Caroff died in hospice care at his home in Manhattan, his sons, Peter and Michael Caroff, told The New York Times.
Joe Caroff. Pic/X
Joe Caroff, the graphic designer who created classic works such as James Bond's 007 gun logo, posters for West Side Story and A Hard Day's Night, and typography for Last Tango in Paris, Manhattan, and Rollerball, died on August 17. He was 103 years old, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Caroff died in hospice care at his home in Manhattan, his sons, Peter and Michael Caroff, told The New York Times.
Caroff also created the opening title sequences for films like Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far (1977), Volker Schlondorff's Death of a Salesman (1985), Gene Saks' Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986), and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), which revealed a crown of thorns.
His portfolio of posters included Woody Allen films as well as Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1963), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), Too Late the Hero (1970), Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), Cabaret (1972), An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Gandhi (1982), as per the outlet.
For his first film assignment, he worked on over 300 campaigns throughout his career -- United Artists executive David Chasman hired him to design the poster for West Side Story (1961), then asked him to come up with the letterhead for a publicity release tied to the first Bond film, Dr. No. (Chasman had designed the poster for the 1962 movie.), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"He said, 'I need a little decorative thing on top,'" Caroff recalled in 2021. "I knew Bond's designation was 007, and when I wrote the stem of the seven, I thought, 'That looks like the handle of a gun to me.' It was very spontaneous, no effort, it was an instant piece of creativity."
Inspired by Ian Fleming's favourite gun, a Walther PPK, Caroff attached a barrel and trigger to the 007 and, for his work, received USD 300, the going rate for such an assignment, he said. Even though the logo, though altered in subtle ways, has been featured on every Bond film and millions of pieces of merchandise, he received no credit, no residuals, no royalties, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
The logo did, however, bring him "a lot of business," he said. "It was like a little publicity piece for me."
Joseph Caroff was born on August 18, 1921, in Linden, New Jersey. He had four older sisters and a younger brother. His father, Julius, was a painter who "could make a plaster wall look like a wood wall ... it wasn't as if he just painted it, he rendered it," he said.
He retired in 2006 at age 86 to concentrate on painting.
In addition to his sons, survivors include his daughters-in-law, Ruth and Cynthia, and his granddaughter, Jennifer.
After decades of being ignored by Bond producers, Caroff received an Omega watch with an 007 engraving from Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson and EON Productions as a 100th birthday gift, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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