denys Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, and Zoran Perisic – Superman (1978) H. R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling – Alien (1979) Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Bruce Nicholson – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1981–2000	Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, and Joe Johnston – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren, and Kenneth F. Smith – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett – Return of the Jedi (1983) Dennis Muren, Michael J. McAlister, Lorne Peterson, and George Gibbs – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) Ken Ralston, Ralph McQuarrie, Scott Farrar, and David Berry – Cocoon (1985) Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson, and Suzanne M. Benson – Aliens (1986) Dennis Muren, Bill George, Harley Jessup, and Kenneth F. Smith - Innerspace (1987) Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones, and George Gibbs – Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) John Bruno, Dennis Muren, Hoyt Yeatman, and Dennis Skotak – The Abyss (1989) Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin, Tim McGovern, and Alex Funke – Total Recall (1990) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Ken Ralston, Doug Chiang, Douglas Smythe, and Tom Woodruff Jr. – Death Becomes Her (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri – Jurassic Park (1993) Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, and Allen Hall – Forrest Gump (1994) Scott E. Anderson, Charles Gibson, Neal Scanlan, and John Cox – Babe (1995) Volker Engel, Douglas Smith, Clay Pinney, and Joe Viskocil – Independence Day (1996) Robert Legato, Mark Lasoff, Thomas L. Fisher, and Michael Kanfer – Titanic (1997) Joel Hynek, Nicholas Brooks, Stuart Robertson, and Kevin Mack – What Dreams May Come (1998) John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, and Jon Thum – The Matrix (1999) John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, and Rob Harvey – Gladiator (2000)
2001–2020	Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor, and Mark Stetson – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier – Spider-Man 2 (2004) Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers, and Richard Taylor – King Kong (2005) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass (2007) Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, and Craig Barron – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones – Avatar (2009) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb – Inception (2010) Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning – Hugo (2011) Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, and Donald R. Elliott – Life of Pi (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould – Gravity (2013) Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher – Interstellar (2014) Mark Williams Ardington, Sara Bennett, Paul Norris, and Andrew Whitehurst – Ex Machina (2015) Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones, and Dan Lemmon – The Jungle Book (2016) John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover – Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J. D. Schwalm – First Man (2018) Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy – 1917 (2019) Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, and Scott R. Fisher – Tenet (2020)
2021–present	Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor, and Gerd Nefzer – Dune (2021) Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett – Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Tatsuji Nojima – Godzilla Minus One (2023)

v t e BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects
1982–2000	Richard Edlund - Poltergeist (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Kit West - Return of the Jedi (1983) Dennis Muren, George Gibbs, Michael J. McAlister, and Lorne Peterson - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) George Gibbs and Richard Conway - Brazil (1985) Robert Skotak, Brian Johnson, Suzanne M. Benson, John Richardson, and Stan Winston - Aliens (1986) Michael Lantieri, Michael Owens, Edward Jones, and Bruce Walters - The Witches of Eastwick (1987) George Gibbs, Richard Williams, Ken Ralston, and Edward Jones - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Ken Ralston, Michael Lantieri, John Bell, and Steve Gawley - Back to the Future Part II (1989) The production team of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1990) Stan Winston, Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr., and Robert Skotak - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Michael Lantieri, Ken Ralston, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Doug Chiang, and Douglas Smythe - Death Becomes Her (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri - Jurassic Park (1993) Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Doug Chiang, and Allen Hall - Forrest Gump (1994) Robert Legato, Michael Kanfer, Matt Sweeney, and Leslie Ekker - Apollo 13 (1995) Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Henry LaBounta, and Habib Zargarpour - Twister (1996) Mark Stetson, Karen Goulekas, Nick Allder, Neil Corbould, and Nick Dudman - The Fifth Element (1997) Stefen Fangmeier, Roger Guyett, and Neil Corbould - Saving Private Ryan (1998) John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, and Jon Thum - The Matrix (1999) Stefen Fangmeier, John Frazier, Walt Conti, Habib Zargarpour, and Tim Alexander - The Perfect Storm (2000)
2001–present	Jim Rygiel, Richard Taylor, Alex Funke, Randall William Cook, and Mark Stetson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Joe Letteri, Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) Karen Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause, and Remo Balcells - The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul, and Richard Taylor - King Kong (2005) John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood - The Golden Compass (2007) Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, and Edson Williams - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones - Avatar (2009) Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb - Inception (2010) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, and David Vickery - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, and Erik-Jan de Boer - Life of Pi (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould, and Nikki Penny - Gravity (2013) Paul Franklin, Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Lockley, and Ian Hunter - Interstellar (2014) Chris Corbould, Roger Guyett, Paul Kavanagh, and Neal Scanlan - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) Robert Legato, Dan Lemmon, Andrew R. Jones, and Adam Valdez - The Jungle Book (2016) Richard R. Hoover, Paul Lambert, Gerd Nefzer, and John Nelson - Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack, and Dan Sudick - Black Panther (2018) Greg Butler, Guillaume Rocheron, and Dominic Tuohy - 1917 (2019) Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Lockley - Tenet (2020) Brian Connor, Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, and Gerd Nefzer - Dune (2021) Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon - Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Simon Hughes - Poor Things (2023)

BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects

1982–2000