“You know, the only person that doesn’t believe Bob is a genius is Bob.”
– Don Smolen, publicity director, United Artists
He was not the first and many continue to sketch in his wake, but the artist and illustrator Robert McGinnis was to Bond poster design what John Barry was to the score, Peter Hunt was to editing and Ken Adam was to the production. The McGinnis Woman was a languid, sexual, glamourous, dangerous and current glory of cinema poster design. The McGinnis Bond was a tuxedoed pillar of guns, folded arms and tailored stardom.
A former Disney artist, McGinnis edged into paperback design and eventually lobby art. His Bond film work in the 1960s and 1970s – and his returning forays to cover the later 007s for later commissions – remains the graphical benchmark of Bond.
Robert McGinnis is a vital genome of the design DNA of James Bond onscreen and beyond. Slender frames, dripping costuming, and that tapered sexuality sold Bond across the world. LIVE AND LET DIE, THUNDERBALL, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, CASINO ROYALE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE were globally dressed with Robert McGinnis pulp fiction eye and consumer-steered elegance.
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, ARABESQUE, BARBARELLA, CACTUS FLOWER, THE INCREDIBLES, THE ODD COUPLE and HOW TO STEAL A MILLION are all blessed by movie theatres’ very own Norman Rockwell – and a man whose artistic influence reaches across all levels of pop-culture, costuming, advertising. retail commerce, fashions, and mid-century interior design.
Rest in peace, Robert McGinnis / 1926 – 2025
Tribute art / Mark O’Connell
Jet Pack art / Frank McCarthy
